Improved gold production boosts Echo Bay profit

For the year, Echo Bay produced 585,000 oz of gold compared to 500,500 oz in 1987. Silver production increased to one million oz from 446,300 oz in the previous year. Echo Bay’s average realized price for gold was $440 per oz.

The increase in gold output helped offset higher cash operating costs of $212 per oz, up from $207 per oz in 1987. Strong fourth quarter results suggest that Echo Bay will be capable of reaching its objective of 725,000 oz of gold production this year. During the last quarter of 1988, the company increased gold production by 20% over that produced in the comparable quarter in 1987. The Lupin mine, for example, produced a record of more than 200,000 oz of gold in 1988. Lupin was Echo Bay’s first gold mine and created the foundation for the company’s rapid growth.

Production increases will come from expansions under way at two of the company’s largest mines. At the McCoy-Cove mines in Nevada, production increased from less than 90,000 oz of gold in 1987 to 104,000 oz last year. A major expansion program will increase output to 330,000 oz in 1990.

At Round Mountain, the world’s largest heap leach mine, also in Nevada, production will increase to 320,000 oz in 1989 from 234,000 oz last year. A new mine near Republic, Wash., is slated to enter production in 1990. The Kettle River mine will produce 110,000 oz of gold during the first two years of its operating life, thereafter declining to 85,000 oz per year.

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