The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is having a decent start to this Monday's trading thus far. At present, the ASX 200 has gained 0.15%, lifting the index to just under 7,415 points. But let's talk about the Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX: SLR) share price.
Silver Lake shares are having a shocking start to the week. This ASX gold share closed at $1.12 a share last week. But today, the Silver Lake share price opened at just 95 cents and is down to 87.7 cents a share at the time of writing. That's a fall of 21.35% as well as a new 52-week low for Silver Lake shares.
So what's going on here that might prompt such a savage sell-off from Silver Lake shareholders?
Why has the Silver Lake Resources share price cratered 22% today?
Well, it appears Silver Lake's latest quarterly update is the catalyst here.
This morning, the miner released its latest quarterly update, covering the three months to 30 June 2023.
This update revealed Silver Lake recorded quarterly gold production for the period of 81,616 ounces of gold, as well as 642 tonnes of copper.
It was also revealed Silver Lake would be reporting a record 261,604 ounces of gold production for the entire 2023 financial year, as well as 1,483 tonnes of copper. For the gold, the company was able to command an average sales price of $2,697 per ounce, at an all-in-sustaining cost (AISC) of $1,941 per ounce.
But it's perhaps Silver Lake's guidance for FY2024 that is spooking investors today. Going forward, Silver Lake told investors it is expecting to sell between 210,000 and 230,000 ounces of gold over the current financial year. Silver Lake is pencilling in an AISC for the year of between $1,850 and $2,050 per ounce.
Those production figures clearly represent a slowdown based on FY2023's figures, but with a similar, if not slightly higher, cost base. So this could well be what is behind the dramatic slump in the Silver Lake Resources share price this Monday.
This share price crash leaves the Silver Lake share price down a nasty 26.9% in 2023 so far, as well as down almost 40% over the past 12 months, as you can see below:
