Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator instructions). Our first question is from John Bridges, JPMorgan.
John Bridges - JPMorgan
Just wanted to say, congratulations on the progress at Yanacocha. This high level of production, is this something which we can expect to carry on into subsequent years, or is that just a one-off?
Richard O'Brien
John, let me just say, first, we're not really giving estimates out beyond the end of this year. We did have a good production quarter at Yanacocha. Let me turn it over to Brian. He can just talk a little bit about how our gold mill is operating and why production is up a little bit this quarter. So, Brian?
Brian Hill
We had a good start for the gold mill and it does continue to outperform. It is performing for a 5% to 10% range on throughput, little higher than expected, and we have been experiencing some higher ore grades to the mill. It's not a trend, as Richard reiterated, that we are expecting to see on a longer term. It's really just more of function of sequencing and where we are in the various pits at the mine.
John Bridges - JPMorgan
As a follow-up, you are further down the line with investigating your projects at Conga and Hope Bay, what do you think Richard now in terms of build or buy in this crazy market that we're participating in?
Richard O'Brien
John great question, build or buy, I think the answer is, these big [64-65 can], because I think it really is important. As we've talked about before that we build this business through a combination of exploration, project development, and selective M&A, and I think we continue to look into the marketplace to see if there are available opportunities. There have been several out there, none of which have really interested us to-date, but I guarantee you, we look hard every day to see if there is something out there that we should avail ourselves of and we hope that as we continue to perform on the operating side that our share price reflects the success of that and we enable ourselves to do more overtime in that marketplace.
John Bridges - JPMorgan
I'll look forward to seeing Boddington up and running at year-and the results will come out of that.
Operator
Your next question is from Heather Douglas, Thomas Weisel Partners. Your line is open.
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