Oceanagold Announces First Quarter 2013 Results

MEDIA RELEASE
29 April 2013

Oceanagold Announces First Quarter 2013 Results
(All references in US Dollars)

MELBOURNE) OceanaGold Corporation (ASX: OGC, TSX: OGC, NZX: OGC) (the “Company”) today released its first quarter 2013 results for the quarter ending March 31, 2013.  Details of the consolidated financial statements and the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) are available on the Company’s website at www.oceanagold.com

Key highlights include:

• Total Company gold production of 67,463 ounces and copper production of 3,663 tonnes in the first quarter of 2013.

• Cash costs for the first quarter from the New Zealand operations only were $687 per ounce on gold sales of 58,585 ounces.

• Didipio commissioning continues to advance well with steadily increasing throughputs and recovery rates. Since commencement of production in December 2012, Didipio has produced 7,251 ounces of gold and 3,866 tonnes of copper.

• Blackwater Project’s Inferred resource increased to 0.6 Moz ounces of gold at an average grade of 21.0 g/t.

In the first quarter of 2013, the Company produced 60,586 ounces of gold in New Zealand and added 6,877 ounces of gold and 3,663 tonnes of copper from Didipio which continues to ramp up. The total ounces of gold produced were in line with expectations despite incurring a pit wall slump early in the first quarter at Macraes. The Company expects the New Zealand operations to have variable quarterly production for the remainder of 2013 with less gold production in the second quarter but rebounding in the third quarter on account of revised mine sequencing associated with the pit wall slump.

The Company reported EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation excluding gain/(loss) on hedges) of $47.1 million and revenue of $95.6 million in the first quarter from the New Zealand operations. The Company’s cash costs of $687 per ounce on gold sales of 58,585 ounces of gold from the New Zealand operations were slightly higher than in the previous quarter. As expected, cash costs were below the low end of the Full Year cost guidance range however, costs are expected to vary throughout the remainder of the year due to variable production rates.

At the Didipio Mine in the Philippines, commissioning activities continue to advance well with throughput rates steadily increasing and at times exceeding the planned 2.5 Mtpa production rate for the year. Since the commencement of commissioning and to the end of the first quarter of 2013, Didipio had produced 7,251 ounces of gold and 3,866 tonnes of copper. Subsequent to the quarter end, the Company shipped its first concentrate from the San Fernando port on the west coast of Luzon, Philippines. The second shipment is expected in the coming days.

In the first quarter, the Company announced drill results for the final drill hole (WA25) of the current drilling program at the historic Blackwater Mine. The drill hole WA25 successfully intercepted the Birthday Reef 1,190 metres down hole and 250 vertical metres from the base of the old mine workings. WA25 intercepts included 0.45 metres (estimated true width of 0.35 metres) @ 31.8 g/t Au from 1,119 metres down hole. Results from this drilling campaign indicate the Birthday Reef continues for at least 680 metres vertically below the last worked level of the Blackwater Mine. The Company has increased the Inferred resource at Blackwater by 0.25 Moz to 0.9 Mt @ 21 g/t Au for 0.6 Moz of gold.  

OceanaGold Managing Director and CEO, Mick Wilkes said, “The Company had another strong quarter with steady production from the New Zealand mines and continued success with the ramp up at Didipio. Commissioning of Didipio continues to advance well and we are beginning to realise the positive cash flow from the operation having made one shipment in early April with the next shipment expected in the coming days. More than 13,000 tonnes of copper-gold concentrate is currently in storage at site or port and mining activities continue to perform well with a large inventory of ore on the ROM pad. Our transformation into a multi-national producer with lower costs continues to progress as planned and we are on track to declare commercial production at Didipio in the second quarter of 2013.” 

Conference Call / Webcast
The Company will host a conference call / webcast to discuss the results at 7:30am on Tuesday 30 April 2013 (Melbourne, Australia time) / 5:30pm on Monday 29 April (Toronto, Canada time). Details are available on the home page on the OceanaGold website at www.oceanagold.com

Webcast Participants
To register, please copy and paste the link below into your browser:
http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=606455&s=1&k=96CE670A5EE560AC99644D21274E94E2

Teleconference Participants (required for those who wish to ask questions)
Local (toll free) dial in numbers are:
Australia: 1 800 148 052
New Zealand: 0 800 441 017
Canada & North America: 1 888 390 0546
All other countries (toll): + 1 416 764 8688

Playback of Webcast
If you are unable to attend the call, a recording will be available for viewing on the company’s website from 10:30am on Tuesday 30 April (Melbourne, Australia time) / 8:30pm on Monday 29 April (Toronto, Canada time).

- ENDS

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