The surging Australian dollar, the gold price and higher production has seen NSW Central West gold miner and copper explorer Alkane (ASX:ALK) book a 33% surge in revenue for the three months to September.
The company told the ASX on Monday that production rose to 18,418 ounces for the quarter, from 15,855 ounces in the same quarter of 2023.
The average price jumped to $3,422 an ounce from $2,897 a year ago. Gold sales in the quarter rose to 18,208 ounces from 16,090 ounces.
The higher production, sales and prices saw revenue surge to $62.3 million in the latest quarter from $46.6m a ago, a rise of a tidy $15.7m.
The company said solid results will see the company on track to meet annual guidance from its Tomingley gold mine at 70,000 to 80,000 ounces.
The company’s expansion at Tomingley continues, with $14.2m spent in the September quarter. From now on, the current phase of spending will slow and the company expected the current December quarter to be cash neutral at a group level.
The new paste plant and the process plant flotation and fine grinding circuit remain on schedule to be commissioned in in the current quarter. Processing recoveries are expected to lift by around 7% post commissioning of the new circuit.
The surface internal access road and pipeline corridor from the Caloma Two deposit to nearby Roswell is complete, with the new pipelines being laid and the fleet of new underground loaders now operational.
Group cash, bullion and listed investments at the end of September totalled $52m. Total liquidity was $67m at the end of the quarter, including the $15m undrawn portion of the $60m project finance facility.
CEO Nic Earner says the company had another quarter of solid production performance that has been leveraged by the strong gold price.
“We remain on track with our capital expansion work, with both the Paste Plant and Processing upgrades scheduled for commissioning in the December quarter of this year.
“We’ve passed the point of peak expenditure in the current phase of the Tomingley expansion as we look to continue to grow production through commissioning of the new plants. We will then be focusing on the Newell Highway diversion and maintaining a high level of operational excellence to maximise the value of our increased production capacity."
