Acacia produced 521980 oz gold in 2018

Gold production

remained 32% lower YoY

 “I am pleased to report that we have achieved gold production of 130,581 ounces for the fourth quarter, bringing our total gold production for the full year to 521,980 ounces.  This is substantially ahead of our initial production guidance for the year of 435,000 to 475,000 ounces.

I am proud of the resilience, hard work and dedication shown by our people in realising this achievement despite a challenging operating environment.  Over the last 12 months we have focused on successfully stabilising the business, including a return to free cash flow generation in Q2, and I am pleased to report that we end the year with a net cash balance of US$88 million.” said Peter Geleta, Interim Chief Executive Officer.

Gold production for the quarter of 130,581 ounces was slightly ahead of expectations, although 12% lower than the prior year mainly due to the transitioning of Buzwagi to a stockpile processing operation, partly offset by higher gold production at North Mara and Bulyanhulu. Gold ounces sold for the quarter of 133,460 ounces were slightly higher than production due to the favourable timing of shipments and draw down of finished gold on hand.

Full year production of 521,980 ounces was ahead of expectations for the year, although 32% lower than 2017 due to the transition to reduce operations at Bulyanhulu and to stockpile processing at Buzwagi. 

Gold production in 2018 benefitted from the higher grade ore received from the Nyabirama open pit at North Mara, the extended mining of the final cut of the higher grade ore at the bottom of the pit and switchbacks at Buzwagi combined with the better than expected performance of the Buzwagi processing plant with improved throughput and recoveries, and the favourable performance from tailings processing at Bulyanhulu. Full year gold sales of 520,380 ounces were broadly in line with production.