Rio Results...Excellent Rio posted their year end financials along with the MD&A. I have cut and paste some excerpts below -check out that gold production in the December quarter:
The La Arena Gold Mine started pre-production on May 6, 2011 and produced 51,396 ounces of gold in the period ended December 31, 2011.
Rio Alto’s objectives for 2012 are to:
? Further expand capacity at the La Arena Gold Mine to 36,000 tpd of ore to the leach pad;
? Replace mined gold oxide resources through exploration;
? Produce between 150,000 and 160,000 ounces of gold;
? Expand the copper-gold sulphide resource and reserve through exploration;
? Infill drill the first five years of anticipated copper-gold sulphide production as part of the feasibility study;
? Advance the copper-gold sulphide feasibility study toward completion;
? Review project and corporate development opportunities;
? Continue to improve the community relations, environment, and safety teams; and
? Complete these objectives without diluting shareholders.
During early 2012 the production expansion program of the La Arena Gold Mine started. One of the key elements of the program is to build a tunnel for 100-tonne trucks under the highway that runs through the La Arena Project area. Permission for this tunnel was received on February 6, 2012. The estimated cost of expanding production to 36,000 tpd of ore to pad is $25 million most of which will be spent during the first half of 2012.
Exploration continues with 5 diamond drill (“DD”) rigs and 2 reverse circulation (“RC”) drilling rigs on site. The drilling plan is for approximately 60,000 meters of DD and 25,000 meters of RC for an estimated total cost of $19.5 million during the year.
The Company’s cash balance at December 31, 2011 was $25.9 million, which was an increase of $14.4 million from the year ended May 31, 2011. Working capital of $35.0 million (including the IGV receivable of $25.6 million) at December 31, 2011 increased by $14.7 million from $20.3 million at May 31, 2011 due to the drawdown of $28.5 million from RKE, offset by operating and continued development costs.