Despite a 6% quarter-on-quarter dip in third-quarter production to 47 799 oz at the Sanbrado mine, in Burkina Faso, the operations delivered according to plan, ASX-listed gold mining company West African Resources (WAF) has reported.
In a production update issued on October 8, the company attributed the decrease in output to a slightly lower head grade and recovery in the quarter.
“Sanbrado production was on plan for quarter three. Production in the year-to-date is 155 443 oz of gold, which sees WAF tracking towards the upper end of our annual production guidance for 2024 [of 190 000 oz to 210 000 oz of gold],” WAF executive chairperson and CEO Richard Hyde said, adding that a full quarterly activities report would be published in the coming weeks.
The company further reported the sale of 49 643 oz of gold at an average price of $2 493/oz for the third quarter.
This takes year-to-date gold sales to 51 596 oz at an average price of $2 297/oz.
The company reported that its openpit mined ounces had increased by 66% in the third quarter compared with the second quarter. This increase was mainly related to 57% more ore tonnes mined, with 1.1-million tonnes of ore mined at 0.9 g/t for 31 085 oz of gold.
For the year to date, openpit mining reached 2.38-million tonnes of ore at a grade of 0.9 g/t for a total of 71 722 oz of gold.
However, underground mined ounces decreased by 14% quarter-on-quarter, which the company said was mainly related to a slightly lower average underground grade mined in the third quarter, with 125 000 t of ore mined from M1 South at 7.2 g/t for 29 127 oz of gold.
For the year to date, underground mining has achieved 351 000 t of ore at a grade of 8 g/t for a total of 90 669 oz of gold. 