Norseman Gold PLC (LON:NGL, ASX:NGX) says its forecast gold production for the financial year to 30 June 2012 remains at more than 100,000 ounces.
The company, focused on the Norseman gold project in Australia, released an operations update for the three months to 30 June this year.
Gold production from its flagship project had increased by 27 percent in the quarter to 15,001 ounces, it said.
The gold was produced at a direct cash operating cost of A$1,081 per ounce gold - a 38 percent decrease from the previous quarter, revealed the firm.
The gold price received during the quarter ranged from A$1,387 to A$1,460 per ounce, with an average price achieved of A$1,422 per ounce.
Mining at the North Royal Open Pit at the project continued on target with a stockpile of ore increasing to 32,000 tonnes at 1.9 g/t gold, it added.
Cash at 30 June 2011 stood at A$11.3 million (A$10.5 million excluding bullion) with around A$6.1 million of this committed to cash-backed environmental bonds.
The firm added in the report that after the period end, it had closed a A$15 million secured working capital facility agreement with EXP T1 Ltd, a subsidiary of RK Mine Finance Trust 1, a member of the Red Kite group of Funds.
The company said it was continuing its action plan for operations.
"While initial progress implementing the improvement strategy has been successful, the process is by no way complete and it is expected that the production profile will continue to improve through the 2011/12 financial year," it said.
Yesterday, Norseman revealed an updated resource statement for its flagship project, stating that the reserves as at March 31 remained stable at 420,000 ounces of gold, while the Total reserve tonnes had increased to 2.3 million tonnes at a grade of 5.7 g/t gold.
Resources had increased in the measured category by 13 percent but decreased overall by 9 percent to 3.4 million ounces of gold.
Total resources now stand at 22 million tonnes at a grade of 4.7 g/t gold, while previously, it stood at 21 million tonnes at a grade of 5.3 g/t gold for 3.8 million ounces.
The Norseman Gold project lies in the eastern goldfields of Western Australia in the highly prospective Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt, 725km east of Perth and 186km from Kalgoorlie.
The 221 tenements cover a 2,180 sq km area centred on the Norseman township.