- Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX:KL) has reported strong gold production for the first three months of 2020
- A total of 330,864 ounces was produced, a 43 per cent increase over the same period in 2019 and an 18 per cent increase over the previous quarter
- Total gold poured came to 326,933 ounces, with 344,586 ounces of total gold sold thanks to substantial inventory levels
- As of March 31 this year, the company had C$739.38 million in cash with no outstanding debt
- Kirkland Lake Gold (KL) is currently up 5.37 per cent to C$49.66 per share, with a market cap of $13.77 billion
Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX:KL) has reported strong gold production for the first three months of 2020.
With operations in Canada and Australia, the company produced 974,615 ounces in 2019 from its portfolio of assets. The portfolio is built on three core projects, including the Macassa Mine and Detour Lake Mine in Northern Ontario, and the Fosterville Mine in Victoria, Australia.
Total consolidated production for the first quarter of this year was 330,864 ounces. This represents a 43 per cent increase over the 231,879 produced in the first quarter of 2019, and an 18 per cent increase over the 279,742 produced in the previous quarter.
Gold poured for the first quarter totalled 326,933 ounces, with the total amount of gold sold reported at 344,586 ounces. Kirkland Lake said that the difference between the two amounts largely came from existing inventories at its Detour Gold project.
Much of the company’s first quarter production came from its Fosterville mine, which produced 159,864 ounces, representing a 24 per cent increase over the site’s 2019 first quarter production of 128,445 ounces.
The Fosterville mine also saw a 46 per cent improvement in the average gold grade to 42.4 grams per tonne.
However, production at Kirkland Lake’s Macassa mine was down to 50,861 ounces from 72,776 ounces in the first quarter of last year.
The strong quarterly results culminated in a resilient balance sheet of C$739.38 million as of March 31, 2020, with no outstanding debt.
Operationally, the Fosterville mine is continuing to work at full capacity, with the implementation of various COVID-19 mitigation strategies. This includes remote working where possible, social distancing, increased cleaning and hygiene, and the suspension of all non-essential work.
On the other hand, the Macassa and Detour Lake mines have been operating on reduced levels following mandates from the provincial and federal governments, and are expected to resume normal operations on April 30.
Tony Makuch, President and CEO of Kirkland Lake Gold, said that the company’s top priority is the health and wellbeing of its people, their families and their communities.
“We have taken numerous steps to protect people from COVID-19, including shutting down Holt Complex and substantially reducing operations at Detour Lake and Macassa.
“Faced with the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, our operations still turned in a very strong first quarter,” he added.
Kirkland Lake Gold (KL) is currently up 5.37 per cent to C$49.66 per share at 12:53pm EST.