Gran Colombia Gold raises 2019 production guidance

Colombia’s largest underground gold and silver producer, Gran Colombia, (TSX: GCM) raised its production guidance on Thursday and is now projecting output at 225,000-240,000 ounces of gold for 2019, up from its previous guidance of 210,000-225,000 ounces.

The decision to lift its full-year guidance was made in response to Gran Colombia’s second quarter operating results. The Toronto-based miner produced 57,882 ounces of gold during Q2 2019, a 9% improvement over the same quarter last year. For the first half of 2019, gold production increased by 12% year-on-year to 118,483 ounces.

Strong performance in Q2 was led by its flagship Segovia operations, the company said. Segovia, spanning an area of approximately 9,000 hectares in the Segovia-Remedios mining district of Antioquia, produced 51,625 ounces in Q2, up 10% from the second quarter of 2018. For the first six months of 2019, Segovia produced 106,011 ounces, 13% more than last year’s first half production.

Earlier this year, Gran Colombia boosted the mineral resource and reserve estimates for Segovia. Reserves now stand at 1.9 million tonnes grading 11 g/t for 688,000 ounces, which were 4% higher than what the company had detected by the end of 2017. Measured and indicated resources also increased by 7% over 2017 figures.

At the company’s other Colombian operation, Marmato, gold production in Q2 2019 reached 6,257 ounces, up 7% over the prior-year quarter. For H1 2019, Marmato produced 12,472 ounces, 4% more than the first half last year.