Gold production at the Moris mine in northern Mexico enabled Manhattan Minerals (MAN-T) to post earnings of $199,000 (or 1 cents per share) on revenue of $4.8 million for the first six months of 1998.
By comparison, the company reported a loss of $279,000 (1 cents per share) on revenue of $1.4 million in the first half of 1997.
The mine, situated in Chihuahua state, produced 6,123 oz. gold in the second quarter of 1998, compared with 4,310 oz. in the corresponding period last year. Cash costs were $212 per oz., giving a year-to-date average of $206 per oz.
Manhattan realized a gold price of $388 per oz. in the recent quarter and in the year to date.
Despite some challenges from unusually high rainfall in July, operators expect production will be maintained in the second half of the year at current unit costs.
The open-pit, heap-leach operation entered production in early 1996 and is expected to crank out 30,000 oz. gold annually over the next six to seven years. The long-term cash operating cost is pegged at US$183 per oz.
Moris has a minable reserve of 4.7 million tonnes grading 1.93 grams gold per tonne, at a stripping ratio of 1.2-to-1.
The mine comprises three contiguous, outcropping areas of mineralization, which have been eroded and cut by several valleys. These have taken the form of a mineralized, quartz-carbonate vein and associated breccia system within a north-south-trending, westerly dipping fault structure that is up to 120 ft. wide and 4,300 ft. long.
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