Gold production down 14 percent at Centamin's Sukari mine

LONDON, April 9 (Reuters) - Gold production at Centamin (Toronto: CEE.TO - news) 's Sakuri mine in Egypt fell 14 percent year on year in the first quarter to 74,241 ounces, but the company said its full-year production target would not be affected.

Quarterly throughput at the mine's processing plant was 6 percent higher than in the previous quarter, giving the company confidence that gold production would continue rising throughout the year.

"We expect plant throughput, and hence quarterly production rates, to increase through the rest of the year," said Josef El-Raghy, chairman of Centamin.

Sukari is the first large-scale modern gold mine in Egypt and was largely unscathed by political turmoil in the country.

Centamin expects the mine to reach an annual production rate of 420,000 ounces of gold this year and later increase this level to a maximum of 450,000-500,000 ounces annually.

(Reporting by Karolin Schaps, Editing by Paul Sandle)