PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Regis Resources has reported an increase in gold production for the three quarters to December, compared with the previous quarter.

Quarterly production reached 90 849 oz during the December quarter, up from the 87 633 oz produced in the previous quarter, while cash flow from operations increased by A$17.5-million in the period, to A$100-million.

“This was a strong quarter for cash generation by the Regis team, with cash and bullion increasing by A$21.4-million, underpinned by increased quarterly gold production and a higher gold price,” said Regis MD Jim Beyer.

“With this solid operational performance, our production guidance for the year remains unchanged with a range of 340 000 oz to 370 000 oz. Our full year all-in sustaining cost is expected to sit at the upper end of the guidance range, after excluding extra royalty costs associated with the higher prevailing gold price.”

All-in sustaining costs for the quarter under review decreased from A$1 234/oz to A$1 219/oz, driven by the higher gold production, following the increased head grade primarily at the Garden Well project, in Western Australia, and by slightly improved recoveries.

However, costs for the full year will be adversely impacted by the higher-than-assumed gold price in the first half of the year, as well as increased mining volumes and higher drilling and blasting costs.

Looking ahead, Beyer noted that the development application for the McPhillamys gold project had moved through another stage, with the completion of the public exhibition of the environmental impact statement, and the subsequent receipt of submissions from regulators and interested parties.

“We are now well under way with the preparation of our formal response to the submissions received, with these to be submitted to the New South Wales Department of Planning, Industry and Environment in due course.

“In Western Australia, our current mining and development projects are being enhanced by continued exploration success. The Rosemont underground is tracking well with first stoping trials to start late in the March quarter. An exciting story developing is the successful intersection of high-grade mineralisation at Rosemont below the base of the underground mine design. This success is reinforcing our confidence that the underground has the potential to continue at depth.”

Beyer noted that while the Garden Well underground was also progressing towards a prefeasibility study, exploration results were supporting the concept of an additional underground potential at a number of existing openpit deposits, including Baneygo and Gloser.

“Finally, our exploration results along known mineralised trends are showing the potential for additional openpit resources and broader greenfield exploration continues across high priority target areas with encouraging results.”