Metals Exploration PLC on Friday said it was pleased with performance from an operational and safety point of view, as power outages caused ongoing failures at its process plant in the Philippines.

Metals Exploration is a London-based, Philippines-focused gold producer. Its flagship project is the Runruno deposit, a conventional drill and blast open-pit mine located 205 kilometres north of Manila in the mineral rich province of Nueva Viscaya.

In the three months ended September 30, gold sales were down by 7.6% to $25.7 million from $27.8 million in the second quarter.

The company sold 14,980 ounces of gold at an average realised gold price of $1,714 per ounce, down from 14,992 ounces at $1,858. Net debt at September 30 was $92.4 million, narrowed 0.5% from $92.9 million in the last quarter.

Following delays, Metals Exploration expects gold production for the 2022 financial year to fall below previous guidance, which was between 67,000 and 71,000 ounces.

Reduced production was attributed to delayed access to higher grade materials, and to the effect of power line outages on the stability of Biox, a bacterial leaching technology that uses cultivated bacteria to convert sulphide minerals and expose gold for cyanidation.

Metals Exploration highlighted its ‘exceptional safety record’ at Runruno, with over 17.6 million hours worked without a lost-time reportable injury.

The Nueva Viscaya region experiences a tropical climate with both a wet, and hot dry season, and typhoons are commonplace, especially at this time of year.

Metals Exploration said work was able to continue on its residual storage impoundment dam-wall raise despite heavy rain, and added that the dam water freeboard remains well above design minimum levels.

‘Power outages combined with the delayed access to higher grade material in Stage 3 and a higher sulphur content than forecast have all impacted our fiancial year 2022 guidance. Notwithstanding the above, the plant is operating well and gold production in the fourth quarter of 2022 is expected to be the best quarter result for this year,’ said Chief Executive Officer Darren Bowden.

Metals Exploration shares were last traded on Thursday at 1.00 pence each.

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.