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Wesdome Gold Mines Announces 2022 First Quarter Results and Appointment of Chief Operating Officer
Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX: WDO) (“Wesdome” or the “Company”) today announces first quarter (“Q1 2022”) financial results. All figures are stated in Canadian
About this update from Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd.
[{"type":"text","content":" Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX: WDO) (“Wesdome” or the “Company”) today announces first quarter (“Q1 2022”) financial results. All figures are stated in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted. Duncan Middlemiss, President and CEO commented, “In Q1, with combined production of 25,611 ounces we increased cash flow from operations by 36%, and cash margins by 39% over the same period last year, ending the quarter with $52.5 million in cash. This is sufficient to fund our final year of elevated growth capex as we finish projects related to the ramp up at Kiena, such as the fleet purchase, tailings dam, and paste fill plant construction. It was a challenging quarter due to the unpredictable supply chain, inflationary pressures seen across the industry, as well as the Omicron variant surge which impacted work force availability. Q1 production at Kiena was impacted by the unscheduled downtime of the underground crusher (since rectified) and the delay in the delivery of underground mobile equipment, which was received at the end of the quarter. Ground conditions within the Kiena Deep A Zone, specifically the schist and komatiite rock types which are in the foot wall of the zone, are challenging as expected. We look forward to the completion of the paste fill plant (now expected to be commissioned in the summer) in order to speed up our production cycle and mitigate delays. While the Kiena restart is generally progressing as planned, the aforementioned challenges have impacted various aspects of the project to date. The addition of paste fill capabilities in Q3 will have significant production benefits. Wesdome is very fortunate to have commenced this start up activity in June of 2021, as most major components critical to commercial restart of operations have now been received at site. Combined cash costs for the quarter of $1,295 per ounce (US $1,023) and AISC costs of $1,695 per ounce (US$1,339) were higher than the upper end of full-year guidance ranges due to planned lower production (the low for 2022)) and increased corporate and general expenses. A more detailed breakdown of costs for each operation is provided in the table below. Free cash outflow was $6.8 million, net of an investment of $28.4 million in Kiena, or ($0.05) per share. The Company expects to return to positive free cash flow status in the second half of t...