Paxton purchased the shares at 47 pence each for a transaction cost of £18,800, it said in a statement.

He now holds 175,000 shares in the gold mining company, or 0.18 per cent of the share capital.

Paxton also holds options over 1 million shares, or around 1.03 per cent of the capital.

Meanwhile, finance director Kiran Morzaria also today bought 6,340 shares at 47 pence each for £2,979.80.

Morzaria now holds 47,280 shares in the firm - or around 0.05 per cent of the share capital.

He also holds options over 700,000 Vatukoula shares, representing around 0.72 per cent of the issued share capital.

It produced gold at a "significantly" higher rate in the six months to February 29 this year, than in the second half last year, although production was "in line" with the comparable period in 2011. 

Vatukoula unearthed 242,769 tonnes of ore and waste - a 24 per cent increase from 195,832 tonnes in the comparable period last year.

And it produced 29,999 ounces of gold compared to 30,000 ounces in the comparative period.

Revenues for the half year stood at £30.4 million -  21 per cent higher than in the same period in 2011, when it stood at £25.2 mln.

The firm also benefitted from the increases in gold prices, with the average realised gold price at US$1,678 in the period compared to US$1,328 per ounce in 2011.

That offset increases in mining, processing and overheads, and led to a gross profit for the period of £4.9 million, compared to £4.2 mln in 2011, the company said.

Vatukoula chief executive David Paxton told investors: "We continued to exceed our mine development targets for the half year. 

"Achieving these development targets will enable us, in the longer term, to mine higher tonnages and at higher grades and will result in a lower cash cost per ounce of gold."

However, he did note the heavy rainfall in Fiji in January and April this year had affected access to and from the mine area. 

"However, I am pleased to report that the mine itself remained secure and protected, albeit with some water ingress which caused temporary disruptions in production and will reflect in third quarter gold sales being lower than planned."

The firm's focus remained on building long-term cost effective sustainable gold production, at 100,000 ounces per year, he said.

Operationally, highlights of the period saw an inferred resource figure of 142,000 ounces defined and a new high mineralised system discovered during exploration drilling.

Paxton concluded by saying that although the mine suffered production hurdles during and after the reporting period, every effort was being made to ensure that "there will be no materially adverse effect" on the company's guidance of 65,000 ounces for the year ending August 31 this year.

Tom Elder, at broker WH Ireland, said today's results provided little new information on operational progress from the Q2 results announced on March 19.

He highlighted that it would be the Q3 results which would be "pivotal" in assessing the firm's operational turnaround, "not so much from an ounces produced perspective but from a profitability per ounce perspective".

"The Vatukoula Gold mine is a significant gold mine with a long operating history and a substantial resource base. These latest results may well mark the nadir of subdued operating performances and we therefore reiterate our 'BUY' recommendation," he said, targeting a price of 122 pence a share.

As at 10.49am, shares in the firm were trading up 2.41 per cent, at 45.5 pence each.

It produced gold at a "significantly" higher rate in the six months to February 29 this year, than in the second half last year, although production was "in line" with the comparable period in 2011. 

Vatukoula unearthed 242,769 tonnes of ore and waste - a 24 per cent increase from 195,832 tonnes in the comparable period last year.

Revenues for the half year stood at £30.4 million -  21 per cent higher than in the same period in 2011, when it stood at £25.2 mln.

The firm also benefitted from the increases in gold prices, with the average realised gold price at US$1,678 in the period compared to US$1,328 per ounce in 2011.

That offset increases in mining, processing and overheads, and led to a gross profit for the period of £4.9 million, compared to £4.2 mln in 2011, the company said.

Vatukoula chief executive David Paxton told investors: "We continued to exceed our mine development targets for the half year. 

"Achieving these development targets will enable us, in the longer term, to mine higher tonnages and at higher grades and will result in a lower cash cost per ounce of gold."

However, he did note the heavy rainfall in Fiji in January and April this year had affected access to and from the mine area. 

"However, I am pleased to report that the mine itself remained secure and protected, albeit with some water ingress which caused temporary disruptions in production and will reflect in third quarter gold sales being lower than planned."

The firm's focus remained on building long-term cost effective sustainable gold production, at 100,000 ounces per year, he said.

Operationally, highlights of the period saw an inferred resource figure of 142,000 ounces defined and a new high mineralised system discovered during exploration drilling.

Paxton concluded by saying that although the mine suffered production hurdles during and after the reporting period, every effort was being made to ensure that "there will be no materially adverse effect" on the company's guidance of 65,000 ounces for the year ending August 31 this year.

“Ingress of water into the mine has rendered some minor areas inaccessible but otherwise production areas remain unaffected,” it said.

On Sunday evening, water carrying debris entered the Smith Shaft, which was transporting 11 miners in a man-riding cage to the underground workings.

The debris caused minor injuries to the miners who were taken to the neighbouring medical clinic.

Chief executive David Paxton said: “To date, we believe that there has been no material effect on the production forecasts as a result of the ongoing rains or the minor accident in the shaft.”

The heavy rainfall has impaired the country’s infrastructure and some Vatukoula employees who live outside the area have been unable to attend work.

The Vatukoula gold mine, which is located in the northern part of the Viti Levu island, contains 680,000 oz of gold reserves and 4.3 million oz of gold resources. Together with its London headquarters Vatukoula has around 700 hundred employees.

A tropical cyclone on Monday brought rain that closed the airport in Viti Levu, which is a 90 minute drive from the mine.

The share price rallied to 56 pence after briefly dipping to below 50 pence this morning before the statement.