Copper miner Sandfire Resources has delivered a strong start to the 2026 financial year, with group copper equivalent production for the September quarter coming in almost 5% ahead of plan at 35 500 t, driven by solid operational performance at both its Matsa mine in Spain and Motheo mine in Botswana.

The company reaffirmed its full-year production, cost and capital expenditure guidance, noting that output remains weighted towards the second half of the year.

“At our full year financial results in August, we noted that copper equivalent production for FY26 would be weighted towards the second half, with a circa 48:52 skew anticipated. We also stressed that the copper equivalent production skew in the first half would be even more acute, with a 45:55 split anticipated across the September and December quarters. Pleasingly, at the end of September, copper equivalent production for the group is tracking almost 5% ahead of plan and remains on track to achieve the mid-point of annual guidance of 157 000 t,” said Sandfire CEO and MD Brendan Harris.

He added that the result was supported by operational gains at Motheo. “Our team at Motheo has made strong progress dewatering the A4 pit, with mining having recommenced in Stage 1 in recent days and the proportion of higher grade ore feed expected to rise across the remainder of the year.”

At Matsa, Sandfire produced 21 800 t copper-equivalent, or 23% of its 2026 financial year guidance, reflecting the planned mining of more metallurgically complex and lower grade ore, which affected recoveries. At Motheo, quarterly production reached 13 600 t, representing 22% of annual guidance, as the processing rate rose to an annualised 5.8-million tonnes. Output is expected to strengthen through the remainder of the year as access to higher-grade A4 ore increases.

Sandfire maintained its focus on financial discipline, reporting underlying operating unit costs of $85/t at Matsa and $42/t at Motheo – marginally better than full-year guidance. Costs at Motheo are forecast to rise modestly to about $44/t as the A4 pit ramps up, owing to longer haulage and additional handling requirements.

“Importantly, our team’s unrelenting focus on the basics continues to feed through to our balance sheet, where net debt declined by a further $61-million to finish the period at $62-million, for a cumulative $283-million reduction in net debt across the past year,” Harris said.

For the quarter, Sandfire generated unaudited group sales revenue of $328-million and underlying operations earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of $157-million, resulting in underlying Ebitda of $137-million.

Meanwhile, Botswana’s updated Mines and Minerals (Amendment) Act, which came into effect on October 1, introduces new conditions for future mining licences, including an increased government option to acquire a 24% working interest, opportunities for citizen-owned companies to take up similar stakes, and a 10 000 km² cap on total prospecting licence holdings. Sandfire said these changes were well understood by the industry and would not affect its existing operations, noting that mining licences were already in place for the T3 and A4 openpits. The company currently holds 13 052 km² under prospecting licences and is in the process of relinquishing lower-priority areas in line with its exploration strategy.