Golden Star Resources (TSX: GSC; NYSE: GSS) has boosted the inferred resource at its Father Brown gold project in Ghana 93% to 2.3 million tonnes grading 6.4 grams gold per tonne for 474,743 oz. gold. It also updated the project's indicated resource, which now totals 981,465 tonnes at 7.5 grams gold for 237,897 oz. gold.
Father Brown consists of the Father Brown and Adoikrom pits, which the company mined from 2011 to 2015, processing roughly 2.2 million tonnes at 4 grams gold to produce 300,000 oz. gold. It's located 85 km along an existing haul road from the company's Wassa plant. The updated resource incorporates 18 new holes Golden Star drilled totaling over 8,800 metres.
The company produced and sold less gold in 2018 than it did in 2017. It recorded lower gold revenues and a net $18 million loss attributable to shareholders, compared to a net $38 million gain the year before.
In a prepared statement, company president and CEO Sam Coetzer characterized 2018 as a year "of transition," when Golden Star "began to cease open pit mining and worked towards being an underground only producer."
Golden Star sold 12,307 oz. gold from its Wassa Main pit, compared to 75,644 oz. gold the year before. It sold 137,261 oz. gold from Wassa Underground, however, compared to 61,498 oz. gold the year before.
Overall, the company produced 224,784 oz. gold in 2018, down from 267,565 oz. the year before; it sold 224,979 oz. gold, down from 267,335 oz. gold the year before. Its all-in sustaining costs also rose from $944 per oz. gold in 2017 to $1,107 per oz. gold in 2018.
The company expects to produce between 220,000 and 240,000 oz. gold in 2019 at $875-$955 all-in sustaining costs.
This story first appeared in The Northern Miner.