Aeris Resources positions itself for growth following a strong December quarter

Aeris Resources Ltd (ASX:AIS) is gearing up for a memorable year ahead in the wake of measures taken by the company to make new copper discoveries at its Tritton Copper operations in New South Wales along with an updated mineral resource at its Cracow Gold operations in Queensland. The company has issued guidance for FY21 with copper production from Tritton to be around 23,500 tonnes to 24,500 tonnes at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of between A$3.60/pound and A$3.75/pound. Aeris gold production from Cracow is estimated to be around 70,000 ounces to 75, 000 ounces at an AISC between A$1,525/ounce and A$1,575/ounce. Tritton Copper Aeris copper production in the December quarter stood at 5,845 tonnes, which is lower compared to the previous quarter (6,044 tonnes) and primarily due to lower ore production from the Tritton underground mine. Tritton’s ore production for the quarter stood at 233,000 tonnes at 1.43% copper compared to 270,000 tonnes at 1.34% copper in the previous quarter. A partial failure of a critical stope blast in the initiating slot resulted in delays to the main stope blasting and a consequent shortage of broken ore stocks. Tritton mine is operated with a low number of actives stopes and therefore problems with a stope blast can result in a low broken ore stock event. AISC for the quarter at A$2.85/pound were lower than the previous quarter of A$3.33/pound as lower product handling charges along with inventory movements contributed to the difference. Cracow Gold Operation The company has kept the FY21 gold production guidance at Cracow Gold Operations unchanged at between 70,000 to 75,000 ounces. Aeris continues to review the long-term mine plan, targeting opportunities to increase ore production in line with the upgraded processing capacity. Further exploration drilling is planned in the first half of 2021 to support open pit resource growth. Underground drilling of near-mine exploration targets will also continue with two underground drill rigs now on site. The company has budgeted to spend $13 million on exploration activities at Cracow Gold Operations over the first two years of ownership, on both greenfields and brownfields exploration. Roses Pride deep surface drilling Surface drilling at the Roses Pride Deeps target continued during the quarter with two further drill holes (CRD106 and CRD107) completed. A total of three drill holes have now tested the target. Previous underground mining at Roses Pride is located within the ‘upper mineralised panel’, a favourable stratigraphic sequence within the Western Field. Roses Pride resource update An updated resource estimate for the Roses Pride deposit was completed during the quarter. The updated resource represents a 260% increase in total contained gold ounces compared to the previous resource and it contains 177,000 tonnes at 4.6 g/t gold.