Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd (ASX: KLA) today unleashed its full-year 2019 guidance which underscores strong growth in production, improvement in unit costs and significant growth over exploration and mining activities.
Mid-tier Gold miner Kirkland pitched production growth to reach 740,000 – 800,000 ounces by 2019 with improved all-in sustaining costs (“AISC”) of US$630 – US$680 per ounce. This reflects the growth driven by an increase in production at Fosterville and Macassa. On the front of three-years production guidance, Kirkland anticipates an increase of over 500,000 ounces in Fosterville Mine’s production.
Operating cash cost is estimated to improve to US$360 – US$380 per ounce. Whereas, on the expenditure side, exploration expenditures is estimated at US$100 – US$120 million, Growth capital expenditures to $155 – $165 million and Sustaining capital expenditures to US$150 – US$170 million by 2019. The company particularly targets US$85 – US$100 million exploration expenditure for Northern Territory and Fosterville in Australia.
Kirkland’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Tony Makuch stated Kirkland targets a substantial increase in the production and unit costs in 2019 to reach the milestone of one million ounces of annual gold production by 2021. Mr. Makuch added that company would increase its investment in explorational activities to deliver additional production.
Moreover, looking to the long-term scenario, Kirkland has provided guidance of 10-15% production growth per year over the next three years. Following 2019 production growth, the company will target to achieve 850,000 – 910,000 ounces production in 2020 and 945,000 – 1,005,000 ounces in 2021. It reflects the guidance of 245,000 – 255,000 ounces for 2019’s production from Macassa and 120,000 ounces from Taylor and Holt mines in both 2019 and 2020 which is expected to increase to over 130,000 ounces in 2021.
In a separate release to Australian Securities Exchange, Kirkland also announced an increase of CAD$0.01 per share in the quarterly dividend. It took Kirkland’s 2018 fourth quarter dividend to CAD$0.04 per share from previous CAD$0.03 per share. The company stated that the shareholders recorded on the registry of Kirkland as on 31 December 2018 will be entitled to receive CAD$0.04 per share on January 11, 2019.
With this update, Kirkland’s shares jumped by 3.748% to last trade at $34.880 on 13 December 2018. Today, it last traded at a price to earnings ratio of 32.220 x with a market capitalization of $33.62 million. Looking at the historical performance of Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd , we can see an increase of 34.48% in stock’s daily price change over the past six months.
Disclaimer
This website is a service of Kalkine Media Pty. Ltd. A.C.N. 629 651 672. The website has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not intended to be used as a complete source of information on any particular company. Kalkine Media does not in any way endorse or recommend individuals, products or services that may be discussed on this site. Our publications are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold. We are neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice.
There is no investor left unperturbed with the ongoing trade conflicts between US-China and the devastating bushfire in Australia.
Are you wondering if the year 2020 might not have taken the right start? Dividend stocks could be the answer to that question.
As interest rates in Australia are already at record low levels, find out which dividend stocks are viewed as the most attractive investment opportunity in the current scenario in our report.
