TSX- and Aim-listed Avesoro Resources has reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of $64.6-million for the six months ended June 30, compared with Ebitda of $1.1-million reported for the first half of the 2017 financial year.

With a 318% year-on-year increase in production to 128 319 oz of gold, the West African gold producer achieved revenue of about $165.9-million from gold sales of 125 838 oz at an average realised gold price of $1 318/oz, compared with revenue of $39-million and gold sales of 30 375 oz in the first half of the prior year.

Operating cash costs improved by 37% year-on-year to $658/oz, while all-in sustaining cash costs (AISC) of $932/oz represented a 40% year-on-year improvement.

Avesoro’s operating cash flows reached $47.9-million in the six months under review, compared with an outflow of $7.4-million in the first half of 2017. The company had $12.7-million in cash and debt of $134.5-million as at June 30.

Avesoro CEO Serhan Umurhan on Monday commented that the company had delivered a strong operational and financial performance during the first half of this year.

He further noted that both the New Liberty mine, in Liberia, and the Youga mine, in Burkina Faso, are performing in line with expectations.

Following a particularly strong first-quarter performance, Umurhan pointed out that the Youga mine is now performing at a normalised production rate, while New Liberty's performance continues to improve.

“We continue to make good progress with our substantial exploration drilling programme across both Liberia and Burkina Faso, with 89 900 m of diamond drilling having been completed across our portfolio so far this year, representing 52% of the full year budget,” he said.

The company expects these activities to provide further increases in shareholder value in addition to the 29% increase in mineral reserves at Youga.

“We now look forward to delivering another strong performance in the second half of this year and we maintain our full-year production guidance of between 220 000 oz and 240 000 oz of gold at an AISC of between $960/oz and $1 000/oz sold."

During the second half, Avesoro also expects to achieve further improvements in its unit cost performance as mining volumes increase following the commissioning of additional heavy mining equipment at both New Liberty and Youga, as well as the increased plant throughputs that have been enabled through process plant optimisation activities undertaken during the first half of this year.