Centamin Egypt Limited 3rd Quarter Preliminary Production Results
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 10/11/11 -- Centamin Egypt Limited ('Centamin' or 'the Company') (TSX: CEE)(LSE: CEY) is pleased to announce its preliminary production results from its Sukari Gold Project in Egypt for the quarter ended 30 September 2011.
Total gold production for the quarter was 50,539 ounces, a 67% increase from the corresponding quarter last year and a 5% increase on the previous quarter's production. The resultant gold production was underpinned by record quarterly throughput in the Sukari process plant of 964kt (59% higher than the corresponding quarter last year and 13% higher than the previous quarter), as the ramp up to higher production rates progressed post-Stage 3 commissioning.
Open pit and underground production rates returned to budgeted production rates with the resumption of regular delivery and issuing of blasting products for the mine in late July. The open pit delivered greater than 2.2Mt per month material movement for both August and September (compared with 1.2Mt in July) and underground ore production for the quarter increased to 58,000t (up 35% on Q2 2011). With higher material movements from the open pit, the run of mine ore stockpile balance increased by 168kt to 456kt by the end of the quarter.
Centamin remains on track to reach target production of 200-210,000oz at a cash cost of approximately $550/oz in 2011.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
September 2011
Quarter June 2011 September 2010
(estimate) Quarter Quarter
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Material Movement
- Open Pit (kt) 5,747 3,030 4,916
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Process Plant
Throughput (kt) 964 850 605
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Underground Ore
Production (kt) 58 43 -
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gold Produced (oz) 50,539 47,991 30,243
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josef El-Raghy, Chairman of Centamin, said: 'The Company is pleased with the return to normal operations, the rapidly improving performance of the process plant and the consistent development and maturing of the underground operation, which positions Sukari well for a strong and consistent performance in the future.'
Notice of Results
Centamin will announce its results for the quarter ended 30 September 2011 (Q3) on Monday, 31 October 2011. The announcement will be screened via the Regulatory News Service of the London Stock Exchange at 7am (UK time). A conference call with the Centamin management team will be held at 11am (UK time) on the day of the Q3 results announcement. Dial in details for the conference call will be announced at the time of the Q3 results.
ABN 86 007 700 352
Contacts:
Centamin Egypt Limited
Josef El-Raghy
Executive Chairman
61 8 9316 2640 or 20 3 5411 259
Centamin Egypt Limited
Katharine Sutton
Head of Investor Relations
61 8 9316 2640 or 20 3 5411 259
katharine.sutton@centamin.com
www.centamin.com
Buchanan
Bobby Morse
44 (0) 20 7466 5000
Buchanan
Gabriella Clinkard
44 (0) 20 7466 5000