Gold Fields, one of the largest gold miners in the world, has cut its gold production guidance for 2023 and 2024 after announcing a two-month delay in production at its Salares Norte project in Chile because of challenges in securing certain parts.
“Challenges in securing the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) vendor representatives, due to previously announced delays by the main contractor, have resulted in a circa two-month delay to commissioning of the mills and filter presses and therefore a delay to the production of first gold,” the company said in Friday’s update about the project the Atacama region in the north of the country.
Construction on the project started in February 2021 and is 97% complete, with some parts of the plant already in the pre-commissioning stage.
According to Gold Fields, the first gold from the project is still expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2023, but the guidance was cut from 15,000oz-20,000oz to 1,000oz if produced at the start of December.
For 2024, it has been lowered from the 500,000oz previously to 400,000oz-430,000oz, but the miner warned that if there are further delays and the first gold is only produced at the end of December, production in 2024 will be about 350,000oz.
“Despite the downgrade in production for 2023 and 2024, steady-state production will be reached by the beginning of 2025 and therefore planned production volumes for 2025 and 2026 remain unchanged at 600,000 gold equivalent ounces,” the company said.
Business Day reported in February that there was a three-month delay at the Salares Norte project after skills shortages affected the main contractor.
With Andries Mahlangu
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.