Omai produces 319K gold in 2002
By Gitanjali Singh
Stabroek News
January 26, 2003
Omai Gold Mines Ltd produced 319,600 ounces of gold last year, surpassing its target by 34,100 oz or by 12 per cent. But the firm expects to produce only 273,000 oz this year because of depleted ore resources.
The company projects that 5.9M tons of ore would be milled this year because of the depletion of “all sources of saprolite and alluvia [soft rock]” in the second quarter, a press statement by the parent company, Cambior Inc says.
Low-grade soft rock stockpiles would only supply three per cent of Omai’s mill feed, and the mill grade, the release said, would improve to 1.56 grams of gold per ton of ore because of the direct feed grade from the Fennell Pit. Mined tonnage would be reduced to 8.3M tons compared with 17.3M tons in 2003 with a 92.9% recovery rate.
The statement on the company’s website said there was to be no sustaining capital for the remainder of Omai’s mine life. Mine operating costs at Omai this year was expected to be US$216 per oz and included a non-cash charge of $17 per ounce for deferred stripping, capitalised over previous years.
In the last quarter of 2002, Omai’s gold output totalled 74,000 oz compared to 91,100 oz for the corresponding quarter of 2001.
Cambior said Omai’s performance in 2002 was “excellent” and was mainly due to a higher grade of ore milled which came from improvement over mineral reserves. The company had been anticipating lower production levels at Omai given the depletion of ore resources in recent years.
Cambior’s total gold production in 2002 was 568,900 oz, compared with 614,900 oz the year before, a reduction accounted for mainly by scheduled lower production at Omai. Omai was scouting out the possibility of new sources of gold deposits in Guyana but has hit no significant new areas. The firm has since engaged the government in negotiations for a take-over of the operations at the Linden Mining Enterprise.
Omai has never declared a profit since it began operations in Guyana, and its decreasing output levels come as the world market price for gold is starting a significant rebound. The closing price of gold was US$343 per ounce at the end of December 2002, an increase of $66 per ounce compared to the closing price on December 31, 2001, and an increase of $19 oz since the end of September. The average price per ounce was US$310 in 2002, the highest average price since 1997.
Cambior expects to produce 522,000 ounces of gold this year at a mine operating cost of $227 per ounce, including a non-cash charge of $9 per ounce for deferred stripping capitalised in prior years. This decrease in budgeted production is again as the result of planned reduction at the Omai mine.
“This year, we will concentrate our efforts on the development of the Rosebel gold project [in Suriname], which should allow us to maintain a significant level of production in the Guiana Shield for years to come.
The construction and development of the Rosebel gold project, at a capital cost of $95M, will officially begin shortly once documentation for financing and political risk insurance is finalised,” Luis Gignac, Cambior’s president said in the statement.
