PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Northern Star Resources has reported record gold sales and lower production costs for the quarter ended June 30, as production recovered compared with the March quarter.
Gold production reached 153 360 oz in the three months to June, up from the 131 169 oz produced in the March quarter, with lower output recorded at its Jundee and Kundana mines, in Western Australia, during the March quarter.
Northern Star on Monday reported that, on the back of increased gold production, a record 152 446 oz of gold was sold in the quarter under review, taking full-year sales volumes to 580 784 oz.
During the June quarter, the Jundee operation delivered 56 545 oz of gold and sold 59 104 oz of gold, while the Kindana mine produced 29 898 oz of gold and sold 27 022 oz.
The Kanowna Bell operation produced a further 29 379 oz of gold during the quarter, and added 27 276 oz to sales volumes, while the Plutonic mine produced 24 068 oz of gold and sold 19 287 oz.
Northern Star’s flagship mine Paulsens produced 21 918 oz of gold during the quarter under review, and sold 19 848 oz.
“Our operational results continue to generate outstanding financial and shareholder returns,” said Northern Star MD Bill Beament, adding that the company’s results for the June quarter indicated that Northern Star was extremely well positioned in every respect.
Meanwhile, all-in sustaining costs for the quarter reached A$983/oz, while full-year costs reached A$1 065/oz, which was at the lower-end of the cost guidance of between A$1 050/oz and A$1 100/oz.
Beament noted that the record production and tight costs enabled Northern Star to generate record normalised free cash flow of A$183-million in the year to June, resulting in the miner ending the financial year with A$178-million in cash, bullion and investment.