B2Gold 1Q revenue increased by 44%!
B2Gold announces its gold production and gold revenue for the first quarter of 2020. All dollar figures are in United States dollars unless otherwise indicated.
The Company is continuing to focus on its Covid-19 response measures and to date has not experienced any incidents of the Covid-19 virus at its sites or corporate offices. B2Gold places the safety and wellbeing of its workforce as the highest priority and continues to encourage input from all its stakeholders as the situation continues to evolve, including cooperation from all levels of government in Mali, Namibia, the Philippines and Colombia.
2020 First Quarter consolidated gold production of 250,632 ounces, well-above budget by 7% (16,156 ounces) and a significant increase of 25% (50,090 ounces) over the first quarter of 2019 (excluding discontinued operations) with solid performances from all the Company's operations (all exceeding their targeted production for the quarter), record quarterly total gold production of 262,632 ounces (including 12,000 ounces of estimated attributable gold production from Calibre).
Record quarterly consolidated gold revenue from its three operating mines of $380 million, a significant increase of 44% ($116 million) over the same period last year (excluding discontinued operations) Fekola Mine achieved record quarterly production of 164,011 ounces, well-above budget by 9% (14,011 ounces) and significantly higher by 49% (53,662 ounces) over the first quarter of 2019.
Otjikoto Mine continued its remarkable safety performance, extending the number of days without a Lost-Time-Injury to 733 days (approximately 2 years or over 6 million man-hours) at the end of the first quarter of 2020
The Company started the year with approximately $140 million in cash and cash equivalents and has continued to add to its consolidated cash position during the quarter; the Company's cash position as at March 31, 2020 will be reported on May 5, 2020.
B2Gold remains well positioned for continued strong operational and financial performance. Total consolidated production guidance remains at between 1,000,000 and 1,055,000 ounces of gold; consolidated cash operating costs are forecast to be between $415 and $455 per ounce are forecast to be between $780 and $820 per ounce.
Based on current assumptions, including a gold price of $1,500 per ounce for the balance of 2020, the Company expects to generate cash flows from operating activities of more than $700 million in 2020.
