East Africa-focused gold producer Shanta Gold had a strong start to 2019 – with the quarter ended March 31 having been its best opening quarter in three years in terms of production.
Its costs were also well below guidance.
CEO Eric Zurrin on Thursday said this strong start to the year positioned the company to achieve its full-year guidance on both costs and production, as well as enabling it to be in a net cash position midway through next year.
The company produced 22 374 oz of gold in the first quarter, positioning it to comfortably meet full-year guidance of 80 000 oz to 84 000 oz.
All-in sustaining costs for the quarter were $701/oz, considerably ahead of yearly guidance of $740/oz to $780/oz.
Net debt for the quarter, excluding bullion available for sale, decreased to $30.3-million, compared with $31.5-million at the end of December 2018.
On March 10, the company produced its first development ore from the Ilunga underground mine, which forms part of the larger New Luika gold mining complex, in Tanzania.
Moreover, the company announced its intention to fund the development of its second asset, Singida, in Tanzania, through an initial public offering on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange.
Zurrin highlighted encouraging initial feedback from institutional investors across East Africa to fund the development of the company’s second project and the company remains confident in this strategy to bring the project into production and provide additional funds for exploration.