African Barrick Gold posts 17 pct production loss

[pmbug]

African Barrick Gold posted a 17 percent fall in gold production in the first quarter, partly due to lower head grades at its Buzwagi mine in Tanzania.

The Tanzania-focused miner produced 144,643 ounces of attributable gold in the quarter.

Power outages at its mines held back output in the final quarter last year, with the company's full-year production falling 2 percent to 688,278 ounces.

African Barrick, a unit of Barrick Gold Corp, the world's largest gold miner, reported a 41 percent surge in costs to $925 per ounce for the quarter, well ahead of its full-year estimate of $790 to $860 per ounce.

Costs jumped 22 percent last year on the back of rising inflation, higher wages and increased use of more expensive generator power to keep mines working.
...

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page504?oid=149791&sn=Detail

A sign of SRSrocco's EROI paradigm playing out in gold?

 

[DSAbug]

I like how reuters/mineweb re-released this kind of information almost 3 weeks after the announcement was made in hopes of pushing the stock lower.

 

[ancona]

I thought these mines were hammerred by a strike. Wasn't the same union who struck at teh big platinum mine also bitching about work conditions and pay at their two gold mines?

 

[DSAbug]

I don't follow the seniors because I am kind of biased against them. They seem to have the same event risks as juniors but very little upside surprise. So I can't really answer your question ancona.

That being said... A lot of analysts seem to think that production is going to rise this year even though we keep on seeing disruptions all over the place. A majority of the production seems to be coming from these big miners yet they keep falling short of expectations.. Maybe these gurus are just trying to talk down gold?? Last I checked we are still well below the production levels of a few years ago and it's not like a bunch of mines are coming online.

 

[pmbug]

Is this also old news?

"Solid operating results" through most of Goldcorp's mine portfolio "were offset by a challenging first quarter at Red Lake," said Goldcorp CEO Chuck Jeannes.

"Adverse ground conditions at Red Lake delayed the development of new mining faces in the High Grade Zone which, taken together with lower grade in other areas of the mine, led to our slow start to 2012," Jeannes said.
...
Goldcorp reported gold production of 524,700 ounces in the first quarter, down from 637,000 ounces in the first quarter of last year. Silver production totaled 6.6 million ounces during the first quarter of the year, up from 6.1 million ounces in the first quarter of 2011.
...

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page34?oid=150195&sn=Detail

 

[DSAbug]

No.. That came out after the close yesterday. GG is down about 2.5% premarket which will weigh on the gold stock indexes. We don't want the GDX/HUI/XAU to stall here so hopefully the rest of the group isn't down in sympathy. Gold being up 11 (through 1650 and above 3 big trendlines) should help the group. Still early though and unemployment numbers aren't out.

 

[matrixxx]

What are peoples thoughts on today's drop?

 

[rblong2us]

What are peoples thoughts on today's drop?

I prefer up days ffftt:

seriously though, I saw the drop and wondered if there had been a big drop in share prices as this will sometimes trigger a need for cash.
The 'reason' doesnt always emerge immediately, so once again I watch and wait .........

or this ?

Bart Chilton To Commodities Traders: You Are On Your Own
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/01/2013 - 11:30
From: Chilton, Bart <BChilton@cftc.gov>
Subject: Re: Today's Smackdown

No regulators looking at markets due to government shut down.

 

[Penn]

I am not a fan of minors- because they are paper gold.