Copper and gold miner Sandfire Resources reported stable production for the quarter to the end of March.
Copper production during the reporting period remained stable at 16803 tons, while gold production fell slightly from 9660 ounces to 9100 ounces, compared with 16390 tons in the previous quarter.
For the full year, Sandfire forecasts production will be at the upper limit of the guidance, that is, between 67000 and 70000 tons of copper and 36000 to 40000 ounces of gold.
Carl Simich (Karl Simich), general manager and chief executive, said on Wednesday: "against the backdrop of continued strong copper prices and an optimistic outlook for the copper industry, the March quarter brought exciting progress to Sandfire on a number of fronts."
In recent weeks, several major investment banks have further improved the outlook for copper, especially against a backdrop of global decarbonization and looming chronic supply shortages, with Goldman Sachs raising its price target to $15000 a tonne by 2025.
In Australia, Sandfire's DeGrussa business delivered another 1/4 of copper and gold production, putting it on track to reach the upper end of the 2021 guidance range, Simich said.
Simich noted that the Government of Botswana is expected to issue mining licenses for the T3 project in the coming weeks, which will pave the way for full construction of the US $259 million project.
He pointed out that once the mining license is in place, the builders are ready to mobilize the site to speed up development, and T3 represents one of the few new copper mines under development in the world.
Its resources after the A4 delivery upgrade will support a feasibility study, which is scheduled to be completed in the September quarter. The A4 deposit is a key element of the strategy to rapidly expand production at the Motheo production center, increasing from the initial benchmark annual production of 3.2 million tons per year to 5.2 million tons per year.
