Shanta Gold Ltd has cut production guidance from its New Luika gold mine in Tanzania for 2021 to between 55,000 and 57,000 ounces.
The company said the reduction was due to operational difficulties relating to the supply by a third party vendor of an unreliable emulsion product and underground production charging units during the fourth quarter.
Emulsion product quality has been restored and the underground production charging units have been fixed.
"Whilst operationally we had very much remained on track to meet our 60,000-65,000 ounces guidance for 2021, the challenges wholly relating to our emulsion product and production charging units supplier means we've had to temporarily change our underground mining sequence to prioritise ore development headings with lower grades rather than mining from stopes that were available,” said Shanta chief Eric Zurrin.
"Positively, following increased grade control drilling at New Luika underground deposits over the last six months, reconciliation of mined ounces has been pleasing and averaged plus-four per cent versus the grade control model. This continues to point to the long-term value opportunity created by New Luika in the Shanta portfolio.”
Shanta has cash and available liquidity of US$24.7mln at 30 November 2021, plus operating cash flow from unhedged gold sales. Shanta's negligible debt position of US$1.4 million provides significant additional liquidity on the balance sheet.
"Growth projects at Singida and West Kenya continue on track and we look forward to providing a resource update in early 2022 for the latter," added Zurrin.