OXIANA managing director Owen Hegarty is expecting a "premiership year for the mighty Ox" in 2006, with major production increases in both copper and zinc.
Oxiana managing director Owen Hegarty
The emerging miner aims to produce more than 70,000 tonnes of copper, 130-140,000 tonnes of zinc and around 240,000 ounces of gold, as well as silver and lead.
Underpinning the increases will be its Sepon operation in Laos (where copper output will double to 60,000t at forecast cash costs of US50-60c per pound), and Golden Grove in Western Australia, where zinc production will double to 130-140,000t at cash costs of around US30c/lb – net of by-product credits including 10-12,000t of copper, 40-50,000oz of gold, 3-3.5 million oz of silver and 8-10,000t of lead.
The unhedged miner noted that the zinc price reached US99c/lb overnight, while copper is currently fetching more than $US2.10/lb.
December quarter statistics included Sepon producing 50,449oz of gold at total cash costs of $US315/oz, taking full year output to 200,370oz at $US260/oz.
Gold production from Sepon in 2006 is expected to be at similar levels and costs (full year), with the company saying costs in the fourth quarter were "impacted by a short SAG mill shutdown, the lower gold recovery [81.2% compared to September's 85.7%] and the continuing impact of higher costs of supplies".
According to Hegarty, the company will spend around $US25 million on exploration in 2006, including a record $A6.5 million at Golden Grove.
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