CENTAMIN, the Egyptian gold miner, has targeted gold production of 470,000 to 500,000 ounces for the 2024 financial year after meeting guidance last year and beating the firm’s cost targets.
Production for the UK-listed firm’s 2023 financial year totalled 450,058 oz after registering fourth quarter output of 128,127 oz. The stand out performance was all in sustaining costs however which came in at $1,220/oz beating the bottom end of guidance by $30/oz.
Martin Horgan, CEO of Centamin described the firm’s outlook as growth driven. Commenting on prospects for this year, he said: “Our strategic focus remains on growth as we continue to define and convert resources to reserves at Sukari, build on our recent exploration success at EDX and progress towards a financial investment decision at Doropo in Cote d’Ivoire”.
Earlier in January, Centamin said maiden drill results from a 3,000km² package of land – known as Eastern Desert Exploration – and located in Egypt’s Nubian Shield gold belt were “encouraging”.
“Supported by a pending new mining regulatory and fiscal regime, these results underpin Egypt’s emergence as an attractive exploration jurisdiction which Centamin is uniquely positioned to leverage given our experience and long-standing position in-country,” the company said.
Egypt has been working on liberalising its mining sector. At the Future Minerals Forum, held in Saudi Arabia in January, Egypt signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia on mining prospects.
“It is promising to see Saudi Arabia’s willingness to collaborate across the international mining landscape through the signing of these MOU’s, particularly in Egypt,” said Horgan.
“Given the significant geological prospectivity of the Arabian Nubian Shield, collaboration between Saudi Arabia and Egypt will provide economic and social benefits for both countries,” he said.
