"Not only have we produced an all-time high number of gold ounces, but this was attained even with the mill shut down for several days in March for relining of both the SAG and ball mills," Hochstein said.
First-quarter production was 121,665 ounces of gold, consisting of 78,601oz of concentrate and 43,064oz of dore. That compares with production in the same period a year earlier of 104,137oz Au, with 70,642oz concentrate and 33,675oz dore.
"These results provide a strong foundation for meeting our production guidance of 405,000-445,000oz for 2022, as grades, recovery and production can be expected to show variability over the coming quarters," the company said.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Brian Quast said the Q1 production beat BMO's forecast of 104,600oz Au.
"This once again highlights that FdN is a world-class asset and Lundin has a well-deserved reputation for operational excellence, in our view," Quast said.
He noted that Q1 marks the seventh quarter in a row that the mine has beaten BMO's forecasts.
"The mill throughput expansion to 4,200 tonnes per day, which occurred in late 2021, has clearly been successful, since 373,400 tonnes were milled in Q1/22," he said.
Lundin's share price was C$10.52 (US$8.33) on the Toronto Stock Exchange on April 12, having risen 1% day-on-day. The stock had seen a 52-week high/low of C$12.93/C$8.82.
The company has a market capitalisation of C$2.47 billion.
