Northern Star beds down acquisitions
UPDATE 2.20pm: Shares in Northern Star Resources were lower despite the gold miner announcing it had successfully bedded down its recent asset acquisitions and stronger production figures for April.
The company said it had mined 45,000 ounces in April and poured 33,449 ounces compared with 34,302 ounces and 25,337 ounces respectively in March.
Northern Star also announced it had reduced all-in sustaining costs over the month by 13 per cent to $1010 an ounce, against an average realised gold price of $1413 an ounce.
"The strong performance… reflects the productivity drive implemented by Northern Star at its recently acquired Plutonic, Kanowna Belle and Kundana gold mines in WA," the company said in a statement.
Managing director Bill Beament said the operational restructuring being implemented across the three acquisitions was already paying significant dividends in the form of higher production and lower costs.
"These early results show that we are making significant progress in bedding down these assets," he said.
"We have been able to hit the ground running because we assembled an extensive executive and mine management team before we made the acquisitions."
Northern Star is targeting annual production of 350,000 ounces plus at average all-in sustaining costs of $1050 an ounce, which would make the company the fifth-biggest ASX-listed gold miner.
Shares in the company closed down 0.5 cents at $1.115. Gold bounced from a week-low to $US1292.57 an ounce by 1.50pm on the spot market.
