stockwatch.com Patrick Godin's New Gold Inc. (NGD) lost four cents to $1.68 on 1.11 million shares on word of its "inaugural three-year operational outlook" covering its Rainy River and New Afton mines -- operations that have produced as much bad news as good over the past decade. At Rainy River in Northwestern Ontario, the company expects steadily improving production, with the mine to yield between 250,000 and 280,000 ounces in 2024 and between 315,000 and 355,000 ounces during 2026. The mine managed nearly 260,000 ounces in 2023, hitting the upper end of its guidance, which had called for between 235,000 and 265,000 ounces.
At New Afton, New Gold is predicting production at between 60,000 and 70,000 ounces of gold and between 650 million and 60 million pounds of copper this year -- totals that will grow steadily to between 95,000 and 105,000 ounces of gold and 71 million to 81 million pounds of copper by 2026. Meanwhile, the mine managed 64,000 ounces of gold production last year along with 47 million pounds of copper, exceeding guidance on gold and nearly doing so on copper.
And so, perhaps New Gold's woes are behind it, although veteran investors will recall the heady days of 2011, when the company's stock traded north of $14 in eager anticipation of nothing but good cheer from Rainy River. Unfortunately, while current forecasts call for the mine to hit feasibility expectations, those expectations are nearly a decade late, as delays, construction cost overruns and teething problems took their toll.