Northern Star plots path to 2M oz of annual gold production
Northern Star (ASX:NST) expects to produce 1.55-1.65Moz of gold in its 2022 fiscal year.
The company released its quarterly activities report today.
The cost of that gold is set at an all-in sustaining cost of A$1,475-$1,575/oz.
The company expects its AISC to decrease over the year. Northern Star’s FY22 net growth capital and exploration budget of A$710M is unchanged.
By 2026 the company expects to hit 2Moz annually.
“This is a solid start to the new financial year and puts us on track to meet our FY22 guidance,” said Northern Star Managing Director Stuart Tonkin in a news release. “At the same time, we made strong progress on our development projects in line with our strategy to be a 2Moz a year producer by FY26.
“With solid production, and costs running slightly above guidance, cash earnings were strong. This resulted in cash and bullion of more than A$750M at 30 September, after returning A$110M in dividends to shareholders in the quarter.
"With production, costs and earnings planned to improve as FY22 progresses, we are very well positioned to continue to invest capital into those projects which generate the strongest returns.”
Northern Star's Pogo operation was impacted by processing plant upgrade. Capacity is expected to increase from 1Mtpa to 1.3Mtpa.
The company noted some troubles getting its drill results out of the labs.
"A$25M was invested in exploration in the September quarter (FY22 guidance A$140M). Congested assay labs are resulting in an increasing backlog of pending assays, with assay turnaround time in Western Australia and Alaska often exceeding six weeks," wrote the company.
By Michael McCraeFor Kitco News
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