Wafi-Golpu project to ease costs for Harmony

THE Wafi-Golpu gold/copper project in Morobe province will contribute to Harmony Gold’s aim of halving cash costs by 2023.
Chief executive officer Graham Briggs said on Wednesday copper was expected to account for as much as 70% of the revenue of the mine and with the inclusion of copper by-product credits, cash costs would come down significantly.
“The effect of bringing in copper would be significant and it should be accounted for as a credit cash cost,” he added.
Wafi-Golpu, which Harmony jointly owns with Newcrest Mining of Australia, would contribute to the miner’s target of producing 1.9 million ounces a year of gold in the long term.
Briggs stated that the copper aspect of the mine would not impact on the company’s reputation as a pure gold player, as gold/copper porphyry deposits were becoming increasingly common within the gold mining sector.
Increasing copper production and prices also assisted gold producers in lowering their cash costs.
“Most of the new big deposits in gold mining are copper/gold porphyry deposits; a lot of the international players produce about 20% of their revenue from copper.”