Northern Star meets guidance, boosted by rising gold price
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The news: Gold miner Northern Star met its full-year guidance, buoyed by rising gold prices.
The numbers: Northern Star posted full-year gold sold of 1.621 million ounces (Moz), at the lower end of its guidance range of 1.6 Moz to 1.75 Moz.
Its all-in sustaining costs (AISC) were $1,853 per ounce for the year, within amended guidance of $1,810 to $1,860. However, all-in costs (AIC) of $2,270 per ounce were higher than a year ago, as capital growth projects continued across the group.
The gold miner also reported underlying free cash flow of $462 million, compared to $359 million a year earlier.
Northern Star set its FY25 guidance at 1.65 Moz to 1.8 Moz as AISC of $1,850 to $2,100 per ounce.
The context: Northern Star said that during the September quarter, planned major shutdowns will be carried out across all three of its production centres. However, it remains on track to deliver production growth, with gold sold weighted towards the second half.
The company said its FY25 growth program is fully funded.
What they said: Northern Star managing director Stuart Tonkin said: "Overall, FY24 delivered record gold sold and net mine cash flow, demonstrating the quality of the asset portfolio across our three production centres and also the investment we are making to unlock future low-cost, high-margin ounces".
"We are majority of the way through our five-year profitable growth strategy which sees our production grow to 2Moz by FY26, and more importantly, enables the delivery of higher free cash flow levels," he said.
The source: ASX announcement
