PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Northern Star Resources has reported a record net profit after tax for operations in the 2018 financial results, as gold production increased.
Net profit after tax for the full year ended June was up 3% on the previous financial year, to A$194.1-million, when proceeds from asset sales in 2017 were excluded.
Revenue for the full year was up 11%, to A$964-million, as Northern Star hit its production rate of 600 000 oz/y in the June quarter, six months ahead of schedule. Gold sales for the full year reached 571 110 oz, up from the 506 894 oz sold in the previous financial year, while all-in sustaining costs were reported at A$1 029/oz compared with A$1 013/oz in 2017.
“This was a year of huge transformation for Northern Star as we moved our focus to two concentrated centers of production, and established mine life visibility of more than ten years in both cases,” said Northern Star executive chairperson Bill Beament.
“We hit our target of producing from these two centers at a rate of 600 000 oz/y, in the process returning them to their status as world-class tier one projects in a tier one jurisdiction.”
Beament said that the success of the company’s strategy was demonstrated not only by the inventory and production growth at the Jundee and Kalgoorlie centers, but also by the 15% increase in their earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) to A$486-million, and their Ebitda margin of over 50%.
“This culminated in our overall return on equity for the year reaching an industry-leading 27% and a return on invested capital of 25%.
Given that our end objective at Northern Star is to maximise financial returns, we consider our strategy to have delivered in spades in the 2018 financial year.”