Martabe gold mine on track to meet 2016 output target
Thursday, June 16 2016 - 12:59 AM WIB
PT Agincourt Resources, the owner and operator of the Martabe gold mine in South Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatra Province, is on track to meet this year?s gold production target of 260,000 ounces.
Tim Duffy, President Director and Managing Director of PT Agincourt Resources told the media on Tuesday that production in the first quarter of this year has exceeded target. He did not provide the first quarter results. ?We?re optimistic the target can be achieved because from the first quarter result and towards the end of the second quarter, our performance have been quite satisfying,? he said.
Silver production this year is targeted at 2.2-2.3 million ounces. Last year, Martabe recorded its highest production performance with gold output at 302,449 ounces, and silver at 2.53 million ounces.
Elsewhere, Duffy said that at a time when other mining firms were cutting down on investment for exploration activities amid the lingering weak commodity prices, Agincourt is committed to maintain investment for exploration at US$12 million per year, considered as the largest in the industry, to help maintain long-term production. In addition, the company has allocated $67 million for capital expenditure this year.
The Martabe mine covers an area of 30 km? that falls under the sixth generation of Contract of Work (CoW) covering a total area of 1,639 km?. The resource base on December 31, 2015 includes 7.4 Moz of gold and 69 Moz of silver. Production commenced at Martabe on July 24, 2012. The operating capacity of Martabe Gold Mine is 4.5 mtpa of ores to produce in excess of 250,000 oz of gold and 2-3 Moz of silver per annum.
Currently the ultimate shareholder of PT Agincourt Resources is a consortium led by EMR Capital, a specialist mining private equity fund (61.4% of shares). The consortium comprises of Farallon Capital, a global financial investor (20.6%), Martua Sitorus (11%) and Robert Hartono & Michael Bambang Hartono (7%).
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak