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Centamin: Preliminary Q3 production figures

Contributed by Fox-Davies Capital

Centamin has released its preliminary Q3 production figures. During the quarter total material movements were 6.97Mt with the plant processing 1,004Mt. Underground ore production was 93.4kt and gold produced was 60,922oz.

This was a good result for Centamin as it coincided with a SAG mill reline in September and the illegal strike in July. Despite these two stoppages, one planned, one unplanned, gold production still amounted 60,922oz.

To achieve this level of production there must have been an improvement in the average grade of ore fed to the mill, and with underground tonnes mined

underground ore played any significant part. This suggests that the improvement in grade was related to higher grades in the ore processed from the open pit.. We calculate that mill feed grade was 2.15g/t and this would also have led to a slight improvement in recovery.

This augers well for the current quarter when we expect tonnes milled to bounce back to around 1,250kt. Approximately 70k oz of production is required to meet guidance for 2012 of 250k oz. Provided there are no unforeseen mil stoppages, the combination of higher tonnes, higher feed grade and better recoveries should make this a formality.