PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Gold miner Troy Resources on Wednesday adjusted its forecasted gold production for the year, after December quarter production declined following a rockfall at Andorinhas.

During the quarter under review, Troy produced 26 987 oz of gold, compared with the 28 384 oz produced during the preceding quarter. For the interim period, the miner reported output of 55 371 oz.

CEO Paul Benson said on Wednesday that, while the Andorinhas project had been affected by a rockfall, which took the main production drill jumbo out of service for the month of December, the Casposo project delivered record mill throughput and metallurgical recoveries.

The Andorinhas mine, in Brazil, produced 8 056 oz of gold during the quarter, while the Casposo mine, in Argentina, delivered 18 931 oz during the same period.

Silver production at Casposo also reached record levels during the quarter under review, with the mine producing some 334 679 oz during the period.

However, Benson warned that with the slow ramp-up in contractor tunnelling rates on the back of the late delivery of a drill jumbo, access to high-grade underground ore at Casposo would be delayed, which would impact full-year production.

“As a result, Casposo’s production guidance for the full 2013 has been lowered from 115 000 oz gold equivalent to a range of between 95 000 oz and 105 000 oz gold equivalent,” he said.

“The final result is heavily dependent on how quickly the additions to the milling circuit are completed and the rate of improvement in the underground mining contractor productivity. Considerable management attention is being given to addressing both of these factors.”

Benson further added that, in addition to the impact in production at Andorinhas owing to the rockfall, it was also increasingly unlikely that the Coruja high-grade pit would receive Brazilian government approvals during this financial year.

“These changes have seen the production guidance for Andorinhas reduce from 40 000 oz to 45 000 oz of gold, to a range of 33 000 oz to 37 000 oz. In both cases, this is simply pushing production from the full 2013 to the full 2014,” he added.

Meanwhile, Troy reported on Wednesday that gold sales from Brazil totalled 8 799 oz during the quarter, with the Argentina operations delivering and selling 15 320 oz during the same period.