Auric clinches premium gold sales price to cap WA starter pit run

Auric Mining has finalised its maiden Munda starter pit campaign with a golden gleam, banking a mint from its bullion sales and confirming the deposit may be bigger and higher grade than first modelled.

The company says it has now completed the sale of all bullion produced from its second Munda processing campaign through Black Cat Syndicate’s Lakewood mill, with the lot sold for an average A$7178 per ounce.

After paying all mining, haulage, processing and related costs, Auric says its net cash at bank, combined with the balance due from Black Cat, totals $43.5M, excluding GST, as of yesterday.

On the production front, Auric’s Munda starter pit, near Widgiemooltha in WA, has delivered a final 8886 ounces of gold, which is 46 per cent above the company’s 6100-ounce budget.

The operation’s reconciled average head grade came in at 2.46 grams per tonne, against a predicted 1.80 grams per tonne and overall recovery ran at 89.5 per cent, versus a forecast 83.3 per cent.

Those are the numbers that really matter to market watchers, although the real story lies is what they reveal about the mineralisation lurking beneath the starter pit.

Auric says the grade and recovery performance across both campaigns support its view that Munda hosts a substantial gold resource and likely a bigger and higher-grade deposit than previously believed, setting the stage for a remodelling of its resource and a bigger main pit.

Supporting this belief, Auric flagged two weeks ago that the gold out-turns from its second campaign were running close to 40 per cent above budget and at that stage, it was still waiting on the gold-in-circuit calculation.

More recent updates later pinned the residual gold in the circuit at a further 411 ounces, bringing the final starter pit gold tally to 8886 ounces, while also noting that an estimated 18,000 tonnes of ore remained on the run-of-mine pad for potential future treatment.

What a superb finish it has been for our maiden mining of Munda. This includes sale of all the bullion produced from our second campaign for a fantastic average price of A$7,178 per ounce.

At the end of February, the company also closed out its Jeffreys Find joint venture with a final $2.2M distribution, taking Auric’s total cash share to almost $16.5M and further padding its balance sheet.

Auric has once again shown it seems to have the luck of the Irish firmly on its side, wrapping up its Munda starter pit with more ounces and stronger grades than forecast, while nailing its gold sales at just the right moment.

In an artistry of near-perfect timing, the company moved its remaining bullion just four days before the gold price took a sharp hit, tumbling more than $1000 an ounce before clawing back a near $200 to settle near $6200 overnight, restoring a touch of order to the market.

With Munda now putting out its spectacular real-world returns and reconciliation data for all to see, Auric says it has kicked off detailed scoping and planning work for the main open pit at Munda.

If Auric’s starter pit was the entrée, punters will almost certainly be salivating at the prospect of the main course. In the meantime, they might even suggest the company grab a Lotto ticket – because right now, it can’t seem to put a foot wrong.

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