Monsters of Rock: Mid-Tier gold miner SSR dazzles with rockstar Q3 performance

There were plenty of disappointing results from gold miners in the September quarter, with depleting reserves, high costs and disappointing production numbers weighing on companies like Regis Resources (ASX:RRL) and Northern Star (ASX:NST).

Under the radar dual-lister SSR Mining (ASX:SSR) on the other hand dazzled with its September results, rocketing 8.9% on Thursday.

That put the global gold producer, which boasts operations in Turkey, Canada, the USA and Argentina as well as development assets in Peru and Mexico, in a class of single day gains normally seen ATM by stocks in trendy commodities like lithium, rare earths and, uh, coal.

SSR, the result of last year’s merger between ASX-listed Alacer and North American listed SSR, saw its shares hit a 3-month high of $23.07 as it reported production of 186,941oz of gold equivalent at all in sustaining costs of US$1006/oz.

That gave the company a total of 583,316oz over the first nine months of the year at just US$990/oz, prompting SSR to cut its AISC guidance from US$1050-1110/oz for 2021 to just US$1000-1040/oz.

It generated US$129.2 million in free cash flow in the September quarter and US$306.2m year to date, as SSR’s revenue tipped over US$1 billion for the first nine months of the year, witht the company pledging to pay a quarterly dividend of US5c per share.

SSR president and CEO Rod Antal said the company delivered records across its portfolio despite inflationary pressures across the world.

SSR Mining share price today:

Muted performance from the big miners as Materials moves sideways

Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) rode a wave of positivity around uranium as more buying from the Sprott trust and news it had touched up a restart plan for its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia energised the market.

Non-producing lithium plays were also in the money. Vulcan Energy (ASX:VUL) continued its recovery from a sell-off last week sparked by a critical short seller’s report, gaining 10.17%, while AVZ Minerals (ASX:AVZ) was up 13.41% and Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) rose 8.91%.

Coal prices rose overnight as well, leading New Hope Corporation to a 5.56% jump.

However the diversified miners were mixed, clipping the wings of the materials sector as it rose a paltry 0.01% against a 0.48% gain for the ASX 200.