Centerra Gold projects $5 billion in revenue from Kumtor open pit mine

Tough environment

Centerra Gold updated its technical report today for the Kumtor Mine, located in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Highlights from the news release were the following:

Using a gold price of $1,000 per ounce, the Kumtor open-pit LOM plan has been used to project the net cash flow for the open pit operations for the period of January 1, 2011 to 2021. Total gross revenue from the sale of gold and minor silver credits are estimated to be nearly $5.0 billion while direct operating costs are estimated to be $1.9 billion or $385 per recovered ounce of gold produced. After further capital investments of $405 million of sustaining and expansion capital, $505 million pre-strip capital, and the payment of revenue-based taxes of $699 million in accordance with the Agreement on New Terms, the resulting net cash flow for the Kumtor Project is estimated to be approximately $1.5 billion dollars.

Capital expenditure of $405 million includes $244 million for sustaining capital, mostly related to the maintenance or replacement of current open-pit mining equipment, and $161 million of expansion capital, mostly related to the purchase of additional mining equipment and expansion of the tailings management facility.

In 2011, costs related to the ongoing exploration are estimated to be $12.4 million. The underground development and infill drilling project is estimated to be $52 million for 2011. Neither of these are considered in the cash flow projection.

Image from Centerra Gold, Technical Report on the Kumtor Gold Project, Kyrgyz Republic