At 65,628 oz., the amount of gold produced by Royal Oak Mines (TSE) in the first quarter was less than expected. The reason: ore dilution problems at the Hope Brook mine on the southwest coast of Newfoundland.
The problem, which has since been overcome (TNM, April 12/93), resulted from unstable rib pillars associated with the blast-hole mining method used by previous operator BP Selco before the mine closed in May, 1991. Royal Oak’s first-quarter gold production from its three Canadian mines is 20% higher than in 1992, when 54,292 oz. were produced from the Timmins and Yellowknife operations. The average cost of production was US$307 for the first three months of this year, compared with US$298 per oz. in the previous year.
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