Lihir says on track to meet 2008 gold target

SYDNEY, May 21 (Reuters) - Lihir Gold Ltd (LGL.AX) said on Wednesday it was on track to meet its full-year production target of up to 770,000 ounces of gold after hitting its first quarter goal.

In the first quarter of 2008, Lihir mined 139,000 ounces of gold, almost all from its mine on Lihir Island in Papua New Guinea, broadly in line with expectations.

"We remain on track to achieve our stated full-year production target of between 700,000 and 770,000 ounces," Lihir Managing Director Arthur Hood said in a statement.

If Lihir completes its planned merger with Equigold NL EQI.AX, the combined group will have assets in Australia, West Africa and Papua New Guinea, producing over 1.2 million ounces of gold a year from 2009.

Lihir in March said it hoped to buy Equigold for A$1.1 billion ($971 million).

Lihir was up 1.2 percent to A$3.35, helped by rising bullion prices and bucking a modest downtrend in the S&P/ASX200 .AXJO index. ($1=A$1.04) (Reporting by James Regan)