As the two gold miners ready for their merger in June, a strong March quarter has seen these individual entities off with a bang.
Red 5
Red 5 has been on a winning streak with its gold production, with the March quarter marking the fourth consecutive quarter over 50,000 ounces.
The gold miner produced a total of 50,132 ounces in the quarter, positioning it to deliver at the top end of its 2023–24 financial year (FY24) production guidance of 195,000–215,000 ounces.
“The March quarter marked another solid period of consistent delivery by the Red 5 team and our fourth successive quarter of production above 50,000 ounces,” Red 5 managing director Mark Williams said.
“All three of our mines – KOTH open pit, KOTH underground and Darlot underground – continued to perform well, delivering the required tonnes and grade.
“KOTH open pit had a standout quarter, with a total of 1.8 million tonnes of ore being mined at an overall grade of 0.81 grams per tonne.”
KOTH, or King of the Hills, gold mine in Western Australia, saw ore production from a number of areas and contributed to Red 5’s quarterly gold sales of 49,726 ounces.
“During the quarter, the major corporate development for Red 5 was the proposed merger between Red 5 and Silver Lake, to create a diversified, leading mid-tier gold company with a very strong balance sheet,” Williams said.
“This transaction is a logical combination of two leading mid-tier gold companies, and represents an exciting inflection point for Red 5 shareholders following the successful development, ramp-up and achievement of steady-state production at King of the Hills.”
Silver Lake
Quarterly production HIT 64,967 ounces of gold and 349 tonnes of copper for Silver Lake, with ongoing drilling at the miner’s Western Australian operations to advance potential new mining fronts to increase operational flexibility and life of mine.
The strong year to date performance has Silver Lake well positioned to exit FY24 having delivered or exceeded group sales guidance for the 10th consecutive year.
“During the quarter Silver Lake again delivered strong operating performance and continued the established
track record of strong free cash generation in Western Australia,” the miner said.
“Importantly, the strong free cash flow result is in parallel with the continued investment in growth and mine life extension opportunities with the ramp up of activities at the Santa mining complex (in WA) through the quarter culminating in the first blast on April 8 and the ongoing 93,000 metre drill program at the Sugar Zone.”
The commencement of mining at Santa reestablishes open pit mining at Mount Belches for the first time
since 2016.
Cash and bullion sat at $342 million at the end of the quarter.
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