Wheaton River on a roll

It doesn’t get much better than this — a 325% increase in production, a 66% reduction in cash costs, and a 600% reserve increase. And all in the space of a year.

Wheaton River Minerals (WRM-T) produced 450,000 gold-equivalent ounces at an average cash cost of US$62 per oz. from its global stable of mines in 2003. By comparison, the Vancouver-based company churned out 106,000 oz. at US$182 per oz. in 2002.

The lower cash costs for 2003 reflect the company’s share of production (165,700 gold-equivalent ounces) from the Alumbrera mine in Argentina, which had cash costs of negative US$182 per oz., owing to copper credits.

Wheaton River’s extraordinary growth spurt is the result of an aggressive shopping spree, launched several years ago, when metal prices and acquisition costs were low.

In the summer of 2002, the company acquired Luismin, one of Mexico’s largest gold and silver producers (with three operations and a portfolio of exploration properties), for U$75 million and 9 million shares.

Luismin produced 187,100 gold-equivalent ounces at total cash costs of US$186 per oz. last year. Wheaton River notes that this represents “the lowest operating cost in the history of the prolific mining district.”

During 2003, Wheaton River increased its stake in Alumbrera to 37.5%, and acquired the Peak gold mine in New South Wales, Australia. Peak produced 97,200 gold-equivalent ounces last year at a total cash cost of US$242 per oz.

Other recent acquisitions include the Amapari gold project in Brazil, and Los Filos gold project in Mexico. Both are still in the development stage.

Chairman Ian Telfer predicts that these new mine projects will allow the company to double production again by 2006.

In 2004, Wheaton River aims to produce about 540,000 gold-equivalent ounces at a cash cost of less than US$50 per oz. (based on current metal prices).

Once Amapari and Los Filos are on-stream in 2006, overall production should climb to 900,000 gold-equivalent ounces at cash costs of less than US$100 per oz.

Wheaton River’s recent acquisitions and investments also led to a substantial increase in reserves and resources at the end of 2003. The proven and probable figure amounted to 5.3 million gold-equivalent ounces, or six times greater than a year earlier.

Measured and indicated resources increased to 2.6 million gold-equivalent ounces, whereas total resources increased by 230% over the year.