US gold output sags as low grades at Barrick, Midas mine sale weigh

Photo by Duane Daws

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – US gold mine output during the first nine months had slid 7% year-over-year, hurt in part by lower production from the world’s two largest gold miners by output, Toronto-based Barrick Gold and Denver-headquartered Newmont Mining.

In its latest ‘Mineral Industry Surveys’ report, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported that Barrick’s Cortez mine, in northern Nevada, produced 21 600 kg in the nine-month period to September, 36% less than in the same time period in 2013, owing to a lower ore grade.
Newmont’s Nevada operations produced 34 600 kg, a 10% decline over the same period last year. The C$83-million sale of the Midas mine and mill to Klondex Mines earlier this year, and a development phase that would increase waste stripping and decrease mill throughput at several mines impacted the company’s output over the period, the report had found.
The production decreases were partially offset by Rio Tinto’s Bingham Canyon copper/molybdenum mine, near Salt Lake City, Utah, which increased output as the operation continued to recover from the April 2013 land slide. Gold output at Bingham Canyon totalled 7 060 kg in the none-month period, an increase of 70% over the same period of 2013.
For September, the USGS reported total US gold output of 18 000 kg, down 5% quarter-on-quarter, and down 8% year-on-year.
Based on unrounded data, the average daily gold output for US mines was 601 kg in September, 611 kg in August, and 582 kg for first 9 months of 2014.
Domestic gold output during the third quarter ended September was 56 000 kg, 9% and 8% greater than in the first and second quarters of 2014, respectively.
The total recorded US gold imports for the nine months to September were slightly greater than those of the same period in 2013. Imports of refined bullion increased and more than offset a decrease in imports of doré, precipitates, ores, and concentrates.
Total exports of gold for the nine-month period declined 41% year-over-year, with significant decreases for all source categories.
Gold waste and scrap trade in the first three quarter was 83% and 79% lower for imports and exports, respectively, compared with the same period in 2013. The decreases in waste and scrap trade and in exports of refined gold were attributed to lower gold prices and the historically high gold trading in 2013.