SEEINGCLEARLY
Keeping production strong and costs down
CAMPBELL BAIRD
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
FOCUS MINERALS LTD
Focus Minerals has moved rapidly and with purpose to become
an established gold producer in the heart of Western Australia’s
historic Eastern Goldfields with an exciting suite of prospective
exploration tenements.
Focus now has four mines and produced 176,632 ounces of
gold in FY2012 – a 140% increase from the previous year.
“
Over the next 12 months we will continue to deliver
consistent cash costs with a strong focus on operational
improvements and efficiencies, and also continue to deliver
stable production,” said Chief Executive Officer Campbell Baird.
During FY2012, Focus completed the acquisition of Crescent
Gold to create a group with a 4.3 million ounce gold resource
and two processing hubs located in two of Australia’s largest
gold producing regions, Laverton and Coolgardie.
Focus’ Laverton operation is a large scale open pit mining
operation, with two main mining centres. It is currently
processing through the 3.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa)
Barrack Granny Smith mill. Focus also has the 1.45Mtpa
Barnicoat plant on care and maintenance.
The Coolgardie operations include two underground and
two open pit operations, with 1.2Mtpa of ore being put through
the group’s Three Mile Hill plant. Mr Baird said the focus at
Fast-tracked development at the
Apollo mining centre in Laverton
Coolgardie over the next 12 months will be to move the Tindals
underground operation to the new Greenfields open cut.
Focus took control of the Laverton operations in the
September quarter of 2011 and has undertaken a significant
turnaround of the asset.
“
Before we took control of Laverton, the asset had
underperformed and had been starved of funds,” said Mr
Baird. “We injected $17 million into the operations in the past
nine months, with all funds internally generated from group
cash balances.”
Production at Laverton has now increased to more than
500,000
tonnes per quarter, up from 200,000 tonnes per
quarter, with cash costs reduced to $1,200 per ounce from more
than $1,600 per ounce.
Mr Baird said the foundations at Laverton have now
been laid for production stability of 20,000 to 25,000 ounces
of gold per quarter. The operation’s future development
pipeline will include the development of the Burtville mining
centre, with subsequent attention on Admiral Hill, Calypso and
Fish Underground.
“
Sustainable cash cost savings are being driven at Laverton,”
said Mr Baird.
At Coolgardie, Focus has transformed its production base.
The company produced 89,959 ounces of gold in FY2012,
ramping up two new production centres (Tindals open pits
and The Mount underground) and increasing quarterly gold
production by 40%.
There has also been a focus on operating costs. “New power
contracts and laboratory savings have delivered combined
annual savings of almost $1.5 million, while reagent and
consumables savings in the past six months are the equivalent
of an annual saving of $1.2 million a year,” said Mr Baird.
Focus commenced its Greenfields new open pit centre in the
fourth quarter of 2012. Greenfields will provide the base load for
the Three Mile Hill mill over the next two years.
Mr Baird also said that Focus had the potential to significantly
grow its resource base through targeted exploration. “Our large
landholding and 4.3 million ounce resource base provides great
optionality to provide future development,” he said.
Focus’ main areas of exploration are the Laverton and
Chatterbox Shear, Greater Coolgardie and the Treasure Island
gold project on the Boulder-Lefroy Fault.
“
We have delivered strong growth over the past four years to
now be in a position where we can deliver consistent production,
as well as capture the benefits of our exciting exploration work.
We are very well placed,” said Mr Baird.
MINESITE 2012
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