Norton Gold Fields says it has reduced its debt to $51 million, after making a voluntary $15 million payment against its finance facility with Merrill Lynch.
The payment takes the gold miner's net debt down to $23 million, managing director Andre Labuschagne said.
Mr Labuschagne said a year ago, the company had a total debt of $145 million after it converted its Lehman Brothers hedge fund into debt.
“Today we have a $51 million debt with Merrill Lynch and a net debt position of approximately $23 million, and this excludes the $19 million cash we have on deposit as security for environmental bonds,” Mr Labuschagne said.
“For a company the size of Norton to reduce its debt by $94 million in 12 months is a fantastic achievement and one which I believe has yet to be fully appreciated by the market.”
Mr Labuschagne said during the period Norton had also reinvested $50 million into its Paddington operations, near Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
“We have $15 million still to be received over the next 18 months from the sale of Norton’s non-core coal exploration assets and these monies will also be used to repay debt.
“Consistent with our previous guidance, we will continue to seek opportunities to accelerate the repayment of the debt.”
At 12:09PM (WST) Norton’s stock had gained 7.7 per cent, to trade at 21 cents.
The gold miner announced last month it had bounced back into the black for the year ended June 30, with a $13.1 million profit, compared to a whopping $32.8 million loss the previous financial year.
Norton said the turnaround was driven by a 19 per cent spike in revenue after shipments rose nine per cent and the average gold price received increased 16 per cent.
