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Acacia’s gold output rises in Quarter 3

Thursday October 18 2018
mining

A miner inside Bulyanhulu gold mine in northern Tanzania. Acacia recorded a strong performance for the quarter ending September 30. PHOTO | FILE

By BEATRICE MATERU

Goldminer Acacia Mining Plc has recorded a strong performance for the quarter ending September 30, with production jumping to 136,640 ounces from 133,778 ounces in the second quarter.

“We are pleased to report a strong operational performance for the year, and expect to exceed the upper end of our full-year production guidance range. We are targeting in excess of 500,000 ounces [17kg] for the full year,” Acacia’s interim chief executive Peter Geleta said last Monday.

The initial full year production target from the company's three mines in northwestern Tanzania — Bulyanhulu, Buzwagi, and North Mara — was 435,000 (15.3kg) to 475,000 ounces (16.8kg).

The company attributes the good performance to high production in the North Mara sites, which produced 89,287 ounces (3.2kg) for the quarter, a 24 per cent increase from 72,011 ounces (2.5kg) in the same period in 2017.

“This was mainly due to 21 per cent higher head grades compared with the same period in 2017, which was driven by higher grade ore received from the eastern part of the Nyabirama open pit,” said Mr Geleta.

The Buzwagi mine recorded a 47 per cent drop in production to 36,460 ounces (1.3kg) — from 69,097 ounces (2.4kg) in the same period last year. The miner blamed it on “transitioning to a lower grade stockpile processing operation.”

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The Bulyanhulu mine produced 10,893 ounces (385 grammes) for the quarter, 78 per cent lower than the Quarter Three 2017 output of 50,094 ounces (1.8kg).

Quarter Three 2018 output of 136,640 ounces (4.8kg) is 29 per cent lower than that of Q3 2017 of 191,203 ounces (6.8kg).

The firm attributed the lower production to reduced operations in Bulyanhulu and the stockpile processing in Buzwagi.

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