Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/1125235
52 www.resourceworld.com J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 1 9 MINING PRETIUM RESOURCES INC. [PVG-TSX, NYSE] posted higher production and lower operating costs during the first quarter of 2019 at its wholly-owned Brucejack under- ground gold mine in the Golden Triangle region of northwestern British Columbia, about 65 km northwest of Stewart. The company's first quarter operating summary impressed investors and analysts alike with reported production of 79,180 ounces of gold with a mill feed grade of 8.7 g/t gold. The All-In-Sustaining-Cost (AISC) was US $868/oz of gold sold. With 81,434 ounces sold, Pretium generated US $103.1 million in revenue for Q1. This resulted in US $16.1 million in adjusted earnings which translated to $0.09 per share and generated almost US $40 million in cash from operations. The company reported that due to its continued cash build it was able to reduce its debt by US $20 million ahead of schedule. Its cash position at the end of the quarter was US $50.9 million. The increased gold production was a 5% improvement over the comparable quarter last year which was 75,689 ounces at a mill feed grade of 9.1 g/t gold. The decrease in average grade was reported to be the result of mine sequencing through a lower-grade area. Pretium expects grades to increase during the second half 2019. Gold recoveries during the first quarter 2018 were 96.8%, the same as in the com - parable quarter last year. Pretium received permits last year that allowed it to increase its production rate by 40% up to 3,800 tonnes/day (tpd). In order to supply ore to the mill at that rate, expansion of underground operations was necessary. As a result, the company increased its underground development rate from 700 metres per month to 1,000 metres per month to provide access to more stopes. In March, the mine achieved a development rate of 928 metres per month and expects to reach its goal later this year. One of the main upgrades to the mill that will help with the throughput increase was implementing a switch from bagging flotation concentrate to bulk loading concentrate. This work paid off as witnessed by the impressive first quarter results. Daily aver - age ore milled was 3,279 tpd – not far from achieving the company's targeted 3,800 tpd production rate. "Brucejack delivered another profit- able quarter and generated free cash flow," Pretium's Brucejack Mine generates US $40 million in Q1 by Thomas Schuster