Rain disruption leaves Regis’s Duketon recovery to carry FY27 guidance

Regis Resources has begun FY27 with a weather-disrupted quarter at its Duketon operation, producing 56,100 ounces of gold there as heavy September rain delayed open-pit mining and interrupted haulage to the mills. The company kept mill feed moving by drawing on lower-grade stockpiles, but that choice reduced head grade and deferred production that management now expects to recover in subsequent quarters. 2

The outcome gives Regis a clear operating task for the rest of the year: translate an improving weather period and access to better-grade material into the stronger production profile it says is planned for the second half. That is an expectation rather than a delivered recovery. For now, the September-quarter result records the cost of disruption at the company’s principal Duketon operation, rather than evidence that the lost higher-grade mining has already been made up.

Group production was 83,000 ounces in the quarter, comprising the 56,100 ounces from Duketon and 27,000 ounces from Regis’s 30% share of Tropicana. Regis said the group result was in line with its expectations when the September rainfall was taken into account. It maintained its full-year outlook despite the weather impact. 12

The disruption was operationally significant because it affected both mining at open pits and the movement of ore to the processing plants. Regis said intermittent heavy rain interrupted all haulage to the mills. Rather than allow the mills to lack feed, the company supplemented supply with low-grade stockpiles. That preserved processing activity, but lowered the quarter’s head grade-the amount of gold contained in ore processed-and therefore constrained ounces produced from the available mill throughput. 2

At Duketon, Regis continued open-pit activity at King of Creation, Moolart Well laterites, Baneygo, Mitchell and Ben Hur. Those open pits delivered 10,100 ounces at a reported grade of 0.89 grams per tonne during the quarter. The company is also shifting Duketon toward a more underground-focused production profile, a change that makes the mix and timing of mine feed important as it seeks to restore output after the rain interruption. 2

Management said weather conditions had improved and that operations were back into better-grade material. It also said FY27 is weighted toward the second half for ounce production. Those comments frame the production path ahead: later quarters must both recover the ounces deferred by rain and deliver the naturally stronger part of the annual schedule. A further interruption, or weaker-than-expected access to higher-grade feed, would make retaining the full-year guidance more difficult.

The quarter nevertheless generated substantial cash at the group level. Regis reported A$265 million of operating cash inflow and A$454 million of revenue from sales of 74,500 ounces, at an average realised gold price of A$6,088 an ounce. Cash and bullion stood at A$1.28 billion at September 30, after A$146 million of pre-tax cash and bullion generation in the quarter. 1 The figures provide financial capacity while the operating recovery is pursued, but they do not remove the need to deliver the forecast production lift.

Unit costs also reflect the lower quarterly output base and weather-affected operating conditions. Group all-in sustaining cost was A$3,617 per ounce, including A$114 per ounce of non-cash costs. 1 With the company maintaining guidance, the next quarters will show whether the return to better-grade material improves both ounces and the cost absorption that was pressured during the rain-hit period.

For Regis, the central conclusion from the September quarter is not that Duketon’s production recovery has occurred. It is that the recovery has been deferred into the remainder of FY27. The credibility of the unchanged outlook will therefore rest on execution as mining and haulage normalise and the planned second-half weighting takes effect.