The Kumtor mine, in Kyrgyz Republic, has delivered a better-than-expected performance in the first six months of the year, prompting Canada-headquartered Centerra Gold to revise its 2019 consolidated gold guidance to a range of 705 000 oz to 750 000 oz.

The new, tighter guidance range compares with an original guidance of 690 000 oz to 740 000 oz and reflects the modest increase forecast for Kumtor. The Central Asian mine is forecast to produce 550 000 oz to 575 000 oz, compared with the initially guided 535 000 oz to 565 000 oz.

Centerra, which also operates the water-constrained Mt Milligan mine in Canada, lowered its all-in sustaining cost (AISC) guidance on a by-product basis at Kumtor to $635/oz to $685/oz sold, which reduces the consolidated AISC to $713/oz to $743/oz.

Mt Milligan is forecast to produce 155 000 oz to 175 000 oz of gold and 65-million to 75-million pounds of copper in 2019.

The new guidance follows a strong first-half performance, with 383 140 oz of gold produced, which is a 47% improvement on the 259 947 oz produced in the first half of last year. Second-quarter gold production came to 199 578 oz.

Copper production rose by 41% year-on-year to 31 837 lb, of which the second-quarter’s output was 20 397 lb.

The company recorded net earnings of $33.4-million in the second quarter of 2019, compared to $43.5-million in the same period of 2018. The second quarter of 2018 included a pre-tax gain of $28-million as a result of the sale of the royalty portfolio and a gain of $9.4-million to recognise the final instalments to be paid on the sale of the Altan Tsagaan Ovoo property in Mongolia. Excluding these gains, adjusted earnings for the second quarter of 2018 were $1-million, which compares with adjusted earnings for the second quarter of 2019 of $33.4-million.

Centerra generated cash from operations of $91-million and $30.7-million of free cash flow, compared with cash from operations of $68.1-million and free cash flow of a negative $4.7-million in the second quarter of 2018.