Cairo – Mubasher: London-listed gold miner Centamin is planning to spend $595 million over the next three years to improve productivity and reduce operating costs at its Sukari mine in the Easter Desert in Egypt, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The investment will be directed to increase waste stripping at the Sukari mine, allowing it to produce between 450,000-500,000 ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of between $800-$900 per ounce from 2024 onwards.

Waste stripping, which will be conducted by Capital Ltd at Sukari, is a process that enables miners to extract higher grade gold.

“The three-year guidance is characterised as an investment phase, we are looking to reset the asset from a production basis,” the CEO Martin Horgan told reporters on a call.

The company has shifted its focus from production targets to cash generation.

“What we are looking for now is margin and cash flow generation [...] because that is what funds growth and that’s what pays for the dividend rather than those headline ounces,” Horgan added.