(Alliance News) - Centamin PLC on Thursday announced its new life-of-mine plan for the Sukari gold mine in southern Egypt, saying this will maximise the asset's value in balancing growth with shareholder returns.
The gold producer also has interests in Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast, but operating the Sukari mine is its core activity. It said the new plan delivers long-term increased gold production, significantly reduced carbon emissions, reduced operational risk, and lower costs.
Specifically, Centamin said it will deliver average gold production of 506,000 ounces per year for the nine years from 2024 to 2032, and 475,000 ounces per year for the full 11-year 2024 to 2034 life-of-mine plan. This reflects a 5% increase from 441,000 ounces in 2022.
At the same time, all-in costs will be reduced by 34% to USD922 per ounce of gold sold from USD1,399 in 2022.
Centamin said it intends to deliver these improvements through an improved open pit schedule, an increased underground mining schedule, the integration of a gold gravity circuit in its processing plant, and connection of Sukari to the Egyptian national electricity grid.
Centamin expects being on the grid will save it USD41 million in annual spending on diesel for power generators.
"Today's new life of mine plan firmly re-establishes Sukari as a global tier one gold asset...underscoring our dedication to maximising free cash flow generation," commented Chief Executive Officer Martin Horgan. "[It] is not only a substantial improvement on what was previously published but, importantly it incorporates significantly lower operational risk and delivers improved carbon abatement.
This revised plan underpins our strategy to maximise the value of Sukari as the foundation for growth and diversification balanced with stakeholder returns."
Centamin said production guidance for 2023 remains within the expected range of 450,000 to 480,000 ounces, despite a brief decline in the third quarter due to pre-emptive repair work.
The London-based FTSE 250 listing also said it has identified opportunities to extend Sukari's current 11-year life-of-mine but utilising underground deposits, and through surface satellite deposits and adjacent exploration licences.
Shares in Centamin were up 3.8% at 85.50 pence in London on Thursday.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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Centamin PLC (CEY)