(Alliance news) - Centamin PLC on Thursday reported a "busy" period for the three months ended on December 31, as it expects higher gold production in 2023 than last year.

Centamin is a London-based gold producer with interests in Egypt, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast.

For the fourth quarter, production from the Sukari mine in Egypt amounted to 109,5564 ounces, bringing total 2022 gold production to 440,974 ounces, in line with guidance. This is up 6.2% from 415,370 ounces in 2021 but down from 452,320 ounces in 2020.

Revenue for the quarter amounted to USD188 million, generated from gold sales of 108,441 ounces at an average realised gold price of USD1,735 per ounce sold. Full-year revenue amounted to USD787 million. This is up 7.3% from USD733.3 million in 2021 but still short of USD828.7 million in 2020.

Chief Executive Officer Martin Horgan said: "The fourth-quarter performance represented a successful conclusion to the year. Our operating team delivered on our 2022 guidance for both ounces and costs at Sukari, despite the impact of industry-wide inflationary pressures. Even more importantly, we are proud to report a new safety record of over 8 million hours worked without a lost time injury reflecting our focus on safety across the company."

Looking ahead, Centamin said it looks forward to increasing gold production from Sukari while "continuing to manage cost pressures, and progressing the multiple identified opportunities across our portfolio". It has a gold production guidance of 450,000 to 480,000 ounces in 2023, which would be up by 2.0% to 8.8% from 2022.

Shares were down 3.8% at 112.30 pence each on Thursday in London.

By Xindi Wei, Alliance News reporter

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