North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Pretium Resources Inc. Jan. 18 reported that its Brucejack Mine in Northern British Columbia produced 347,743 ounces of gold during 2020, slightly above the midpoint of the company's 325,000 to 365,000 oz guidance set at the beginning of the year.

"For the first time in the company's history we have achieved our annual production guidance, demonstrating the hard-work and perseverance of our team in light of the exceptional challenges we faced this year," said Pretium Resources President and CEO Jacques Perron.

The ore fed into the mill during 2020 averaged 8.5 grams per metric ton gold and the gold recovery rate averaged 97%.

During the fourth quarter, Brucejack produced 88,299 oz of gold from ore averaging 8.9 g/t gold and average recovery of 97%.

Pretium successfully ramped up the mill process rate to an average of 3,800 metric tons per day during December. The company expects to be able maintain this rate through 2021.

With average ore grades expecting to be between 7.5 and 8.5 g/t gold, the company forecasts that Brucejack will produce 325,000 to 365,000 oz of gold this year, which is the same guidance as 2020.

In December, Pretium sold its Snowfield project to Seabridge Gold Inc. for US$100 million, plus a contingent payment of US$20 million that would be paid to Pretium within six months of commercial production from Snowfield or a bankable feasibility study for the property.

"Our gold production along with the value captured from the sale of the Snowfield property has allowed us to significantly reduce our long-term debt and maintain a robust cash balance," said Perron.

Prior to the end of 2020, Pretium made a discretionary debt payment of US$160 million to the revolving portion of its credit facility, reducing the outstanding revolving debt to US$38 million as of year-end. In total, the company repaid US$226.7 million of its credit facility in 2020. Even with the debt payments, Pretium ended 2020 with $174.8 million in cash and cash equivalents, nearly the same as the $175 million it had at the end of September.

"We are now in a position to focus on further improving the safety, predictability and stability of production, while also prioritizing resource expansion and investing in the future of Brucejack," Perron said.

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Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

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