Veladero pours early (September 15, 2005)

Barrick Gold (ABX-T) has poured its first gold at the Veladero open-pit mine in San Juan province, Argentina, earlier than expected.

Mine commissioning is wrapping up, with commercial production slated for early October. Production for 2005 is forecast at up to 55,000 oz., with average annual production of 700,000 oz. at total cash costs of US$200 apiece between 2006 and 2008.

Veladero is expected to come in on budget at US$540 million.

At the end of 2004, Veladero had proven and probable reserves of 396.5 million tons grading 0.032 oz. per ton, for 12.8 million contained ounces. The reserves are good enough to support a mine life of 16 years. Overall resources total 21.8 million tons running 0.021 oz. per ton.

Veladero brings to three the number of mines Barrick has put into production recently. The company’s 70%-owned Tulawaka mine in Tanzania cranked up in the first quarter of 2005 and the Lagunas Norte mine in Peru began ahead of schedule in the second quarter. Barrick expects the Cowal gold project in Central New South Wales, Australia, to begin operations in early 2006.

In all, company-wide production for 2005 is forecast at up to 5.5 million oz. of gold at total cash costs of around US$230 apiece.

Looking ahead, Barrick expects the million-ounce East Archimedes project in Nevada to begin producing in mid-2007, followed by the high-altitude, 17.6-million-ounce Pascua-Lama project straddling the Chile-Argentine border in 2009.