Alkane Resources Ltd has delivered a golden set of results for the half-year ending December 31, 2024, highlighted by company profit after tax of $13,157,000, an increase of $731 million or 6% on the same period 12 months earlier.
This was largely driven by higher sale prices of $3,498 per ounce, a 20% increase on the previous period, and improved production at the Tomingley Gold Operations (TGO) in New South Wales, Australia, of 33,270 ounces, a 15% lift.
Higher-grade ore and improved recovery from Roswell, the main ore source for the period, also contributed. This was largely due to the processing plant’s new flotation and fine-grinding circuit coming online.
Revenue and sales higher
Also providing strong encouragement for Alkane in the half-year report was gold revenue of $121.5 million, a 36% improvement, along with gold sales of 34,785 ounces, up 14%, and TGO profit before tax, which was 11% higher at $22,627,000.
The gold sales resulted in sales revenue of $121,667,000 (previous period: $89,060,000) while bullion on hand at December 31, 2024, was 1,434 ounces less than June 30, 2024, to 1,066 ounces.
As at December 31, 2024, Alkane's cash, bullion and listed investments totalled A$42.4 million, with A$35 million in cash, bullion on hand at fair value of A$4.5 million and A$2.9 million of listed investments at market value.
Tomingley delivers
TGO, which is near the village of Tomingley, about 50 kilometres southwest of Dubbo in Central West New South Wales, has been operating since 2014.
Throughout the half year, mining was based on four gold deposits - Wyoming One, Caloma One, Caloma Two and Roswell.
High capital expenditure for the period related primarily to the construction and commissioning of the paste plant and the flotation and fine-grinding circuit. Commissioning of the flotation and fine-grinding circuit took place in late December.
As a result, recoveries in December 2024 were 87.3%, an improvement of around 5%, and the circuit continues to be optimised to further increase recovery.
The new paste plant commenced commissioning in December 2024, with the first paste delivered underground early in January 2025. Further commissioning and stabilisation of this plant will occur through this quarter.
Commissioning of these two projects finishes the current phase of capital growth, with expenditure now largely complete.
The internal access road and pipeline corridor from Caloma Two to Roswell was completed during the period while four CAT 2900XE loaders arrived during the December quarter and are now fully operational.
Exploration ongoing
Alkane is also continuing exploration at Tomingley and at the Boda-Kaiser Project within the Northern Molong Porphyry Project (NMPP) northeast of TGO.
Exploration south of the TGO mine continued as part of the plan to source additional ore feed, either at surface or underground.
Initial testing of targets under the existing San Antonio resource began, with results expected this quarter.
Other activities with 7 kilometres of the Tomingley processing facility included a high-definition drone magnetic survey, 17,000 metres of aircore drilling on the eastern margin of the belt of Mingelo Volcanics between El Paso and Peak Hill, and 3,200 metres of RC/diamond drilling at the El Paso and Tomingley Two prospects.
Boda-Kaiser work
At Boda-Kaiser, a large gold-copper porphyry system near the village of Bodangora, 15 kilometres northeast of Wellington, Alkane continues to increase understanding of mining options, conduct environmental studies and progress discussions with potential strategic partners.
Exploration included a trial of passive seismic geophysics (ambient noise tomography - ANT) using equipment and geophysicists provided by Fleet Space Pty Ltd at no cost to Alkane.
A 4,000-metre RC drilling program began in December 2024 to test various targets and extensions to mineralisation at Boda South, Boda 2-3, Kaiser and Driell Creek.
Diamond core drilling totalling 4,000 metres is expected to commence this month to tail some of the RC drill holes or test deep targets from the surface. RC and diamond core drilling results are expected in early to mid-2025.
Sixteen water bores were completed for groundwater monitoring purposes around the planned open cuts for Boda-Kaiser.
The data will be collected over a minimum of two years to inform the development consent. A bottom-of-hole sample was assayed for lithogeochemistry purposes to aid geological mapping around the deposits.