Auric delivers golden surprise as WA Munda outstrips forecasts
Brought to you by BULLS AND BEARS
James Pearson
Auric Mining is enjoying the fruits of spectacular production at its Munda gold project near Widgiemooltha in WA. The company delivered more than 8,400 ounces of gold, crushing previous production estimates by almost 40 percent and bringing the company’s cash and bullion value to $41 million.
The impressive result stems from two processing campaigns at Black Cat Syndicate’s nearby Lakewood Mill; The latest gold pour yielded 938 ounces, taking the tally for the second campaign alone to an impressive 5,757 ounces. The gold calculation in the circuit is also being finalized and more ounces are likely to be added to the gold purchase.
When combined with the 2,718 ounces from the first campaign in late 2025, the result remains miles ahead of the company’s original starting pit production budget of 6,100 ounces. And just as importantly, the company says that all results from the second campaign exceeded the original rating predictions, implying that a much more significant prize than previously anticipated may be hidden beneath the Munda Mother furnace.
More than 125,000 tons of ore have been processed at Lakewood since milling began in October of last year. The toll arrangement allowed Auric to quickly make money from the startup without the heavy capital burden of building its own processing plant.
‘The great news keeps coming from the Munda Second Campaign.’
Auric Mining managing director Mark English
This decision now looks particularly insightful, given the current strength of the gold price, which is hovering near record levels in Australian dollar terms.
Auric also chose to provide some flexibility when selling gold. The company currently holds 4,210 ounces of gold and 343 ounces of silver in its metals account at ABC Refinery, effectively giving it the option to time sales according to favorable price windows.
Auric Mining managing director Mark English said: “The great news continues to come from the Munda Second Campaign. Truly outstanding results. Following the fourth and final result of this campaign, a further 938 ounces are added to the overall tally for a fantastic 5,757 ounces of gold produced from the Second Campaign.”
The financial impact of the Munda campaigns is already clearly visible on the company’s balance sheet. Auric currently has cash, bullion and listed investments totaling $41 million; That’s a significant war chest for a young miner, and one that significantly reduces the need for dilutive capital raisings.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from startup pit success is the operational knowledge it provides. Extraction and processing of the ore provided real-world data on metallurgy, recoveries and mining conditions that will directly contribute to the planning of the much larger Munda main pit, which represents the company’s long-term reward.
On paper, Auric’s looming Munda Main Pit is already shaping up to be a tidy little moneymaker. The current resource is estimated at 3.65 million tonnes grading 1.23 grams per tonne for approximately 145,000 ounces of gold at the 0.5 g/t cut; This is a solid foundation for what could become a profitable open pit.
If you relax the cutoff to 0.2 g/t the figures rise to roughly 189,000 ounces; This signals that there may be much more life in the system than the headline number suggests.
In 2023, Kalgoorlie consultants Minecomp were managing the project using what now appears to be a conservative gold price of $2600 per ounce. Even at this level, the study outlined a 1.716 million tonnes grading 2.2 g/t operation capable of producing approximately $76.9 million in undiscounted excess cash.
In an environment where the startup pit was already spewing gold and cash, Auric has demonstrated that it can extract ounces of ground efficiently while keeping costs under tight control.
Considering the performance of the starting pit, the larger development may turn out to be much more than a modest increase in scale.
But for now, Auric enjoys something many junior gold prospectors dream of but rarely achieve: real production, real cash flow and a rapidly growing balance sheet.
And in today’s gold market, this combination is as good as it gets.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
