Centamin shrugs off Sukari woes as fourth quarter production hits record levels
Despite a temporary closure of the Sukari mine in December, Egyptian miner Centamin this morning said gold output at its flagship asset jumped 45 per cent in the final quarter of last year.
The FTSE 250 miner said that total gold production over the three months to December hit a record 85,543 ounces, a 45 per cent increase from the same period last year and a 40 per cent jump on the previous quarter.
Full year production hit 262,958 ounces – marking a 30 per cent increase on 2011 – which was above guidance of 250,000 ounces.
In December, operations at the Sukari mine were suspended following a dispute over diesel supplies and a customs request to halt gold exports.
Shrugging off the closure of Sukari, chairman Josef El-Raghy said this morning that the company was looking forward to a further increase in production growth this year.