Gold producer Resolute Mining is the latest miner to feel the crunch of the falling gold price, deferring $US113 million of spending at its Syama gold mine in west Africa and reviewing its operations to cut costs.
Resolute said today that while production remained on track to exceed its previous guidance of 415,000 ounces, prevailing gold market conditions had forced it to defer an expansion of operations at the Syama mine for 18 months.
The price of gold briefly fell below the $US1,200 mark in overnight trade last night.
Resolute said it would spend $US61 million at the Syama operation in the 2014 financial year, with $US113 million deferred.
Resolute’s exploration budget for FY2014 has been set at $US15 million.
“Resolute has maintained an ongoing commitment to cash management, ensuring the company remains in a strong financial position,” chief executive Peter Sullivan said.
“We are in the fortunate position of having considerable flexibility in our operations to be able to generate cash over a wide range of adverse gold price movements and we will continue to apply a cautious and disciplined approach to how we deploy it.”
At 1:15PM, WST, Resolute shares were down 1.65 per cent, at 59.5 cents.
