Disruptions to Gold Road Resources’ Gruyère operation in Western Australia have forced the $ 1.3 billion miner to relax its production forecast and increase costs.

Gold Road led losses for the ASX 200 on Monday, down 8.5% to a nearly seven-week low at $ 1.30 on a fairly lackluster morning for precious metals producers.

The company said disruptions to operations at the Gruyère processing plant included a torn feed conveyor belt, resulting in temporary repairs and reduced processing rates.

Following the shutdown of the grinding circuit to replace the conveyor belt, a coupling on the ball mill broke.

Production at Gruyère for the June quarter will be approximately 52,000 to 55,000 ounces at an all-inclusive sustaining cost of $ 1,675 to $ 1,800 per ounce.

At this point, Gold Road forecasts gold production for calendar year 2021 to be in the lower half of forecast of 260,000 to 300,000 ounces.

All-in sustaining costs for calendar year 2021 are expected to be between $ 1,325 and $ 1,475 per attributable ounce, with lower production in the June 2021 quarter and higher maintenance and labor costs , the main contributors to an increase over forecast of between $ 1,225 and $ 1,350.

Gold last traded at US $ 1,779.96 an ounce.

The US Fed’s recent hawkish pivot took the precious metal from a six-month high of over US $ 1,900 to a low of over two months, before resources stabilized last week.

Newcrest was down 0.5% to $ 26, Evolution was down 2% to $ 4.595, Regis Resources was down 1.4% to $ 2.445. Northern Star rose 0.7 percent to $ 10.18.