Greatland delivers strong December quarter at Telfer

(Sharecast News) - Greatland Resources said in an update on Wednesday that it delivered a strong December quarter at its Telfer gold-copper operation, producing 86,273 ounces of gold and 3,528 tonnes of copper at an all-in sustaining cost of $2,196 per ounce, as higher realised gold prices helped lift operating cash flow to $406m and drove a $198m cash build to a period-end cash balance of $948m.

Gold production rose from 80,890 ounces in the September quarter, with copper output increasing from 3,366 tonnes.

The AIM-traded firm said high gold recoveries were maintained at 88.4%, broadly in line with the prior quarter, with the performance supported by increased open pit activity, including a 32% increase in the volume of mill feed mined.

Safety performance continued to improve, with one lost time injury recorded in the quarter, taking the 12-month moving average lost time injury frequency rate to 0.3 and the total recordable injury frequency rate to 5.3.

Sales in the quarter totalled 72,212 ounces of gold and 3,301 tonnes of copper at weighted average realised prices of $6,301 per ounce and $14,652 per tonne respectively, generating net revenue of $507m.

The company said it remained debt free at the end of the quarter and retained "full upside exposure to the gold price with partial downside protection" through gold put options with strike prices of $4,200 per ounce for calendar 2026, $5,000 per ounce for the first quarter of calendar 2027 and $5,200 per ounce for the second quarter of calendar 2027.

Capital investment at Telfer included $61.2m of growth capex directed to tailings expansion, open pit pre-stripping, underground development and open pit fleet renewal.

Greatland also highlighted continued progress on its record 240,000-metre annual resource development drilling programme, with 10 rigs operating and 54,204 metres drilled during the quarter, broadly consistent with 53,543 metres in the September quarter.

At the West Dome Underground project, the group reported "exceptional results", including intercepts of 55.3 metres at 7.4 grams per tonne gold and 0.43% copper from 427 metres, and 27 metres at 9.3 grams per tonne gold and 0.15% copper from 495 metres, both from drillhole WUC4550104, adding that the mineral system appears to be increasing in size to the south and remains open.

"We are pleased to have delivered another strong operational performance in the December quarter, with gold production of 86,273 ounces at an AISC of $2,196 per ounce," said managing director Shaun Day.

"Based on the first half performance, we currently expect full-year production to trend towards the upper end of the guidance range of 260,000 to 310,000 ounces, and full-year AISC towards the lower end of the guidance range of $2,400 to $2,800 per ounce."

Day said the group benefited from the increase in the gold price during the quarter, adding: "With full upside to the significant gold price increase during the quarter, we achieved an average realised price of over $6,300 per ounce, generating $406m cash flow from operations and cash build of $198m, to close the quarter with $948m in cash."

He also pointed to the first full 12 months of ownership of Telfer, saying: "Conclusion of the December quarter completes our first full 12 months of ownership of Telfer in which we produced over 335,000 ounces of gold and 14,000 tonnes of copper, generated $1.3bn cash flow from operations, and built our net cash by $800m."

On Havieron, Greatland said the feasibility study was completed and announced on 1 December, describing it as confirming a pathway to a "world-class, long-life, lowest quartile cost" Australian gold-copper mine leveraging existing Telfer infrastructure.

The group reported an updated Havieron ore reserve of 38.5 million tonnes at 2.63 grams of gold per tonne and 0.33% copper, equating to 3.3 million ounces of gold and 128,000 tonnes of copper, which it described as the largest Australian underground gold reserve outside a global major gold producer.

"An important milestone was achieved during the quarter with the completion and release of the results of the Havieron feasibility study which confirmed the pathway to a world-class, long-life, lowest quartile cost Australian gold-copper mine, leveraging existing Telfer infrastructure," Day said, adding that Havieron's development was expected to be fully funded from cash "together with a $500m binding debt commitment with Tier-1 banks."

At 1107 GMT, shares in Greatland Resources were up 0.03% at 690.23p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.