Timmins Gold (TSX: TMM, Stock Forum) had a rough third quarter as it announced preliminary production results for the period ending September 30, 2014 noting a gold production level of 27,013 gold equivalent ounces for the period.
According to the news release, quarterly production was affected by severe storms and rainfall during September which restricted access to the pit and as a result, the company ended up processing lower grade ore from stockpiles. The heavy rainfall also caused a dilution of gold in the leaching solutions. All of which reduced the recovered ounces.
The operating team managed to maintain average crushing rates in excess of 24,000 tpd despite the adverse weather conditions and power outages.
Now that operations now back to normal, the company maintains production and cost guidance for the year with the expectation of reaching the high end of its production guidance of 115,000 to 125,000 ounces of gold equivalent.
Company President, Arturo Bonhillas, commented, “The San Francisco Mine has been operating steadily at designed capacity for several quarters. We continue to look for ways to decrease costs and increase production.”
He then concluded, “Despite the worst rainfall in over 20 years we have managed to come very close to our production target for the quarter. The exploration drill program on our high priority regional targets is continuing and we expect to provide initial drill results shortly.”
Timmins Gold was in the news recently when the Vancouver-based company announced its AGM results at the beginning of August.
Shares fell 3.42% on the news to $1.41 per share.
Currently there are 163.6m outstanding shares with a market cap of $230.6 million.