The Geita Gold Mine said on Thursday
its output fell 18 per cent during last year’s fourth quarter, compared
to the previous year as production costs steeply shot up.
“These results,” the
firm said in a statement, “are consistent with our business planning in
which we are stockpiling higher grade material for scheduled replacement
of the primary mill in first quarter of this year.”
On the other hand, the annual production
costs increased 70 per cent compared to the same period last year. It
also went up 21 per cent in comparison to previous quarter.
“Rising
costs are attributed to a combination of factors, including increased
amount charged as royalties on gold sales.
“This was further compounded
by the supply chain write down of year end consumables stock,” the firm
said.
The annual cash costs were 653 US
dollars per oz, a raise of 22 per cent on 2011.
The Geita mine located
on the shores of Lake Victoria has paid up 683 million US dollars in
direct contributions through taxes and royalties since 2000. In 2012
alone, the company’s payments to the authorities reached 213.8 million
US dollars, up from 101.1 million US dollars in 2011.
On safety issues, it said, in 2012 “all
injury frequency rate” was 1.62 per million hours worked -- tragically
there was one fatality during the year in a light vehicle accident.
“Safety is our number one priority, and safety incident rates have
fallen 75 per cent since 2009,” Geita Gold said in the statement.
Source: The Daily News, www.dailynews.co.tz, reported by Abduel Elinaza in Dar es Salaam
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