PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed gold miner Perseus Mining has reported a slight decline in production during the three months to June following a fire at its processing plant in April this year, and the failure of an electricity substation in June.

During the three months to June, West Africa-focused Perseus produced 42 543 oz of gold, compared with the 43 787 oz produced in the previous three-month period. Production for the half-year ended June reached 86 330 oz, compared with the 104 744 oz produced in the previous corresponding period.

Perseus noted that during the last 12 months, the company’s operating strategy at its Edikan gold mine, in Ghana, had been focused on improving the fundamental operating performance of the mine and the process plant, while restricting capital investment to only those initiatives that were considered essential to the sustenance of the business in the short to medium term.

As a result, the run-of-mine stockpile increased by 57 580 t during the quarter, to more than 3.6-million tonnes, grading 0.58 g/t gold and containing some 68 500 oz of gold.

The addition to the stockpiles reflected a significant increase in the ore tonnage mined during the quarter.

Perseus noted that while the improved productivity had to some degree offset the impact of the production interruptions during the quarter, the half-year production was still 3% below the revised production guidance of between 89 000 oz and 99 000 oz.

For the remaining six months of the year, Perseus said it expected to produce between 95 000 oz and 105 000 oz, while all-in site cash costs were expected to be between $1 160/oz and $1 280/oz.

The company was also undertaking work to re-estimate the Edikan mineral resource, taking into account mining depletion, recent drill results and changes to assumptions based on the operating experience to date.