A Semafo (TSX: OMX) employee and a subcontractor are dead after armed bandits shot at a bus transporting the company’s workers 80 km from the town of Bobo-Dioulasso to the Mana mine in Burkina Faso.
The shootings on Aug. 17 were preceded on Aug. 13 by the death of five gendarmes and a subcontractor travelling between Semafo’s Boungou mine and the town of Fada.
The company says it doesn’t believe the killings are related and has increased security measures at both operations.
The Mana mine, 260 km southwest of the capital Ouagdougou, is the country’s third-largest mine and has produced about 1.8 million ounces of gold since its first gold pour in 2008.
Semafo’s Boungou mine poured its first gold at the end of June and is expected to be in commercial production before the end of the third quarter of 2018.
This year the company expects the Boungou mine will produce about 75,000 ounces of gold at all-in sustaining costs of about US$1,020-1,070 per oz.
The Mana mine is forecast to produce 175,000-195,000 ounces of gold at all-in sustaining costs of US$545-570 per oz.
In the three months ended June 30, Semafo produced a total of 45,000 ounces of gold, down from 47,600 ounces of gold in the same period of 2017.
AISCs came in at US$1,103 per oz. in the second quarter, up from US$1,074 per oz. in the same quarter last year.
The company posted an adjusted net loss attributable to shareholders of US$6.3 million (2¢ per share) compared to an adjusted net loss of US$2.9 million (1¢ per share) in the second quarter of 2017.
The West Africa-focused gold producer’s shares were trading at $2.86 per share at press time, down from $3.74 per share at the beginning of August.
Semafo hit a 52-week low of $2.73 per share after news of the latest armed attack. The company reached a 52-week high of $4.14 per share in April.
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