Alacer boosts production, stock rises

Alacer Gold (ASR-T, ALIAF-O) has wrung more production out of two of its gold mines, and in doing so, has made up for disappointing results from another.

The company announced that second-quarter mine production results for its operations in Turkey and Australia came in at 106,226 oz. gold, or 95,984 attributable oz. This amount represents a 6% increase over first-quarter production of 100,290 oz. gold.

The key driver behind the increase was the company’s Copler mine in Turkey, where gold production for the period was up 15% from the previous quarter to 51,212 oz., or 40,970 attributable oz.

The boost in production came thanks to the relocation of the old Copler village, which allowed the company to ramp-up mining the Marble and Main open pits.

Copler also benefitted by releasing gold from ore stacked on the leach pads during a harsh winter.

There was more good news from the company’s Higginsville mine in Australia, where gold production was up 6% to 35,227 oz. for the quarter owing to increased plant throughput and ore sourced from three mines that displaced processing low-grade ore stockpiles.

Alacer says production at Higginsville should increase throughout the year as Chalice ramps up in the coming months.

Chalice is an underground mine with development proceeding ahead of schedule. The initial development ore from the Atlas Lode was delivered to the Higginsville treatment plant in mid-June.

It wasn’t all good news, however, as gold production from the South Kalgoorlie operation in Australia was down 12% to 19,787 oz., after heavy rains made it difficult to transport ore to the Jubilee plant from the Frog’s Leg underground mine and the Triumph open-pit mine.

Alacer kept its guidance for the year between 435,000 oz. and 450,000 oz., or 396,000 oz. to 410,000 oz. on an attributable basis.

Alacer has an 80% stake in the Copler gold mine, Higginsville is wholly owned and the company has a 100% stake in the South Kalgoorlie operation, except for a 49% interest in the Frog’s Leg mine.

On July 24 — the day the news was released — Alacer shares moved up with the increase in production. Its stock rose 8%, or 41¢ to $5.61, on 618,000 shares traded.