Updates continue to emerge from Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) as it prepares for a move on the now partly owned Spartan Resources.
In the past couple of weeks, Ramelius has revealed and then increased its holding in Spartan from 8.9% to more than 17%, while assuring everyone that it's a cash-generating machine (which it is) with plenty of liquidity (hint, hint, enough to help finance a move on Spartan).
Additionally, it revealed an expansion in its revolving credit with its bank from $100 million to $175 million—an odd move for a company that claims to have cash pouring out of its mines, as evidenced by an investment of $180 million in Spartan.
On Monday, the company added another announcement to the list: its preliminary production report for the June quarter and the 2023-24 financial year.
Ramelius confirmed it had achieved record gold production for the 2023-24 financial year of 293,033 ounces. That was within the upgraded guidance of 285,000–295,000 ounces for the full year, as well as 82,058 ounces for the June quarter, which was also within the upgraded guidance of 75,000–85,000 ounces.
“Given the outstanding production performance, the company expects the full-year all-in sustaining costs will be at the lower end of the upgraded guidance range of $1550–1650/oz,” Ramelius stated. That data will be released shortly in another announcement—its 2023-24 production and exploration report.
As announced last week, Ramelius generated underlying free cash flow of $137.3 million and paid $10.1 million for the Musgrave acquisition stamp duty, concluding the quarter with $446.6 million in cash and gold.
That amount has been reduced to around $370 million since June 30 due to the acquisition of more shares in Spartan. Spartan is currently developing the Dalgaranga gold project in Western Australia.
There will be another release from Ramelius in August when its 2023-24 financial results are announced.
