Oz Minerals lowers gold production forecast

Metals miner Oz Minerals on Thursday lowered its gold forecast for the full year on the back of lower production during the June quarter.

The miner had previously warned shareholders that production during the three months ended June would be lower than the previous quarter, as a consequence of the overburden slip experienced at the south wall of the Prominent Hill openpit operation, which limited safe access to the mining area below the slip.

In April, Oz also downgraded its full-year copper production guidance to be between 82 000 t and 88 000 t of copper, compared with the previous estimate of between 90 000 t and 95 000 t of copper.

The ASX-listed company said on Thursday that gold production has been downgraded to between 120 000 oz and 130 000 oz, from the previous estimate of between 130 000 oz and 150 000 oz.

For the quarter ended June, Oz Minerals produced 17 379 t of copper and 31 018 oz of gold, bringing production for the half year to 37 853 t of copper and 62 808 oz of gold.

The miner has maintained that the second half of the year would achieve higher production levels, as remediation work on the south wall continued during the quarter under review.

Normal mining operations restarted in the area below the slip in July.

Meanwhile, at the Ankata mine, some 303 247 t of ore was mined during the quarter under review, at an average grade of 1.87%, with mining undertaken at the Charlotte, Voilet and Bessie stopes.

With mill throughput at 9.4-million tonnes a year, the Ankata operation produced 17 379 t of copper during the year.