Centamin Chairman Josef El-Raghy said, “The ramp-up in productivity from the process plant continued during the quarter and achieved the expanded 10-million-mt/y nameplate capacity in September with a record 882,443 mt milled, in line with our expectation. Underground mining rates remain strong, and ore grades have returned to expected levels. With scope for further increases in plant throughput during the coming quarters, and with average grades set to further increase in Q4, we maintain our full-year production guidance and continue to look forward to delivering Sukari’s long-term target of 450,000 to 500,000 oz/y from 2015 onward.”

The 160-km2 Sukari tenement area is located in southeast Egypt, approximately 700 km from Cairo and 25 km from the Red Sea. Sukari operations include a largescale open-pit mine, an underground mine, and the processing plant. The mine site is served by tarmac roads, a 35-MW power station, and a 25-km water pipeline from the Red Sea, which Centamin built during the construction phase of the project.

Sukari’s combined open-pit and underground reserves totaled 8.2 million oz of gold as of September 30, 2013. The total measured and indicated resource as of June 30, 2013, was 13.4 million oz, comprising 12.6 million oz of open-pit resource and 800,000 oz of underground resource. Total inferred resources were 1.9 million oz.