Detour Gold slammed on revised mine plan

Shares of Detour Gold (TSX: DGC) plunged 30% after the company forecast life-of-mine costs could rise significantly at its Detour Lake open pit gold mine in Ontario, 300 km northeast of Timmins. The preliminary cost review — which will be finalized in June — puts life-of-mine (2018-40) cash costs at US$810-850 per oz., up from US$747 per oz. envisioned in the 2017 mine plan. The new mine plan also delays development of the north pit to 2026, a deferral of about 150,000 oz. gold to beyond the 2019-23 time frame. In an effort to balance out near term production, the revised mine plan calls for an increase of 50,000 oz. of gold per year from 2019-20 (brought forward from the 2021-22 time frame envisioned in the March 2017 mine plan). This will “smooth” projected gold production over the 2019-23 period to an average of about 600,000 oz., reducing the significant variation in production under the 2017 LOM plan. Continue reading at The Northern Miner.