Sluggish March quarter production has Pantoro Gold needing big June quarter to reach revised FY25 target

Production in the March quarter failed to reach the heights Pantoro Gold was expecting, with a big June quarter needed for the company to reach its revised FY25 output target at its Norseman operations.

Pantoro told the Australian Securities Exchange this week it produced 18,334 ounces of gold during the latest quarter, below the guidance range of 20,700oz-25,300oz.

The company said this was because of the Scotia underground mine ramp-up crossing over quarters into April.

It said the ramp-up had been hindered by slower-than-expected onboarding of production drilling personnel.

As a result, 15,760 metres were drilled, compared with the planned 22,760m, delaying some production blasts.

Pantoro said by the end of the quarter, the contractor was fully manned and had drilling personnel in place for two long hole drill rigs working around-the-clock.

The company said its all-in-sustaining cost for the full quarter was $2427/oz, and production guidance for the June quarter was 23,000oz-26,000oz.

Pantoro in the 2023-24 financial year produced 71,370oz, and so far this financial year has churned out 59,146oz, meaning it will comfortably surpass last year’s production if the June quarter guidance is achieved.

However, it was originally targeting 100,000oz for FY25 before revising its guidance to 90,000oz in January.

Even if it achieves the upper end of its June target, which will still be about 5000oz short of the revised full-year ambition.

Despite these issues, the company reported a cash and gold build of $13.4 million for the quarter, having $132.4m in cash and gold at March 31.

It said the strong cashflow, despite lower production and rapidly advancing growth activities, reflected strong operational cost control being maintained at Norseman and the “buoyant” global gold market.