Business
Pasinex Resources Announces 2018 Production Results and 2019 Guidance for the Pinargozu Mine
TORONTO, Feb. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pasinex Resources Limited (CSE: PSE) (FSE: PNX) (“the Company”) is pleased to announce its 2018 preliminary productio
About this update from Pasinex Resources Ltd.
[{"type":"text","content":" TORONTO, Feb. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pasinex Resources Limited (CSE: PSE) (FSE: PNX) (“the Company”) is pleased to announce its 2018 preliminary production and mining costs from its Pinargozu mine along with production and cost estimates for 2019. 2018 operating highlights: Production in 2018 was 14% below our 2018 guidance (issued on April 30, 2018) due to difficult mining conditions as the mine operated in smaller discontinuous zones of mineralization impacting efficiency. Horzum AS sold approximately 38,800 wet tonnes of zinc oxide material and 4,056 wet tonnes of zinc sulphide material. Cost per tonne mined for 2018 is expected to be consistent with 2018 guidance at $200 to $220 per tonne, which should deliver a strong gross margin for Horzum AS. 2019 forecast: The production forecast for 2019 is significantly lower than 2018 production due to a transition from predominantly oxide material to the deeper, more valuable, sulphide material which requires considerable mine development to access this deeper mineralization. The mine development program commenced in October 2018 and will take approximately 9 months until June 2019 before the deeper sulphide zone is reached. The remaining resource of oxide product is currently being mined and will continue until approximately April of 2019. Production will be then be interrupted until completion of the mine development program with production commencing from the lower zinc sulphide mineralized zone in July/August 2019. It is expected that the deeper mineralization will be predominantly zinc sulphide which is higher grade and a more valuable product than the zinc oxide product (zinc sulphide demands a price about two times greater than zinc oxide). As development work is prioritized over production in 2019, the cost per tonne mined will increase because development costs are expensed against reduced production resulting in an estimated cost per tonne mined of between $450 and $500 per tonne. Costs incurred during the production downtime are not included in the cost per tonne mined guidance for 2019. It is expected that cash received from sales of production and opening inventories should sustain the Horzum AS operations during the downtime. A summary of 2018 operating results and 2019 estimates for the Pinargozu mine are as follows: Year Ended December 31, ...