Dundee Precious Metals is reviewing its full-year guidance for its Namibia based, Tsumeb smelter after it produced 21 100 t of concentrate in the second quarter, taking the year-to-date total volume of concentrate produced to 68 300 t; while full-year guidance for the smelter ranges between 210 000 t and 240 000 t.
The low production was attributed to the unplanned downtime as a result of water leaks that were resolved during the planned Ausmelt maintenance shutdown completed during the second quarter.
“Nonetheless, because of the smelter’s performance in the first six months of the year, Dundee is reviewing its full-year guidance for Tsumeb, as complex concentrate smelted is expected to be lower than the current range with cash cost a tonne smelted expected to increase as a result of the lower production.”
“This 45-day shutdown included additional maintenance to the off-gas and baghouse systems, which is expected to improve operational performance moving forward.”
President and CEO David Rae said with the completion of the planned maintenance at the Tsumeb smelter, Dundee expects improved smelter performance over the balance of the year.
This comes as the gold, copper and silver miner produced 72 900 oz of gold and 8.8-million pounds of copper in the second quarter, taking the total gold produced for the year to date to 135 800 oz; while copper totals 16.5-million pounds.
For the second quarter, Dundee sold 62 700 oz of gold and 7.3-million pounds of copper; while year-to-date gold sold totals 120 100 oz and copper 13.8-million pounds.
Dundee Precious Metals Inc. is a Canadian-based international gold mining company with operations and projects located in Bulgaria, Namibia, Ecuador and Serbia.
