Kirkland Hits Gold Production Record in Final Quarter of 2018

Gold miner Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX:KL,NYSE:KL,ASX:KLA) set records for 2018 fourth-quarter and yearly gold production, the company announced on Tuesday (January 8).

Kirkland produced 230,993 ounces of gold in Q4 2018, which is 28 percent higher than the prior record of 180,155 ounces that the miner put out in the third quarter of last year.

“2018 was an outstanding year for Kirkland Lake Gold. We achieved record production of 723,477 ounces and, just as important, embarked on a program of growth that could see the company achieve a million ounces of annual, low-cost gold production as early as 2021,” said President and CEO Tony Makuch.

Last year’s output was driven by record quarterly production at the Fosterville mine, which accumulated 124,307 ounces, and at the Macassa mine, which produced 69,936 ounces of the yellow metal. Kirkland’s Holt mine contributed 67,770 ounces, while the Taylor mine saw output of 58,633 ounces.

“A key part of our progress has been the continued transformation of Fosterville into one of the world’s greatest gold mining operations,” Makuch explained.

“As clearly demonstrated in Q4 2018, we continue to see much greater levels of high-grade quartz-veins with visible gold at Fosterville than had previously been estimated, which was the main driver of the mine’s substantial outperformance during the quarter,” he continued.

In terms of total production for last year, Kirkland reported output of 723,477 ounces, which is 21 percent higher than the 596,405 ounces produced in 2017. Production increased for each of the miner’s properties during 2018, with a gain of 35 percent at Fosterville, 24 percent at Macassa, 16 percent at Taylor and 2 percent at Holt.

From its production, the company sold 722,277 ounces of gold in 2018.

“Entering 2019, we are well positioned for continued growth, with three-year production guidance including 740,000 – 800,000 ounces in 2019, 850,000 – 910,000 ounces in 2020 and 945,000 – 1,005,000 ounces in 2021,” Makuch concluded.

As of 12:04 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Kirkland was up 2.84 percent, trading at C$34.07.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Nicole Rashotte, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.