St Andrew on track to meet 2011 production goal of up to 75,000oz of gold, predicts record Q3

St Andrew Goldfields (TSE:SAS) updated investors Wednesday and said that its mines are operating as anticipated, with gold production on track to meet the 2011 production goal of between 65,000 to 75,000 ounces of gold.
The company operates the Holt, Holloway and Hislop gold mines in the Timmins Mining District of northeastern Ontario, and is targeting annualized gold production of around 100,000 in 2012.
With only a few days left in its third quarter, the company said it expects the period to be a record quarter of production, with roughly 20,000 ounces of gold - a result of improvements in ore grade and increased throughput.
These improvements should result in unit costs to be lower than the previous quarter, St Andrew added.
At the company's Holt Mine, development and production have been ramping up steadily throughout the quarter, with ore grades in line with reserves, expected to result in a significant increase in gold production sequentially.
Meanwhile, at the Holloway Mine, definition diamond drilling at the Smoke Deep Zone continues to return results that coincide with previous drilling, the company said. As such, development is progressing well and it is expected that mining of the first stope will occur at the beginning of the fourth quarter - as previously planned.
St Andrew said it would release third quarter production results shortly after quarter-end, with full financial results due out near the beginning of November.
The company is also exploring a number of targets along its 120 kilometre-long land package in the Timmins area, which includes the advanced-stage Taylor project.