Shanta Gold Ltd (LON:SHG) said it produced 20,167 ounces of gold from its Tanzanian operations during the first quarter of 2020, up from the 19,550 ounces produced in the fourth quarter of 2019.
In its first-quarter production update, Shanta also said its earnings rang in at US$15mln, and cash and available liquidity were boosted to US$15.7mln.
The company mined its gold at an all-in sustaining cost of US$833 per ounce, against a gold price that neared multi-year highs during the period. It expects to produce between 80,000 and 85,000 ounces of gold at all-in costs of between US$830 and US$880 per ounce during 2020.
Shanta also acquired Barrick Gold’s Kenyan assets in the period, with the closing of that transaction expected around the middle of this year.
Shanta's teams of employees and contractors are almost exclusively Tanzanian nationals, leading to minimal impact from the suspension of international travel and no reliance on fly-in fly-out operators during the coronavirus pandemic.
The group has also pledged to donate US$43mln-worth of medical equipment to the government of Tanzania to help fight the virus, in addition to ongoing deployment of investments in community health, infrastructure, education and livelihood programmes.
What’s more, the company's medical team is helping to educate local communities to reduce the potential for transmission of the disease.
The company also revealed that it has extended the maturity date of its outstanding convertible loan notes to April 2021.