Westgold (ASX:WGX) share price pops up on quarterly report

The Westgold (ASX: WGX) share price has lifted 2% today following release of the company's December quarter results.

Gretchen Kennedy

Gretchen grew up in a small Connecticut town where she learned to read The Wall Street Journal as part of the grade six enrichment program. She moved to Australia in 2002, earned a Master of Arts (Professional Writing) and went on to spend eight years writing on Wall Street. In June 2018, Gretchen returned to Australia and has since developed a keen interest in all things ASX. In December 2020, she started writing for the Motley Fool. Gretchen's usually writing something, reading a book or chasing her dogs around.

Published January 20, 2021 5:09 pm AEDT

The Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX: WGX) share price closed 2.12% higher at $2.41 today after the miner released its December 2020 quarterly report.

Let's take a closer look at the results and the recent history that's led to here.

A strong period for gold sales

Westgold reported gold production and sales of 65,214 ounces and 65,167 ounces respectively for the December quarter. Both of these numbers are in line with the company's previously published guidance.

The company reported an 11% increase in operating cash flow quarter-to-quarter reaching $65 million. Westgold also increased its revenue by 11% quarter-to-quarter reporting a revenue of $156.4 million for the period.

During the quarter, no environmental breaches were filed against Westgold's operations. Westgold operates the Fortnum Gold operation, the Meekatharra Gold operation and the Cue Gold operation.

Regarding prospects across these locations, Westgold noted that excellent results continue across all operations despite subdued exploration efforts during the quarter.

A bumpy six-month ride for the Westgold share price

Over the past six months, the Westgold share price has stumbled around 5.5% lower to reach where it's currently trading. In the past month, the share price has fallen more than 11%.

However only a few weeks ago, Westgold managed to post some nice gains on a day when the market was genuinely down.

Westgold's current market cap is $991.8 million.

Commenting on today's results, Westgold executive chair Peter Cook said:

These results highlight the operational flexibility and diversity of the group's assets… This flexibility in mining has allowed Westgold to carry on production, mitigating the ongoing difficulties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, such as travel restrictions and quarantining.

Mr Cook went on to say that while Westgold had managed the restrictions relating to COVID-19, it was apparent that "flow on effects such as skilled labour shortage and mobility of the workforce will cause disruption to the industry as a whole".

Westgold's net cash position was up 12% compared to the previous quarter balance, standing at $163 million in cash.

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