by, and welcome to the Northern Star Resources December 2023 quarterly results. All participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation, followed by a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key, followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Stuart Tonkin, Managing Director and CEO. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and good morning. With me today is Chief Operating Officer Simon Jessop and our Chief Financial Officer, Ryan Gurner. I am pleased to present a strong December quarter performance, positioning Northern Star for growth in production and cash flows in the second half of FY 2024 as planned.
Each of our production centers contributed excellent progress towards our profitable growth strategy during the quarter, with a number of highlights that Simon and Ryan will cover shortly. We sold 412,000 ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of AUD 1,824 an ounce, generating underlying free cash flow of over AUD 100 million.
We maintain our full-year production guidance for cost as well, 1.6-1.75 million ounces at an all-in sustaining cost of AUD 1,730-AUD 1,790 an ounce, with a strong H2 outlook, delivering gold sales into a very healthy gold price, currently above $3,000 an ounce.
We remain financially resilient in a net cash position of AUD 238 million, with strong liquidity of AUD 2.5 billion and strong cash flows, which funds all of our growth investments, exploration activities, and dividends. For the KCGM mill expansion, we advanced enabling works and commenced early stages of construction ahead of schedule.
It is exciting to see this activity underway at Fimiston, leading the three-year build to double the plant throughput to 27 million tonnes per annum and production lifting to 900,000 ounces per annum by FY 2029, establishing KCGM as a top five global gold mine.
The Kalgoorlie team has endured some +40-degree days last week, complicated by state grid power outages to the city's homes and businesses, and Northern Star are fortunate to own and operate the Parkeston Power Station with TransAlta, which has been integral to minimizing operational disruption and facilitating the power needs across the city while the repairs are conducted. In contrast, the Pogo team are enduring -40-degree days in Alaska, but have maintained strong momentum in operational improvements, with quarterly gold sales of 66,000 ounces at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,367 an ounce.
At Pogo, stoping dilution is still affecting mine grade, slightly, which is being partially offset by higher mill throughput, which milled at an annualized rate of 1.4 million tonnes per annum for the quarter. Mine operating cash flow from Pogo continues to strengthen, with $40 million generated in the quarter, which is very pleasing to see. Simon will now speak to the Australian operations.
Thank you, Stuart. For the Kalgoorlie production center, including KCGM, Carosue Dam, Kanowna Belle, and South Kalgoorlie, we sold 220,000 ounces of gold, up 20%, at an Australian all-in sustaining cost of AUD 1,683 an ounce, down 9%. This production delivered a mine operating cash flow of AUD 288 million, up 65% quarter-on-quarter.
The region also spent AUD 200 million on significant growth capital projects, including AUD 72 million on the KCGM mill expansion and AUD 65 million on KCGM open pit mine development and new tailings storage facilities. At KCGM, open pit material movement was in line with plan at 18.3 million tonnes in the quarter, with a total movement of 40 million tonnes for H1, in line with our stated total material movement goals.
The open pit successfully continued mining the east wall remediation area to regain partial access to Golden Pike North, with 25,000 ounces mined in quarter two and slightly ahead of time. This partial access to Golden Pike North is a real highlight as we continue to accelerate towards unlocking the 1.2 million ounces.
Underground mining, mining volumes for the Kalgoorlie region were steady at 1.54 million tonnes, while grade increased 13% to deliver 128,000 ounces. The higher grade was driven from Mount Charlotte and Carosue Dam, as we regained access to higher-grade areas of the mine. KCGM's underground Mount Charlotte operations stabilized development at 3.3 kilometers for the quarter after a 52% lift in quarter one.
This is a key lead indicator for opening up new mining fronts, as production increases will flow from further stope areas online. The Carosue Dam underground mines all performed well, enabling the underground ore mine to supply over 60% of the mill feed for the half. Open pit movements increased to 1 million BCMs as we started the new Wallbrook open pit.
The Kalgoorlie operations mined lower volumes at Kanowna Belle, with a major production blast completed late in December. While South Kalgoorlie ore mined was stable, but average grade increased to 5.4 grams over a total of 24,000 ounces. Processing volumes in the Kalgoorlie production center improved 11% post the quarter one major shutdowns to 4.85 million tons.
KCGM recovered gold increased 36% quarter-on-quarter to 124,000 ounces on processing volumes, grade, and the initial access to high-grade ore from Golden Pike North. Carosue Dam achieved 1,000,000 tons milled for the quarter, along with increased head grade and gold sold. The KCGM mill expansion spent AUD 72 million during the quarter and successfully continued with the on-ground enabling works.
Significant earthworks have commenced in the coarse ore stockpile area and clearing of the new mill footprint. We also achieved significant works on the 33 kV power line into the Northern Switcher. The engineering design works are progressing well, with 20% complete and are on track. The focus remains on the enabling works in preparation for the main construction team to commence late in the March quarter.
At our Yandal production center, including Jundee, Thunderbox, and Bronzewing, we sold 125,000 ounces of gold at an Australian all-in sustaining cost of AUD 1,923 an ounce. This production delivered a mine operating cash flow of AUD 125 million, while we spent AUD 61 million on growth capital projects.
Primarily, AUD 22 million was spent on the Aurelia open pit. At our Jundee operation, development advance was consistent at 7.5 kilometers, with 760,000 tons of ore mined and 80,000 ounces for the quarter. Processing had an unplanned SAG mill trunnion bearing failure, which resulted in 10 days of lost mill availability. We exited December with this rectified and an annualized 3.2 million ton per annum mill throughput, as issues were resolved midway through the quarter.
The Jundee Renewable Project progressed with all of the panels laid out for the 16-MW solar farm, and the wiring up of the project has commenced. The 24-MW wind farm foundation works have commenced, with steel complete in two of the four foundations and remains on track for FY 2025. At Thunderbox, our underground operation achieved 498,000 tons of ore, mined at a slightly higher head grade of 1.7 grams per ton.
We also commenced our latest underground mine during the quarter at Wonder, with the portals established and significant infrastructure already in place. Northern Star Mining Services established the portals, with 74 meters of development achieved before Christmas, and we look forward to the future higher-grade ore from this mine.
For the quarter, the underground and open pit operations successfully mined 1.35 million tons of ore, matching the Thunderbox processing plant milled tons. The Thunderbox processing plant achieved 1.29 million tons for the quarter and 51,000 ounces of gold sold. The throughput tons per hour remained above nameplate, averaging 759 tons per hour.
Availability was 77% for the quarter, with major impacts being the main feed belt conveyor that was damaged and low crushing circuit availability, ultimately affecting feed rate on the mills. The focus is on availability while fixing wear points and engineering improvements for operability. The continued improvement, continued opportunity is improving availability greater than 90% and milling in excess of 6 million tons per annum. I would now like to pass over to Ryan, our Chief Financial Officer, to discuss the financials.
Thanks, Simon. Good morning, all. As demonstrated in today's quarterly results, Northern Star remains in a fantastic financial position. Our balance sheet remains strong, as set out in table four on page nine, with cash and bullion of AUD 1.1 billion, and we remain in a net cash position of AUD 238 million at December 31.
The company has recorded strong cash earnings for the first half of FY 2024, which is estimated to be in the range of AUD 685 million-AUD 715 million, and a reminder that our dividend policy is based on 20%-30% of cash earnings. Pleasingly, all three production centers generated positive free cash flow, with capital expenditure fully funded.
Figure nine on page 10 sets out the company's cash and bullion investments movement for the quarter, with key elements being the company recording AUD 486 million of operating cash flow, a 22% lift on the prior quarter, and includes—and this includes a AUD 28 million coupon payment on the notes and AUD 25 million of our annual insurance premiums.
Then, after deducting CapEx of AUD 315 million relating to plant and equipment and mine development, AUD 28 million of exploration and AUD 41 million of lease payments, quarterly free cash flow generation was a healthy AUD 102 million. Quarterly investment in sustaining capital, growth capital and exploration are tracking to plan.
Growth capital includes waste removal at KCGM at Fimiston South and the east wall, development at Fimiston Underground, KCGM plant expansion, development at Palfrey Underground and Wallbrook open pit at CDO, development at Aurelia open pit and Wonder Underground at Thunderbox. During the quarter, the company paid its final FY 2023 dividend of AUD 0.155 per share, totaling AUD 165 million. In respect of the company's on-market share buyback, this remains open and is 56% complete.
A blackout period applies up to and including our first half FY 2024 results release on the February 22nd. On other financial matters, depreciation and amortization are in line with company guidance provided of AUD 650-AUD 750 an ounce. First half FY 2024 depreciation is at the midpoint of the guidance range at approximately AUD 691 per ounce sold. And for the quarter, non-cash inventory charges for the group are AUD 33 million.
The majority of these charges, non-cash, relate to the milling of acquired stockpiles at KCGM and are a component of EBITDA. During the quarter, the company refinanced its revolving credit facilities, extending maturity dates to December 2027 and December 2028 across two equal tranches totaling AUD 1.5 billion Australian.
With the facilities remaining undrawn and available at the end of the quarter, the company retains AUD 2.6 billion in liquidity. In respect of hedging, table five on page 10 sets out the company's committed hedge position at December 31. During the quarter, the company delivered 100,000 ounces into contracts and placed 285,000 ounces at an average price of AUD 3,450 an ounce. The overall hedge book being 1.8 million ounces at an average price of AUD 3,028 per ounce. I'll hand back now to Lexi for the Q&A session. Thanks.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from Hugo Nicolaci... Sorry, Nicolaci from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Morning, team. Thanks for the update this morning. Maybe just one more on the medium and longer term outlook, and kind of just going back to the comments at the exploration update in November. I think, you know, broadly that the KCGM outlook is pretty well understood, but maybe the perception around the medium-term outlook at some of the other assets is probably still lacking a little bit.
So I'm just wondering if you could please talk us through in a bit more detail what you currently see the capital commitments being for things like ongoing Pogo development, satellite pits at Jundee and Thunderbox, and the broader medium to long-term sustaining CapEx profile. Thanks.
Thanks, Hugo. So yeah, outlook, you're talking about as far as CapEx capital, compliance to capital guidance number or more, production surety or exploration? Is it around the CapEx confidence?
Yeah, more on CapEx, but then anything you can give around physicals for kind of the medium term, just, you know, beyond just Reserve Grade and that sort of thing would be great as well.
Yeah, sure. So look, the key changing things, you know, go through them, but Pogo fundamentally is around the grade and improving the stoping grade by minimizing mining dilution. The percentage of stoping to development was a bit down on the quarter, but ultimately, it's around getting, you know, high-quality tons, you know, through that plant to get to 300,000 ounces.
So yeah, lifting that average grade up is where we're gonna get that uplift in the revenue. You can see costs are improving, but there's still, you know, still a lot of fixed costs at Pogo. So the improvement primarily there is a combination of improved grade from mining dilution improvements, plus some increased throughput. We milled at 1.4 million tons.
There's a few other, plant, small capital items that will be there to stabilize, maintain an increased, milling throughput. So that's, that's Pogo settled. The other growth fundamentally comes from the stabilizing, availability of the Thunderbox plant. So we've been able to meet that milling rate, fairly consistent, but not for the full quarter.
So it's around getting, that available time up, keeping that average grade, through there and, yeah, basically hitting that 6 million tonnes per annum rate consistently throughout the quarter. We, we think we'll be at the exit rate in quarter four at that 6 million tonnes. It is a bit later than we, we'd wanted it to see this year, but it's around just getting that mechanical uptime. So there's a few of those small capital items being improved, across that plant.
The rest really is driven by volumes and grade coming out of KCGM. As you pointed out, we're in the Golden Pike North in the pit floor. We've still got about six months of movement of waste material at East Wall, but we're in the grade in the north in the pit floor, which has been, you know, three years in the making, and it's a fantastic outcome ahead of where we expected we would be.
So they're the three key drivers of inflex. We'll put out a resource reserves, we conclude them at the end of March, so there'll be a lot of content and detail that underpins what life assets and the guidance is in grade. But everything else is pretty static other than those three key moving parts, for the remainder of this year and into next year.
Great. Thanks for that, Stuart. And I just maybe moving beyond kind of the second half of 2024, I mean, how much are you planning on having to spend, say, in FY 2025 and 2026 on, you know, new satellite pits at Thunderbox and Jundee? And, you know, what's the ongoing, I guess, development CapEx per year that you're kind of anticipating at Pogo? I mean, is it in the order of $50 million a year over and above sustaining CapEx for plant and the like? Or how do you just, I guess, see that medium-term CapEx profile shaping up?
Yeah, so we haven't given multi-year growth CapEx in that regard, and we'll assess doing that in the middle of the year. So really what it is, you know, delivery of this year's capital, and most of that's going into KCGM, obviously in the waste stripping movement, but also in the mill expansion. So lion's share of the capital's going there.
There is, you know, a fairly consistent start a new mine a year, across the Yandal. So whether that's an underground or an open pit. We're managing it with our own fleets, so ultimately you're spending the same amount per annum because you're reallocating your people and your fleet to those jobs. So it's not a case of stacking them on top of each other, it's just they sequence through those underground mines.
So, and open pit mines. So there's fairly consistent spend around opening up those growth ideas. And you'll see that pipeline of targets or pipeline of ore sources coming through in the resource reserve statement in a few months.
Great. Thanks, Adam. So just last one, sorry, just to belabor the CapEx point. I mean, from a sustaining CapEx perspective, do you think about that longer term in terms of dollars per ounce? And what sort of number, I guess, do you see sustaining CapEx at once you kind of settle out through growth projects? I mean, is it north of $200 an ounce in sustaining CapEx?
Yeah, Hugo, Ryan here. Yeah, I think if you look over history, I think the trend for the business has been around AUD 200-AUD 250, you know, per ounce. And I think we've trended that way for many years. And even this year, if you have a look at the results for the half year, I think we're just over AUD 200. We're about AUD 210. So yeah, that's what I would guide to.
Thanks for that, Ryan. I'll pass it on.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Daniel Morgan, from Barrenjoey. Please go ahead.
Hi, Stuart and Simon. First question is at the Super Pit, and just asking about what drove the early access to Golden Pike? And, you know, does it mean that potentially you're slightly ahead of plan, and we could see better grade in the second half of this year? Or is it just that you got in a few days at the end of the quarter and so it came this quarter, not next? Thank you.
Yeah, thanks, Daniel and Simon. I suppose after three and a half years of work, it's really good execution by the team to, you know, stay on track and on the path and fundamentally with some good mining and thinking and technical work.
We've regained partial access to part of the southern side of Golden Pike North. And also, regained a little bit of access in the northern end. So I think really most of it's just good mining, good focus, and the team's really delivered there. So we accessed that slightly early. The grade in the second half, absolutely KCGM will climb.
And you can sort of see that timing difference between the gold recovered and the gold sold of 112,000 ounces. We had a big buildup in gold in circuit there, and that was really getting access to some of that Golden Pike North late in the quarter.
And KCGM, it takes, you know, really sort of three weeks to get the gold through the full circuit. So bit of a timing piece there. So big buildup in GIC at the end of the quarter, but we'll continue to get access into Golden Pike North going forward. So some really great work from the team.
Yeah, huge master. Just clarifying, you've got partial access that's been restored and obviously that's. I think you've guided for full access is restored at the, sort of midway through this year in, you know, end of June. Can I just clarify that you'll have full access at the bottom of the pit, and for all intents and purposes, you won't be restricted? Or is there still work to be done that will occur in FY 25?
No, you're, you're exactly right. By the end of FY 2024, so June this year, we should have finished all of the east wall works, and therefore we've got unlimited access to Golden Pike North for FY 2025 and FY 2026. Obviously, that's critical for our strategic plan of growing KCGM to 650,000 ounces.
Okay, thank you. More of a industry question. It's unfortunate, but your nickel peers are suffering right now through low prices. There's been a few shuts, and perhaps more in WA. Just wondering, what, if anything, does that mean for your business in terms of getting access to people and contractors and equipment? Has there been any signs yet as, you know, might we see some, I guess, relief on the cost inflation we've been feeling on your business? Thank you.
Yeah, thanks, Dan. So one of the first things we've done is reached out across those businesses we understood were going onto care and maintenance or reducing staffing. Just we have vacancies across our group we can fill, so we've put that offer out there to get them in. I don't see it fundamentally as a cost saving. It's around keeping those jobs in the regions and keeping them employed and filling gaps. And as we're growing, it'll certainly aid, you know, delivery of our business and, you know, again, quality of skilled people reemployed.
Okay, thank you very much.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Hayden Bairstow from Argonaut. Please go ahead.
Hey, morning, guys. Just a couple from me. So just comments on the reserve resource update. Just interested to understand, is there going to be any sort of shift in how you're thinking about, particularly around Kalgoorlie, given the amount of committed and the mill expansion sort of underway, as opposed to, you know, Carosue Dam as a distinct operating center and same with KCGM, and the bringing more of those resources more directed towards the mill longer term? Is that something that you're thinking about, or is it sort of a couple of years away?
Yeah, so we've obviously reassessed all the things regarding our cost base, cut-off grades, and obviously the revenues, gold price assumptions. We may modify the gold price slightly, given it's, you know, a lot of headway from, you know, sub $2,000 being used in the spots north of $3,000.
But it's more probably drill density at place like KCGM, around the confidence level of, you know, measured, indicated, inferred, et cetera, from resource and then conversion across to reserve. So it's not that sensitive to the, you know, cut-off grades or gold price assumptions. It's really around getting the definition density right. So at the moment, we just see huge opportunities to come in later.
We know that there is material in the pit shell that exists that will be economic and very profitable, through that expanded mill and the lower milling cost. That won't be factored into this resource reserve statement. We've obviously still got two and a half years of building that plant before that would be, brought into the, to the statement.
Yeah. Okay, and then just on the hedge profile, the decision to add 185,000 ounces to the book, I mean, is that something that we should be thinking about might be getting bigger over time, opportunistic? Just understand what that was about.
No, it's pretty reflective of that policy, keeping us at an average around that 20%+, and you'd appreciate we're growing our ounce profile, so it's about that four year outlook and maintaining at that level. Opportunistic when the price is up, so they were added over $3,400 an ounce. And it basically keeps that, keeps that percentage flat throughout that period.
So just as we, as we deliver into those hedges, you know, opportunistically adding to that book, using that contango to get the price up, you know, average book price is above $3,000 bucks an ounce. You know, if you took a spot out of the money, it's, you know, it's under $100 million, which is what we generated in, you know, cash flow on the quarter. It's pretty, pretty cheap insurance.
Yeah. Okay, great. Good result. Thanks, guys.
Thanks, Hyden.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Ben Lyons from Jarden Securities Limited. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. Congratulations, Stu. It was a great quarter, clearly. Maybe in the context of what was a very strong result, sorry, to hone in on one of the weaker numbers, but just wanted to talk a little bit about the physicals at Jundee.
So the grade reported there was the lowest in over five years, and obviously understanding that there's always going to be a natural tension between chasing the tonnage and maintaining the grade profile. Just wondering if you can make any sort of comments around your expectations about that grade profile as we move forward. Thanks, mate.
Yeah, thanks, Ben. I will chuck to Simon and congratulate Simon on a great quarter, too, because he did all the work. But it's around the sequencing of open pit and underground contribution and with sort of some mill outages on just utilizing some low stock, low-grade stockpiles. So yeah, Jundee is particularly lumpy when it comes to sources and feeds, so it's around, you know, maintaining and getting back to those reserve grades. Just let Simon give you the color and forward look.
Yeah, Ben, thanks. The grade was lower for Jundee, but when you look at it, it's partly due to a combination of Ramone lower grade as a percentage into the total blend at Jundee, and we had some better grade come through late in the quarter. So just really timing of mine sequence at Jundee, so it does fluctuate quite a bit in terms of the grade, but as an average, we have a higher contribution of Ramone at slightly lower grade, but it's not far off reserve grade 3.6 grams per tonnes for Jundee.
Yeah. Cool. Thanks, thanks for that, Simon. Then just the second one, moving across to Thunderbox. Good to hear that you're opening up the Wonder underground. Just, just wondering if you could possibly remind me what sort of rough throughput and grades you're looking to achieve out of that new underground operation. Thank you.
Yeah, certainly really excited to cut the portals and establish it just late in the quarter there. And really from this quarter on, we'll just ramp up the Wonder underground. But the initial reserve for Wonder was about 455,000 ounces at around about 3.2 grams per tonnes.
So when you compare that to Thunderbox underground, which is sitting around 1.7-1.8 grams per tonnes, it's a really high-grade source for us that we also see a lot of opportunity to drill and continue to grow. So pretty excited to get that project underway. Obviously, there's a bit of a lead time in terms of development for, you know, like a normal underground, it starts ramping up.
They're the initial numbers on last year's R&R.
Yeah. Cool, cool. Thanks, Simon. Just intuitively, did you—like, do you think about it as 1 million tonnes per annum dedicated underground or, or more sort of like out to the 500,000 or 600,000 tonnes per annum?
I suppose a little bit depends on timing of when we open up those different areas, but you know, definitely up towards, up towards that sort of 1 million tonnes per annum. I'd think is pretty reasonable for that operation. So certainly well north of 500, that's for sure.
Yeah, the combination of development ore and production ore, shaping ore, would be towards that million. It's just, it's just the blend of that.
Okay. That's it from me. Well done, guys. Thank you.
Thanks, Ben.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Alex Barclay, from RBC. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Morning, Stuart and team. Just a bit more specifically on Pogo and those grades. It did seem a bit low this quarter, and in the second half, you said you're only expecting marginally better. I don't know if there's any more detail you could give about that rising percentage of stope ore. And you mentioned dilution might be an issue, so when should we see the mine getting up towards reserve grade? And is that really achievable? Thanks.
Yeah, so if you sort of look at the physicals in the quarterly, yeah, we maintain sort of over 1,600 meters a month in development, and that, when it's knocking out ore, basically, that's going into the plant preferential to stoping.
So that will in turn relate to higher stope tonnes in the future. But it's the balance of just total amount of people, total amount of fleet moving material. So when we do overachieve on development, it does chew a bit into stoping, but it gets us more working fronts and ability to pick it up in the future. So that's why we have the visibility and the confidence. When we were sort of hitting the 1,200, 1,300 meters a month, not only were we consuming stocks, we weren't getting ahead.
So it's pleasing to see those leading indicators there. And the grade is also reflective of that high percentage of development ore going into the feed. The mining dilution, it's different for different zones and areas and ground conditions within the mine, so it's around us understanding, not just having one pattern for each of those areas, and the tech team's honing those things in.
So yeah, we've seen improvements throughout the year, but then there'll be a certain area that'll give us some grief. And it's just about isolating that and modifying that and continuing on. So we're working on all those things. Reserve grade, you know, 8.5 grams.
You know, we'll again assess with all the drilling and the confidence of what we're finding in all of those areas, as well as what those mining factors are. We'll reassess in March what the reserves kicks out, if it stays at 8.5 grams, or whether it comes back with mining factors. We're still doing that work presently.
Okay. All right. That's very clear. Thanks. And just a quick one, recent power issues in Kalgoorlie, has that been a problem for you guys?
Oh, look, it's been a horrendous period for the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder for the last couple of weeks. So we believe it's imminently gonna be fixed permanently sort of this next few days. But yeah, there was a lot of drama up there with obviously power out for, you know, 30,000 residents, businesses.
We're fortunate we have that Parkeston Power Station that can service the city and obviously service our mines. So we've managed through those things in the last couple of weeks with sort of the state enterprises in regards to that. So yeah, there's been certainly disruptions across the Goldfields. It hasn't materially affected us, but we've also worked hard to support the community, providing, you know, even backup gen sets and power and redistribution of that power.
So we work under instruction of those energy companies, you know, using Parkeston to feed and supplement the power into the city.
Okay, sounds good. Thanks very much, guys.
Thanks, Alex.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Alex Papaioannou, from Citi. Please go ahead.
Hi, Stuart and Simon. Just one for me. At KCGM, when can we expect recoveries to move back towards 84%?
Thanks, Alex.
Yeah, thanks, Alex. Simon here. Yes, we had a number of issues really in the flotation area, which has been impacting slightly down on our normal sort of recovery. So what we've... We've just had a shut recently and done a lot of work on the rougher columns and really it's the distribution of the material going into there versus bypassing some of that and going into the CIL train. So that's really the core impact there. We understand it. We're working hard on the float circ to just try and lift the optimization there. And really, that's the main challenges for us there on recovery at KCGM.
To get to those sort of numbers-
Right.
Our attitude is around the fully expanded mill case, which obviously is a different circuit, really targeting on that, so the much bigger ounce profile and the residence time. It's around getting all the ultra-fine grinding on the same site, not going out to Gidji.
Lots of residence time in multiple tanks added to that larger throughput circuit, stabilizing all those float banks that go to that. So I think, you know, Simon said, we're focusing on these couple of years of the things that we have, but it's really the big game changers on the new circuit and making sure that that is the best recovery we can get through.
Yeah.
Thanks.
The leach residence time is sort of going from our typical eight to 10 hours, out to normally 16 hours on the new circuit. So that's a, that's a fairly big difference in the, in the new design of the expanded process plant. So we get the volume increase, we also double the residence time.
Okay, cool. That's it for me. Thanks.
Thanks, Alex.
Thank you. Sorry, thank you. Your next question comes from Matthew Frydman from MST Financial. Please go ahead.
Sure. Thanks. Morning, Stuart and team. Apologies if I missed this at the start of the Q&A, but just wanted to, I guess, get you to expand, please, a little bit on the issues that you're facing at Thunderbox. Obviously some, some ongoing, I guess, pinch points and, and problems that you guys are sort of working through.
... and resolving with the mill there, how do you, I guess, what's the pathway to rectify that in the second half? Will that get you back to that 6 million ton per annum nameplate in your view? Or do you sort of have to start rethinking that? And then also maybe just following on from some of the comments on the last question, you know, any learnings you can apply from that expansion and the implementation of that expansion to what you're doing at KCGM? Thanks.
Yeah, thanks, Matt, Simon. I suppose just on the first or the last piece of your question there around learnings for KCGM. They are vastly different in terms of thinking, methodology, and all the elements in terms of the KCGM plant. So we've really worked extremely hard with Steve and the team around the operability of the new KCGM plant and, you know, done a lot on the design reviews to make sure that's gonna come out of the build very, very strong. So yes, we've absolutely looked at internally some learnings from the Thunderbox process plant, but they're really chalk and cheese between the two.
In terms of Thunderbox itself, really had a major conveyor failure in terms of the belt, which was a fairly big job to fix during the quarter. But it's lots of small things here and there in terms of wear points in SAG feed chute design and things like that, which take a few iterations to get worked up and in place, and therefore, we've sort of got to wear this lower availability while we work through those. So working through the short-term here and now issues fix as well as medium-term improvements, and then long-term as we understand wear rates around the process plant. So we're sort of at that 5.3 million tonne annualized when you take H1 results, and that's running at 77%-80% availability.
All of our other process plants run well north of 90%. We don't see any issue at all getting to that. It is purely around just lifting that availability by 10%-13% and we're above 6 million, so we're not far off it. It is a little frustrating. It's taking a little bit longer than we expected, but we, we've got the right people all over it now.
Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks, Simon. And yeah, appreciate that. Obviously, the KCGM and Thunderbox plants are gonna be very different. Just, I guess with that confidence in the ability to get back above 6 million tons per annum, clearly, that's also factoring in the, I guess, the increasing mix of fresh ore that's coming into that mill. Obviously, you talked about the development of, you know, the Wonder Underground and others that are sort of increasing that fresh feed. So 6 million with a bigger proportion of fresh, still highly achievable?
Yes, or even just grade streaming. So any material that falls short of that sort of currently is the lowest grade. So we preferentially put in the better grade now. But it's a fairly consistent, you know, we'll keep that fairly consistent blend in FY 25 and beyond. And there is capacity for that to go, you know, back over 90%, availability to go beyond 6 million tons per annum. So not counting those chickens yet, but we're certainly working towards what we've done at every other plant. As soon as we've got it nameplate, it's around optimizing it from there.
Yep, got it. Thanks, Steve. Thanks, Simon.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Levi Spry, from UBS. Go ahead.
Good day, guys. Thanks, thanks for all the extra information. Maybe just sticking to the key value driver of the KCGM Super Pit plant expansion, maybe that figure 5, I guess, could you just talk to the movie there over the next 18 months? You know, what, what are the next activities? And I guess, is this the CapEx profile? Remind us of the CapEx profile, you know, in the second half and, and through into next year. Thank you.
Yeah, so out of the AUD 1.5 billion. Thanks, Levi. You know, there was pretty much third to third to third, but sort of 525, at five- a bit over 500, and the balance in the, in the fourth year. Really on that, that Figure 5 showing that, yeah, all the large part to date has been all of the pre, the pre-works and getting the site cleared and ready for construction crews. And we've, you know, modestly commenced some of that construction work, late in the quarter. So yeah, we're, we're pleased with that, the timing of how we're tracking against it. We'll keep this, graphic and the commentary here updated in each quarter, you know, talking through the milestones of what's, what's occurring there.
And we've obviously segregated, you know, production from this expansion activity so that the mine is unimpeded from, you know, milling and mining, and activity continues throughout the build period. And obviously, the funding of this is all done from operational cash flows. And then this is under separate leadership and separate supervision, with the contractor building all of this activity in and around the existing plant that's operating. So yeah, pretty, pretty strictly run, a lot of activity to occur. Obviously, all the accommodation and the crews starting to arrive more so in this March quarter. And then really, you've got, you know, 500-600 people there for a couple of years doing pretty significant construction works.
So we'll just keep that updated there and that CapEx, you know, pretty consistent over those years. Checks written versus commitments made might be a bit lumpy, but it's pretty consistent. It's gonna get built-
... Yeah, great. Well done. Thank you. Thanks.
Thanks, bye-bye.
Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Your next question comes from Jarrod Bryan Lucas from ABC News. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning. Thanks for the full name there, going in. You mentioned, Stuart, at the top of the tape just about the Parkeston Power Station and the role it's playing, keeping the lights on in Kalgoorlie at the moment. I was just curious if Western Power's indicated to you guys how much longer that will be relied on for just feeding into the grid more than you normally do?
Yeah, thanks, Jared. Oh, look, we've got guidance that, you know, it's days away, and that's the permanent solution. So, you know, we're expecting that work obviously has continued since the first outage and those poles were damaged through that storm. So, like yourself, you know, you hear a lot of different versions of actions at the start of this period. And I think they've solved for a lot of those and understand they've got multiple things underway. So the bulk of that disruption that was experienced will be solved very shortly.
Okay. There's obviously the state government utilities had to lean on you guys, and they're lucky they've had you guys there. Is I guess you'd like to see a bit more strategic investment potentially from the state into the power infrastructure, so they don't have to rely on you guys?
Oh, either or, that... It's pretty known that that Parkeston plant has underpinned the power in Kalgoorlie for a long time. So, so that's clear. I think it's more around the speed to act, and having multiple contingencies. No one can predict what part of that system, you know, could fail. Yes, you could spend a lot of money in, you know, contingencies and all those sorts of things, but I think it's a case of, you know, a storm or otherwise, you know, these things that occur, it's about the right speed and, the willingness to act quickly so that people aren't disrupted. And we understand the impact that's occurred across the community there. You know, it's pretty, pretty hot weeks there.
Last one on the power, the renewable plan with the solar arrays, the wind turbines that's been mooted for a while. Is there any update on where that planning's at?
Look, it's still multi-year with an outlook that it gets brought in when we have the mill expanded. If that was in place today, you know, it could have well solved the issues of the last fortnight. But, it's just another-- it'll be another asset that's, you know, one, underpins continuity, and, you know, power security in the region. So, there's a lot of benefits with having that, you know, islanded, either behind the meter or connected to the grid, renewable, reducing our carbon footprint there, but giving absolute power security for a lot of businesses, homes, and obviously the business we have in Kalgoorlie.
Thanks, guys. Just to clarify before I let it go, that that's, so that's after the three-year mill project, so still in feasibility level?
Yeah, there's still a number of options being evaluated in regard to wind, solar, battery, in regards to that.
Thanks, guys. Cheers.
Thanks, Jared.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now head back to Mr. Tonkin for closing remarks.
Great, thanks everyone for joining us on the call today. We're really pleased with the mid-year quarterly results, and we look forward to updating you as we continue to advance on our profitable organic growth strategy. So have a great day. Thanks very much.
Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.