By Anna Rzhevkina
Oct 9 (Reuters) - Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk
on Friday lowered its full-year production guidance and said it
had decided to delay the full commissioning of its Pioneer
flotation plant until next year.
Its shares fell 5.8% in London and 5% in Moscow as of 0749
GMT.
Petropavlovsk now expects to produce 560,000-600,000 ounces
of gold compared to previously expected 620,000-720,000 ounces
due to lower than expected grades and logistical issues related
to the coronavirus pandemic.
The company said the impact on profitability will be
"less-significant" given the lower margins on third-party
production processing.
It postponed full commissioning of the Pioneer flotation
plant to the second quarter of 2021 from the fourth quarter of
this year.
"This reflects delays to the commissioning of some equipment
and a desire to avoid full commissioning during the winter
months," the gold miner said.
The Pioneer flotation plant should increase concentrate feed
to Petropavlovsk's flagship project, the Pressure Oxidation hub
(POX), one of the two plants in Russia that can process
refractory ore.
Petropavlovsk, recently embroiled in a stand-off between
shareholders which led to ousting of its founder and long-time
CEO Pavel Maslovskiy in June, said its mines were operating as
normal.
(Reporting by Anna Rzhevkina; editing by Jason Neely)
