Gold miner OceanaGold has turned last year's $46 million first- half loss into a $75m profit, following record production at its West Coast and Otago mines.
New Zealand's largest gold producer mined 158,277 ounces of gold in the six months to June 30, compared with 121,124 ounces during the same period last year.
Announcing its second-quarter and half-year results yesterday, OceanaGold said it had received encouraging results from samples taken in a bid to increase the life of the Macraes mine in Otago. Analysis of more than 400 samples was likely to lead to targeted drilling in the second half of this year.
The first-half results showed OceanaGold sold 156,412 ounces of gold in the past six months, up 24 per cent on the same time last year. Sales were made at an average price of US$705 (NZ$1083) an ounce. It cost the company US$349 to mine each ounce, giving it an average operating cash margin of US$356 an ounce. Second-quarter gold sales of 75,319 ounces were up 28 per cent on the same period last year.
OceanaGold reported a profit after tax for the half year of US$49m, up from a loss of US$30m in the half year to June 30, 2008.
Gold sales contributed US$110m in the first half, down from US$115m.