Rio Alto's Peruvian Gold output to rise this year

Gold  |  2012-08-08 09:41:10   |   By

The La Arena mine of Canadian gold producer Rio Alto Mining Ltd. (RIO.T, RIOAF) in northern Peru to produce 190,000 ounces to 210,000 ounces of gold this year.

LIMA(Scrap Monster): The La Arena mine of Canadian gold producer Rio Alto Mining Ltd. (RIO.T, RIOAF) in northern Peru to produce 190,000 ounces to 210,000 ounces of gold this year. Peru is the world's sixth-biggest producer of gold and also a major producer of copper, silver and zinc.

The company had previously forecast that La Arena would produce 150,000 ounces to 160,000 ounces of gold in 2012. The mine produced 114,054 ounces of gold in the first six months of this year.

The cash costs at La Arena should be about $500 to $550 per ounce of gold in 2012. Production at La Arena began in 2011.

In its last quarter, Rio Alto's biggest yet, it produced 56,000 ounces gold and more than doubled cash holdings to $71 million.

Rio Alto has produced 118,103 ounces gold so far this year, about 26,000 ounces more than mine plan. In the second quarter Rio Alto mined 1.1 million tonnes at 1.25 g/t gold versus a mine plan of 2.2 million tonnes at 0.63 g/t Au.

The production boost in the second quarter was much the same in the first quarter this year. In the first half this year Rio Alto has mined 2.4 million tonnes 1.29 g/t Au versus mine plan of 4.3 million tonnes at 0.66 g/t Au.