Cashed-up gold play Silver Lake Resources has reported strong full-year results including $227.5 million in revenue – up 9 per cent on the previous year.
The results were driven by a focus on operating productivity and cashflow generation at Silver Lake’s (ASX:SLR) flagship Mount Monger operation in Eastern Goldfields, WA.
EBITDA jumped 23 per cent to $70 million (before significant items) thanks to a rise in gold sales from Mount Monger, increase in throughput at Randalls Mill and a jump in average realised gold price to $1654 an ounce.
Operating cash flow for the period came in at $64 million on the back of increased focus on production and exploration activity at Mount Monger.
Cash and bullion surged 62 per cent to $69.1 million as a result of strong operating cashflow and the $10 million sale of its Murchison assets during the period.
The bumper cash position will this year allow Silver Lake to fund the restart of its Cock-eyed Bob underground mine ($11 million) and develop its Aldiss mining centre (with a drawdown of $10.7 million).
Silver Lake’s managing director Luke Tonkin said investment in exploration had delivered tangible results and allowed a transition to longer life mines with increased production visibility.
“Silver Lake is well positioned to take the business forward with a strong balance sheet and focus on risk and return metrics to guide our capital allocation decisions,” he said.
The company has tipped gold sales guidance of 135,000 to 145,000 ounces for the current financial year and an exploration budget of $11.8 million.
Exploration will continue at Mount Monger camp, including near-term resource definition and project development opportunities at the Daisy Complex, Maxwells and Cock-eyed Bob underground mines and the Imperial/Majestic and Aldiss mining centres.
Shares in Silver Lake were trading 2 per cent higher to 45.5c at noon AEST, valuing the company at around $226 million.