As it enters a new era with production from its Waihi acquisition hitting the balance sheet, and gets development under way at the recently acquired Haile mine in South Carolina, its 8-year-old Reefton mine is being wound down for mothballing by the end of the year.
Full calendar year guidance for gold production remains between 380,000oz and 410,000oz.
Oceana Gold's (OGC) mines at Macraes in East Otago, Reefton, Waihi and Didipio in the northern Philippines have so far delivered 297,663oz for the three quarters to September - or 78% of the minimum 380,000oz forecast.
Revenue for the first nine months stood at $US364.4million, ($NZ543.8million) with after-tax profit at $US30.4million.
However, for the quarter to September alone, revenue fell 10.7% from last year to $US109.6million, while after-tax profit fell 59%, from $US16.88million and $US6.9million profit.
The profit hit was partly due to a decline in copper production, down slightly on the previous quarter while down 15% on a year ago, to 5219 tonnes.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Peter McIntyre said the copper decline was not indicating an emerging trend, but more linked to production cycles and a planned maintenance programme.
He predicted OGC would meet production guidance for both its gold and copper; the latter being a range of 22,000 tonnes to 23,500 tonnes, albeit both were more likely to be at the lower end of their respective guidance.
''While its [financial] result will not excite the market, Oceana's list of achievements for the quarter was significant,'' he said of its acquiring the mines of Haile in South Carolina and Waihi.
OGC shares were down 3c at $2.80 following the announcement.
Unlike many of its peers, Oceana is maintaining healthy cash flows and its crucial cash costs per ounce of production were within its guidance range at $US465 per ounce, and with accounting-standard ''all in sustaining costs'' at $US708 per ounce.
Gold sales for the three quarters were 276,104 ounces, while from Didipio there were copper sales of 17,167 tonnes for the period, plus 91,917-oz of gold sales.
Oceana chief executive Mick Wilkes said the addition of Waihi and Haile mines had further strengthened and transformed OGC, having a ''solid pipeline'' of organic growth opportunities.
''[It is] a leading mid-tier gold producer with low-cost production growth, significant cash-flow generation,'' Mr Wilkes said.
Yesterday, OGC legally closed the deal to purchase Waihi, having received regulatory approval from the Overseas Investment Office for the acquisition, from Newmont.
At Macraes, there were ''encouraging results'' from its brownfields exploration programme at Coronation North and underground at Frasers.
Drilling of primary targets along the 30km strike length was planned for the next 18 months, OGC saying it hoped to further increase the estimated gold reserve life at the mine.
Mr Wilkes said underground development at Didipio had advanced 570m and it was at present commissioning the powerline to the national grid, which should offer annual fuel savings of $US5million-$US7million.
For the third quarter, Reefton produced 20,315oz, slightly up on the previous quarter.
OGC said the remaining ore from the current mine plan would be extracted early in the fourth quarter as the mining operations draw to a close.
''Production is expected to remain steady as the operation transitions to a care and maintenance phase at the end of the year with mill feed now sourced mainly from stockpiles.''
At Macraes, a feasibility study for a proposed gold-tungsten project had been started, with completion expected by mid 2016.
The study's focus was the mining of gold and tungsten resources in the Round Hill, Innes Mills and Frasers areas, plus processing and assessing other supporting infrastructure.
