Petaquilla fully recovered its production capabilities…
Mr. Richard Fifer reports
Following the filing of its first quarter fiscal 2011 financial statements on Oct. 15, 2010, Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. fully recovered its production capabilities, after significant non-recurrent events negatively impacted first quarter performance.
During the company’s first quarter of fiscal 2011, production was seriously affected by a combination of a 30-year-high level of rain and a lightning strike, which respectively resulted in a Molejón plant shutdown of eight days in August and the inoperability of one ball mill for 28 days in June, with a consequent slowdown in production. Average daily productions for those days prior to these occurrences were 2,289 tonnes per day for the plant and 448 tonnes per day for the ball mill. Petaquilla estimates the loss of production in the first quarter of fiscal 2011 to have been approximately 31,000 tonnes and would have resulted in production costs per ounce in the mid-$600 (U.S.) range. Despite the production shortfall, gross margin from the sale of gold in the first quarter of fiscal 2011 amounted to $4.6-million (U.S.).
After implementing changes in preventive maintenance and improvements in mining and process operations, production averaged 2,549 tonnes per day for the period from Sept. 8 to Oct. 6, with gold pours totalling 6,120.5 ounces, equivalent to a daily average gold pouring rate of 212 ounces, or 6,300 to 6,500 ounces per month. Given the increased production volumes and the relatively stable operating cost base, production costs per ounce for this period are expected to be in the high-$500 (U.S.)/low-$600 (U.S.) range.
This upward trend in production continued to Oct. 13 with an average production rate of 2,779 tonnes per day and a daily gold production average of 226 ounces.
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