Bumper quarter for local gold miners

Gold miners operating in Western Australia performed solidly in the three months to December, with Northern Star Resources, Independence Group and Evolution Mining all posting strong results.

Northern Star told the market it was on track to meet its output and growth targets for the 2017 financial year, after producing 124,871 ounces over the three months to December, at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,063/oz.

About 120,090oz were sold in the quarter, generating revenue of $197.5 million.

“We are achieving our goal of generating exceptionally high financial returns for shareholders by keeping costs down and meeting production targets,” executive chairman Bill Beament said.

“At the same time, we are laying the foundations for growth in both production and financial returns, with our highly successful exploration and development program.”

Independence, meanwhile, has boasted an increase in quarterly revenue to $128.5 million, up from $94.8 million in the September quarter, with profit increasingly slightly to $10.2 million.

The company achieved first production at its Nova mine during the quarter, while its Tropicana mine delivered an extra 12,415oz of gold sales to generate $63.4 million in revenue (Tropicana revenue only), up from $43.2 million in the previous quarter.

Perth-based Macmahon Holdings, which operates at Tropicana, said the result would grow the company’s revenue by about 25 per cent.

Macmahon chief executive Michael Finnegan said the potential growth of Tropicana was an outstanding opportunity for Macmahon.

“Tropicana is currently our largest and most significant contract and I have been extremely impressed with the outgoing performance of the alliance team on site,” Mr Finnegan said.

Independence managing director Peter Bradford said the December quarter was a period where significant milestones were achieved by the company.

“Tropicana continues to deliver excellent results, with gold production, cash costs and all-in sustaining costs all ahead of guidance, while the Long Island optimisation study continues to demonstrate significant upside to ore reserves and mine life,” he said.

“At Nova, the commissioning of the processing plant has proceeded extremely well but, as anticipated, is currently constrained by the supply of ore.

“We expect that sufficient underground development will have been completed around mid 2017 in order to ramp up underground ore mining to a consistent 125,000 tonnes per month, at which point we will be able to consistently feed the processing plant.”

Evolution also released its quarterly results this morning, telling the market it expects to achieve its full-year production and cost guidance following a strong performance in the three months to December.

The gold miner produced 217,812oz in the quarter, up 6 per cent from the September quarter and at an all-in sustaining cost of $900/oz, 15 per cent lower than the preceding quarter.

The company expects to produce between 800,000oz to 860,000oz for the full year, with AISC expected to be between $900/oz to $960/oz.

Independence shares were 0.6 per cent higher to $4.01 each, while Northern Star shares were 2.7 per cent lower to $3.96 each at midday.

Evolution shares were 1.7 per cent lower to $2.26 each.