OceanaGold Corp has commenced milling at the Haile gold mine. Mick Wilkes, President and CEO: “We are very pleased with the start of milling ore at Haile. This milestone represents a special moment in the history of the Haile gold mine as this historic goldfield is re-established with a world-class modern mining operation in Lancaster county, South Carolina. From the start of the year, we established a firm timeline of key milestones that we have achieved throughout the year, culminating in the start of milling ore at year-end as planned. We have established a strong team in South Carolina that includes technical experts from across our business to carryout commissioning activities and transition to operations. Achieving this important benchmark in just 15 months since taking ownership of Haile is a true testament to the leadership and dedication of our team.”
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In early October, the company commenced dry commissioning by focusing initially on the crushing circuit and emergency stockpile system. Since then, the grinding, CIL and tailings circuits have been commissioned to treat oxide and transition ores. Construction of the flotation and fine grinding circuits are now complete and commissioning of these circuits to treat sulphide ore is planned to occur over the next couple of weeks.
The company currently has approximately 675,000 t of ore stockpiled on surface including 275,000 t grading 2.3 g/t Au of sulphide ore, 245,000 t grading 0.6 g/t of oxide ore and 155,000 t grading 1.1 g/t of transitional material.
As previously announced, the company expects to produce 150,000 to 170,000 oz of gold at Haile in 2017 at sector leading All-In Sustaining Costs between $500 to $550/oz. The company will continue to advance the Haile Expansion study (optimisation study) with results expected in the middle of 2017.
OceanaGold is a mid-tier, low-cost, multinational gold producer with assets located in the Philippines, New Zealand and the USA. Its assets encompass its flagship operation, the Didipio gold-copper mine located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. On the North Island of New Zealand, the company operates the high-grade Waihi gold mine while on the South Island of New Zealand, the company operates the largest gold mine in the country at the Macraes Goldfield which is made up of a series of open pit mines and the Frasers underground mine. OceanaGold also has a significant pipeline of organic growth and exploration opportunities in the Asia-Pacific and Americas regions.
OceanaGold has operated sustainably over the past 26 years with a proven track record for environmental management and community and social engagement. The Company has a strong social license to operate and works collaboratively with its valued stakeholders to identify and invest in social programs that are designed to build capacity and not dependency.
In 2016, the company expects to produce 385,000 to 425,000 oz of gold from the combined New Zealand and Didipio operations and 19,000 to 21,000 t of copper from the Didipio operation at All-In Sustaining Costs of $700 to $750/oz. In 2017, the company expects to produce 550,000 to 610,000 oz of gold and 15,000 to 17,000 t of copper at All-In Sustaining Costs of $600 to $650/oz.
