Macraes mine produces bar No 10,000

Holding gold bars numbered 10,000 and 9999 are Oceana Gold’s Macraes gold room co-ordinator Rhys Davies (left) and assistant David Brice.

The mine notched up another milestone this week, pouring its 10,000th gold bar, which weighed in at 18.4kg. That followed the pouring of the five-millionth ounce of gold in July.

At current pricing of $NZ2354 an ounce, the bar is valued at almost $NZ1.4 million. Gold production at Macraes started on January 1, 1990.

General manager Matt Hine said there was an ‘‘exciting future ahead’’ as options were investigated to further increase the life of the operation, including its Golden Point scoping study and exploration programme.