Maritana Minerals has posted a strong March quarter, significantly increasing its cash reserves and moving its Black Swan processing hub closer to operation as it transitions from a developer to a long-term producer.
The company, formerly known as Horizon Minerals, changed its name to Maritana Minerals and its ASX ticker from HRZ to MRT in April. Management said the change was aimed at reducing confusion with similarly named companies.
Maritana ended the quarter with $120.6 million in cash, up from $37.5 million at the end of December. The increase was driven by a $5.6 million net cash inflow from operating activities, a $20.7 million net inflow from asset sales, and $56.8 million net cash from fresh equity.
Quarterly cash flow included $4.6 million in receipts from gold sales for the three months to March and $74.7 million in customer receipts year-to-date, along with a $10 million advance from a joint venture partner.
The company also completed the divestment of its Lake Johnston nickel asset for total consideration of $35 million, comprising $30 million in cash and $5 million in Forrestania Resources shares. Additionally, it sold down part of its listed investments during the quarter.
Notably, management said the second tranche of its $175 million capital raise was received after quarter-end, bringing its cash position to $233.5 million as of 28 April.
Operationally, the March quarter kept a spotlight on Black Swan, where scoping work has 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 it expects will help de-risk commissioning once the refurbished Black Swan plant is ready.
During the quarter, Boorara milling totalled 19,786 tonnes at 1.198 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, producing 687 ounces, while gold sales notched up $4.1 million at an average price of $6,910 per ounce.
At its Phillips Find gold project, 45 kilometres north-northwest of Coolgardie, toll treatment campaigns continued. The company says it anticipates a final joint venture cash distribution with BML Ventures by the end of June, once final reconciliations are completed.
With the completion of mining and all five toll treatment campaigns, Phillips Find has processed 225,988 tonnes at 2.02 g/t gold for 14,095 ounces of high-grade ore.
That result could improve further, with an additional 30,000 tonnes of lower-grade ore grading 0.8 grams per tonne already processed and still awaiting final reconciliation.
With a much larger cash buffer and key groundwork now underway, Maritana looks well placed to continue advancing its Goldfields pipeline of projects as its Black Swan project transitions from plans to plant.
