Gold miner Altyn expressed confidence in achieving its targeted production even as it reported a decline in production for 2016.
The miner operating in Kazakhstan produced 10,970oz of gold in 2016, which is down from 15,534oz in 2015. It produced 16,520oz of silver in 2016, down from 26,608oz in the previous year.
These drops have been attributed to development of the Sekisovskoye mine and are a result of resources being used to develop the platform in order to begin production at the underground mine, reported Alliance News.
In the second half of 2016, Altyn’s gold production stood at 7,276oz due to rise in operations in the underground mine, compared with 3,694oz in the first half, reported Digitallook.com.
The company expects its ongoing capital expenditure this year to be around $15m and $20m in 2018 in this region.
Altyn CEO Aidar Assaubayev was quoted by Alliance News as saying: "We are pleased with the development of the underground mine in 2016, which has built a solid platform for the future growth of the company, the results of which are now bearing fruit.
“The strong rate of growth of production in the second half of 2016 has been sustained in 2017, and will be further enhanced going forward as new capital equipment is acquired."
The company expects to achieve a targeted forecast gold production of 100,000oz in the future, with a forecast cash cost of $510.
Assaubayev added: “The Sekisovskoye mine project together with the added benefit of the development Karasuyskoye ore field, the exploration results of which are looking very encouraging are expected to generate substantial returns to the shareholders."
