Ramelius Resources and Northern Star have reported strong March quarters, setting both miners up for a more records in June.
Ramelius Resources
Ramelius Resources has ended the March quarter with a bang, reporting record quarterly gold production of 86,928 ounces.
The amount was well above the the implied guidance range of 70,000–77,500 ounces and has lead Ramelius to upgrade its 2023–24 financial year (FY24) production guidance to 290,000 ounces.
The gold miner also reported cash and gold of $407.1 million, operating cash flow of $144.1 million and associated free cash flow of $125.3 million, the best on record.
Ramelius’ Penny gold mine in Western Australia performed well for the company, with an increase in grade mined.
“With multiple stoping areas now available at Penny, the quarter saw a significant increase in ore tonnes and grade mined which increased 42 per cent and 13 per cent respectively, resulting in a 60 per cent increase in contained gold mined at Penny,” Ramelius said in an announcement.
“Road haulage from Penny was largely uninterrupted in the quarter with a total of 52,420 ore tonnes being hauled to, and milled at, Mt Magnet.”
While no drilling occurred at Penny during the March quarter, resource definition drilling is planned to recommence once
development has reached lower levels of the mine.
Northern Star
Northern Star managing director Stuart Tonkin said while the March quarter a challenging one for the company, it remains on track to deliver its FY24 production guidance.
“The March quarter was challenging but also demonstrated the resilience of our teams at our three production centres,” he said.
“Adverse weather had a significant impact and contributed to the company revising our cost guidance for the year, though I am pleased to confirm that we remain on track to deliver our FY24 production guidance into a strong gold price environment.”
The Northern Star team achieved a strong operational and financial performance at the Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) operations in WA, its largest and lowest cost asset.
“We are focused on maintaining the strong operational momentum so far seen in the June quarter, which will enable us to
safely generate significant free cash flow and, in turn, superior shareholder returns,” Tonkin said.
Northern Star ended the March quarter with $1,076 million of cash and bullion.
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