Ora Banda 35% lift leaves output just shy of 2025 WA gold target

ASX-listed gold producer Ora Banda Mining has flagged a hefty 35 per cent lift in its annual gold output to 95,000 ounces at its Davyhurst project in Western Australia’s renowned Goldfields region.

However, the company will land just shy of its 2025 production and cost guidance after encountering delays in a key mill upgrade.

Ora Banda says gold production for April and May clocked in at 12,100 ounces and the June quarter is expected to deliver about 24,500 ounces. If June hits its forecast of up to 12,500 ounces, Ora Banda will end the financial year 5 per cent short of its lower end guidance of 100,000 ounces.

All-in sustaining costs are tipped to come in at about $2600 per gold ounce, or 4 per cent above the company’s previously guided high-end estimate of $2500 per ounce.

Keen to emphasise the upside, management points out that the expected 2025 total represents a significant lift over last year’s 70,000-ounce result and that recent processing bottlenecks are now behind them.

A planned upgrade to install new lifters and liners to the mine’s primary mill presented a key challenge in the past few months and the commissioning process dragged on longer than anticipated, disrupting output for April and May. With the works now completed, the plant is now nailing throughput rates of up to 4,000 tonnes per day.

Meanwhile, the company is hitting its stride on the mining front. Production from Ora Banda’s Riverina and Sand King pits is forecast to contribute a combined 14,500 ounces in June alone. Riverina is in steady-state production, while Sand King is ramping up following a restart.

Ora Banda is also sitting on a healthy ore stockpile, built up during the processing plant’s downtime. At the end of May, the company had 83,000 tonnes of medium-grade ore at 2.8 grams per tonne (g/t) for 7,500 ounces and 114,000t of low-grade material grading 1.2g/t for an additional 4,400 ounces.

Three years ago, Davyhurst was treading water, churning out just 12,000 ounces of gold per quarter with grades barely hitting 1.5g/t.

That changed when seasoned mining hand Luke Creagh took Ora Banda’s reins as managing director. In a stunning turnaround, Creagh breathed new life into the ageing project, doubling production and proving the doubters wrong on an asset many had already written off as yesterday’s story.

Davyhurst now has two operating underground mines, with the Riverina deposit initially pulling much of the weight and half filling the 1.3 million-tonne processing plant.

During the past six months, management’s priority has moved to getting the company’s newer Sand King deposit up to speed to fill the mill full of high-grade feed. The move will provide Ora Banda with another significant inflection point for increased production and cash flow.

The company has also recently knocked it out of the park with some sizzling, high-grade intercepts at its new Little Gem discovery, south of its Riverina gold camp.

Best hits at Little Gem included a whopping 22.7 metres grading 5g/t gold from 481m, including a red-hot 6.2m section running at 10.8g/t. The same hole kept giving, with a further 10.9m slice of 6.4g/t gold just 40m further down.

Notably, the find appears to link up a chain of prospects from British Lion, through Little Gem and down to the 32,000-ounce Sunraysia deposit.

The company beat a quick march back to site, with the drill rigs now smashing out a 16-hole follow-up blitz to see what other treasures may be lurking beneath.

At the end of March, Ora Banda sat on an eye-watering cash pile of $80.7 million, giving it plenty of firepower to chase discoveries and fast-track extension drilling at Riverina and Sand King. The company is aiming to grow the project’s 1.95-million-ounce global resource grading 2.6g/t gold.

With the upgraded plant now hitting full stride and mining firing on all cylinders, Ora Banda looks primed for a big year ahead, backed by solid stockpiles and a clear runway to hit its 150,000-ounce annual gold target.

Despite falling slightly short of guidance this year, Ora Banda’s production trajectory remains firmly upward. With its key infrastructure hurdles now resolved, Ora Banda’s push to become a mid-tier Aussie gold producer appears on track to continue.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au