VIDEO: Goldcorp doesn’t want to repeat missteps

Last summer the world’s second largest miner said gold production would drop 8% due to problems at both Penasquito and Red Lake.

“If you look at last year, our misstep on production, it’s something we don’t want to repeat and so we have done a lot of hard work in terms of our forecasting and our enterprise risk management,” said Burns.

The Penasquito Mine was slowed by lack of water in June due to a prolonged drought in the region. The company says it is drilling more wells and trying to increase water reclamation.

“In terms of Penasquito a shortfall in water availability and an order for us to continue to ramp up the operation was a stumbling block last year,” said Burns.

“We are making good progress in terms of a study on finding additional water and finding ways to conserve. Our guidance is that we will complete that study in the second quarter of this year. In the meantime we have sufficient water to meet our guidance for this year and next year.

“I am comfortable with where I am at and looking forward to the completion of the feasibility study.

Red Lake Production was affected by the need for rock de-stressing cuts and inconsistent mineralization.

“At Red Lake we have lowered our guidance. That guidance is something we can execute on and build on.”

Goldcorp is also planning gold production out of Cerro Negro in Argentina, a jurisdiction that has proved problematic for some miners.

“In Argentina it’s a bit of a challenge, to be honest. We’ve got labour issues that can be challenging at times,” said Burns.

“There is some uncertainty regarding the peso and potential devaluation in the future. In terms of our operating metrics that are critical to me, our underground developments are going very well.

“Our ore bodies are reconciling and our big focus is to continue that underground development and to get the mill built this year. Our plan is to start the mill up at the end of the year. Really that is one of our critical deliverables this year.”