Shares in Capricorn Metals Ltd (ASX: CMM) were trading higher on Wednesday after the company said it was on track to achieve the upper end of its production guidance for the full year.
The company released a production report for the second quarter on Wednesday, which said that its Karlawinda Gold Project had delivered another strong quarter, producing 30,476 ounces of gold.
The company said this brought production for the year to date to 62,794 ounces of gold, and the company was "on track to achieve the upper end of FY26 guidance of 115,000-125,000 ounces at an all in sustaining cost of $1530-$1630 per ounce''.
This compares with the current gold price of $6683 per ounce.
Project to expand
Expansion works at Karlawinda in central Western Australia are ongoing, with the company aiming to spend $120 million overall. The expansion project is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2027.
The company's website said that based on current reserves, the expanded operation has a projected mine life approaching 10 years.
The company said further:
With an extensive tenement package spanning over 4,000 square kilometres, the Company remains confident further reserve growth through ongoing exploration.
Capricorn said in its release on Wednesday that expansion works were progressing well.
Continued achievement of the post-expansion mining run rate allowed Capricorn to deliver both strong quarterly gold production and also the development requirements of the Karlawinda Expansion Project. The mining fleet achieved the planned poit face positions to achieve budget gold production while also delivering the required pre-stripping and infrastructure materials for the expansion project. Mining production rates have continued at the expanded project run rate for the Karlawinda Expansion Project for the last three quarters.
Capricorn said it had cash and bullion worth $444.2 million at the end of the quarter, up from $394.4 million at the end of the September quarter.
The company said it had also spent $2.9 million on development activities at its Mount Gibson gold project, also in WA, where it currently has a gold resource of 684,000 ounces of gold.
That spending was "mainly focused on finalising detailed design, early procurement activities and contract preparations''.
The company added:
This early spend of part of the MGGP capital budget is a strategic decision to compress the ultimate construction timeline.
Capricorn shares were 2.5% higher in early trade at $14.93.
The company was valued at $6.64 billion at the close of trade on Tuesday.
