Maritana Minerals has delivered a strong March quarter, significantly boosting its cash reserves and moving its Black Swan processing hub closer to production as it transitions from a developer to a long-term producer.
Cash position strengthens
The company, formerly known as Horizon Minerals, completed its name change to Maritana Minerals in April, along with a new ASX ticker (MRT), to avoid confusion with similarly named entities. It finished the quarter with $120.6 million in cash, a substantial increase from $37.5 million at the end of December. This growth was fueled by a $5.6 million net cash inflow from operating activities, $20.7 million from asset sales, and $56.8 million from fresh equity.
Gold sales and joint venture advances
Quarterly cash flow included $4.6 million in gold sales receipts for the three months to March, with year-to-date customer receipts reaching $74.7 million. Additionally, the company received a $10 million advance from a joint venture partner.
Divestment of Lake Johnston nickel asset
Maritana completed the sale of its Lake Johnston nickel asset for total consideration of $35 million, consisting of $30 million in cash and $5 million in Forrestania Resources shares. The company also reduced its listed investments during the quarter.
Management noted that the second tranche of its $175 million capital raise was received after the quarter ended, pushing its cash position to $233.5 million as of April 28.
Black Swan processing hub progresses
Operationally, the March quarter focused on the Black Swan project, where scoping studies have outlined a 2.2 million tonnes-per-annum processing hub. Early works are underway, including front-end engineering and ordering of critical long-lead items.
Maritana also has 460,000 tonnes of ore stockpiled at Boorara, containing 14,200 ounces of gold, which is expected to help de-risk commissioning once the refurbished Black Swan plant is ready.
Boorara milling and Phillips Find updates
During the quarter, Boorara milled 19,786 tonnes at 1.198 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, producing 687 ounces. Gold sales from Boorara totaled $4.1 million at an average price of $6,910 per ounce.
At the Phillips Find gold project, 45km north-northwest of Coolgardie, toll treatment campaigns continued. The company expects a final joint venture cash distribution with BML Ventures by the end of June, pending final reconciliations.
With mining completed and all five toll treatment campaigns finished, Phillips Find processed 225,988 tonnes at 2.02 g/t gold for 14,095 ounces of high-grade ore. An additional 30,000 tonnes of lower-grade ore grading 0.8 g/t has been processed and awaits final reconciliation.
Outlook
With a significantly larger cash buffer and key groundwork now underway, Maritana is well positioned to advance its Goldfields pipeline of projects as the Black Swan project transitions from planning to production.
