The gold mining company reported in its financial statement that it made a reported net loss of 13 million US dollars in the three months to September 30 compared with net profit of 28 million US dollars in the same quarter a year before.

 

The loss reflected 20 per cent drop in revenue to 193 million US dollars after gold output fell 14 per cent to 163,888 troy ounces and gold sales dropped 6 per cent to 167,116 ounces.

 

The all-in sustaining cost also rose 9 per cent on the year to 1,195 US dollars an ounce due to short-term issues at its Bulyanhulu and Buzwagi mines, which the company said it has addressed.

 

The company expects production to pick up at all three mines in the fourth quarter and it reaffirmed that this year's gold output should be on par with last year's level of 718,851 ounces.

 

Its previous guidance was between 750,000 and 800,000 ounces. Cash costs and all-in sustaining costs are forecast to be around 5 per cent higher than the top of their respective guidance ranges of 675 US dollar/oz to 725 US dollars/oz and 1,050 US dollars/oz to 1,100 US dollars/oz.

 

"As previously communicated, we had a challenging third quarter, with short term issues impacting Bulyanhulu and Buzwagi.

 

Whilst North Mara again performed well, group production of 163,888 ounces was lower than the previous quarter and means we expect to fall short of our original plans for 2015," the Chief Executive Officer, Brad Gordon is quoted as saying in the statement.

 

The miner reaffirmed its revised full-year gold output and cost guidance as it redoubles its efforts to remove costs from its business in a bid to return to free cash generation.

 

"Over the past two years we have made significant changes to the business to lay the foundation for improved and consistent operational delivery," the CEO said.

 

"Although Q3 was disappointing, it does not alter our confidence that we are close to completing the turnaround. We have addressed each of the issues that impacted the business in Q3 to ensure they do not re-occur and, importantly, key underlying metrics at Bulyanhulu are on track to sustain a step-up in production in Q4 2015."

Source : allafrica.com