Centamin poised for more output growth after 2013 beat

LONDON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Egypt-focused miner Centamin said it beat its 2013 output target by 12 percent and was on track to grow production further this year.

The company said on Monday it produced 91,546 ounces of gold in the fourth quarter of 2013, bringing its full year output to 356,943 ounces to beat guidance of 320,000 ounces. It had said in October it expected production to be ahead of target.

"We look forward to delivering a further successive year of growth in 2014 as the plant expansion drives the continued ramp-up towards our 450-500,000 ounce per annum long-term target," Centamin (Toronto: CEE.TO - news) 's chairman Josef El-Raghy said in a statement.

The company's performance comes despite ongoing political upheaval in Egypt.

Seventeen people were shot dead on Friday, state media reported, as supporters of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood clashed with police in an escalation of violence seen since the army's ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July.