Thor Explorations Ltd on Wednesday reduced its full-year production forecast, as third-quarter mining volumes declined following bad weather.

The West Africa-focused mineral exploration company reduced its full-year production guidance to 85,000 ounces of gold from its previous forecast of between 95,000 ounces and 100,000 ounces. This was the result of ‘extreme rainfall’, delays in mining and the late installation of its new SAG Mill liner.

Thor Explorations also reduced its all-in sustaining cost, or AISC, guidance to between $800 and $900, following the implementation of cost reductions and lower mining volumes in the year to date.

The company mined a total of 4.0 million tonnes across all its sites in the third quarter, dropping 30% from 5.7 million tonnes last year and falling 15% from 4.7 million tonnes in the second quarter.

Ore processed fell 23% to 201,958 tonnes from 261,671 tonnes last year, but rose 16% from 174,000 in the second quarter.

At the Segilola Gold mine in Nigeria, the company reported 20,110 ounces of gold poured. It produced 201,958 tonnes of gold, which were milled at an average grade of 3.22 grams per tonne of gold. This multiplied up from 19,104 ounces of gold produced at an average of 2.46 grams per tonne of gold in the third quarter of 2023.

Chief Executive Officer Segun Lawson said: ‘This has been a challenging quarter for the company. Operating at Segilola, we have been impacted by extreme weather conditions with a heavy and prolonged rainy season and have also been disrupted by a fly-rock incident and logistics delays early in the period.

‘Corporately, we are continuing our engagement with the relevant Federal ministries, including the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development to resolve the unfounded accusations, demands and disruptive actions instigated against us by the Osun State government and look forward to a full resolution by the end of the year. Despite our challenges, which have ultimately resulted in a lower guidance for the year, we are pleased to have poured over 20,000 ounces of gold in the period whilst further reducing our AISC guidance for the year.’

Shares in Thor Explorations were down 6.6% at 14.71 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

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