I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Mark Zeptner, Managing Director. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for dialing in this morning. In addition to the quarterly report, we have released a presentation that we'll speak to during this call. Noting that it also includes information from our Dalgaranga exploration update released last week. Both documents have been uploaded on the ASX platform and will be available on our website shortly. This morning I'm joined by members of the executive team, our COO, Tim Hewitt, CFO, Darren Millman, and our EGM of Exploration, Peter Ruzicka. Initially, I'll be speaking to highlights for the quarter, and we will then pass on to Tim, who will speak to the operating highlights. Peter will obviously talk to the exploration results, and Darren will speak to financial highlights before I close out with our priorities for the remainder of FY 2026.
While the presentation is relatively high level, I do note a lot more detail can be found within both the quarterly report released today and the Dalgaranga exploration update I just mentioned. As usual, at the end, there will be an opportunity for listeners to ask questions, whether that be through the teleconference or the webinar, depending on how you have joined the call. Assuming you have the presentation deck handy, I'll initially be speaking to slide three. Gold production for the quarter was 38,093 oz at an all-in sustaining cost of AUD 2,211. This was a solid result and generally in line with our expectations given the planned six-day mill shutdown and weather-related disruptions late in the quarter.
This has resulted in some production moving into Q4, but importantly, our FY 2026 production guidance is unchanged, with a strong fourth quarter expected. Tim will talk further to mill grades and expectations for the remainder of the financial year. It was exciting to see the processing of the first ore from Never Never in the quarter marking a significant milestone as we transition Dalgaranga into the Mt Magnet hub mix. We look forward to a more significant contribution from Dalgaranga in this current quarter. For full year guidance in terms of all-in sustaining costs, we have updated the range to AUD 1,900-AUD 2,050 per ounce, reflecting three things: The earlier than expected declaration of commercial production at Never Never, which Darren will talk to shortly. Diesel price escalation and higher royalties from stronger gold price.
I will note that the AUD 175 increase in the all-in sustaining cost midpoint is pretty much accounted for by these three items alone. Work on the Mt Magnet plant expansion has accelerated across the quarter with a strategy to front-end load the engineering design work. We have commenced preliminary site works and the establishment of the project execution team. There are two areas of focus for the engineering design. Firstly, the existing 1.9 million ton ball mill drive train refurbishment is underway, and we did appoint a third-party contractor subject subsequent to the end of the quarter, who will oversee the project. We're referring to this project as stage one. Secondly, the new 3 million ton circuit. We are focused on the front-end engineering design FEED, then the EPC contract is targeted to be awarded early in the September quarter.
We're referring to this part as stage two. On the financials, we have completed AUD 110.2 million worth of share buybacks, equating to 44% of our announced share buyback program, which I know is one of the largest amounts by value spent in the quarter by any Australian gold producer. In addition to this, we closed out our FY 2027 hedge book and pre-delivered the Q4 FY 2026 hedge commitments. Despite this, we still finished the quarter with a very strong cash and gold balance of AUD 606.5 million. Our growth projects are fully funded, and we remain focused on increasing returns to our shareholders as we grow the company. Darren obviously will talk to this in more detail a little later.
On slide four, we'll see a breakdown of all sources during the quarter. What you can see here, as mentioned, that Q4 will be our strongest quarter of the year, with Dalgaranga expected to contribute over 30% of production. Haulage to Mt Magnet is expected to materially increase in the June quarter, with haulage ramp-rates ramping up as we speak. The 56,000 oz planned for Q4 puts us right in the midpoint of FY 2026 production guidance and with no further hedge commitments leaves this strong quarterly production 100% exposed to the current strong AUD 8 gold price. With that, I'll now pass over to Tim.
Thanks, Mark. Good morning, all. Moving on to slide five to discuss the production metrics. We mined 550,000 tons of ore at a grade of 2.45 g a ton, with both metrics being comparable to the prior quarter. Open pit tons mined for Cue were 66% down on the prior quarter, with a focus on stage two cutback of Break of Day and the commencement of Big Sky Pit. Both of these are in a higher life of mine strip ratio for the quarter. This was offset by increased tonnages from the high-grade underground operations from Galaxy, Penny, and Dalgaranga, all increasing quarter on quarter. Mine grades, while marginally down on the prior quarter, were in line with the model expectations.
At the Mt Magnet processing plant, tons processed were down compared to the previous quarter due to the planned six-day mill shutdown. Grade was similar to the previous quarter, resulting in the gold production of just over 38,000 oz. Moving on to slide six, we take a more detailed look at the Mt Magnet operations. Open pit mining continued at both Cue and Dalgaranga, with operations impacted by significant rainfall associated with Cyclone Narelle towards the end of the quarter. All underground mines delivered strongly on development meters. We've focused on capital development at both Galaxy and Dalgaranga. Significantly, production commenced at Dalgaranga with the first stope fired in Never Never. Galaxy's ore delivery was much stronger in this quarter compared to prior. Looking forward, production is expected to be significantly higher in Q4 with increased haulage of high-grade ore from Dalgaranga.
The team's focus will continue for the remainder of the year on operational excellence, safe production, and cost management. Slide seven and Penny. Mining at Penny totaled 80,000 tons at a grade of 6.33 g per ton. However, given the weather-related events late in the quarter, not all of that material made it to the processing plant, with 74,000 tons milled at a grade of 6.72 g a ton for just under 16,000 oz of recovered gold. Production has now commenced in Penny West. Stoping at both Penny North and Penny West will deliver similar ounces in Q4. Slide eight and Galaxy. Here we've combined both the operational statistics and some recent drilling results. We saw improvement in both tonnages and grade at Galaxy in the quarter, with Galaxy delivering their best quarter this year.
145,000 tons of this was processed at a grade of 2.24 g for just under 10,000 oz. Peter will speak to Galaxy exploration plans later. As noted on the slide, we continue to see mineralization at depth within the target zone. Some of the high-grade drill results to highlight are 4.1 m at 22.4 g per ton from 463.9 m, 8.1 m at 10.3 g per ton from 109.7 m, and 14.2 m at 3.27 g per ton from 473.8 m. Moving on to Cue.
As mentioned earlier, the focus on Cue over the quarter has been on the development of stage two cutback at the Break of Day pit and Big Sky. We did see that reduction in tons mined. Of the 252,000 tons mined, 128,000 tons were processed at Mt Magnet at a grade of two grams per ton for 7,900 oz. Haulage was down in the prior quarter, with the fleet prioritizing the additional high-grade ore from Penny and the reduced mill requirements with the planned shutdown. The photo there shows stage two cutback, and in the background you can see some of our recent progressive rehab on the waste dump. Moving on to Dalgaranga, slide 10.
The image on the left shows the current underground development, both the incline and decline positions on the Never Never deposit, with the right image showing progress made to date on the paste plant. You can see the paste pad in the background. Total lateral development at the underground was 1,690 m, which is largely in line with the prior quarter, while good progress was made in the open pit. Still with Dalgaranga in slide 11. As you can imagine, there is a lot going on on that site besides the underground and open pit mining, including the paste plant and workshop construction and the completion of the first underground pump station. The team fired their first stope successfully mid-March, containing just under 41,000 tons at a grade of 7.41 g per ton.
At the end of the quarter, there was a total of 58,000 tons of ore at a grade of 3.23 g per ton, ready and awaiting haulage to Mt Magnet. Haulage is expected to increase notably in the current quarter. With this, I'll now pass over to Peter.
Thanks, Tim. On to slide 12. This is the five-year production profile for Mt Magnet, and we wanted to highlight a few key points from an exploration perspective. Firstly, Mt Magnet's growth profile, significantly increasing to up to 400,000 oz per annum by FY 2030. On the graph on this slide, at the bottom of each year, you'll see the low-grade ore currently planned to be processed in that year, especially in the years FY 2029 and FY 2030.
You'll see in those, in those years, FY 2029, 1.9 million tons at 0.8 g per ton, and in FY 2030, 1.8 million tons at 0.6 g per ton. Exploration opportunities in each year are highlighted at the top of the graph, and are clearly linked to improvement of our future production profile at Mt Magnet by replacing that lower grade material. We currently have 10 surface rigs and four underground rigs devoted to the Mt Magnet Hub. My exploration commentary today will focus on Galaxy and Gilbeys. Moving on to slide 13. The Galaxy mineralized system is open at depth with both the BIF host and the controlling structures continuing undisrupted at depth. I'll draw your attention to the ounce per vertical meter profile on the left of this figure.
The drop off below around 320 m below surface is a function of drilling density only. Continuation of geology, just not enough drilling. In January, we released an exploration target below the current classified resource based on the continuation of geology and assumptions around the average ounce per vertical meter profile of around 2,300 oz per vertical meter. That work saw an exploration target of 400,000 oz-600,000 oz defined. Current underground programs are looking to achieve three objectives. Identify relatively shallow lateral resource opportunities, increase resource confidence for resource to reserve conversion, and upgrade the exploration target below the classified resource. This is a real opportunity to displace lower grade ore in the mine plan for FY 2029 and FY 2030. Moving on to slide 14, Gilbeys Underground.
We've highlighted results from the Dalgaranga exploration update we released on the 22nd of April. Conceptually, we're looking to add minable ounces to the production profile again in FY 2029 and FY 2030. Additional high-grade drill results from Gilbeys underground drilling include 3.9 m at 21.2 g per ton, 6.1 m at 10.4 g per ton, and 7.7 m at 5.94 g per ton. There's currently a mineral resource of 6.9 million tons at 1.9 g per ton to 380,000 oz to Gilbeys Underground. We're trying to add to this with conversion of an exploration target below the current resource.
That exploration target set at 2.1 million-4.7 million tons at a grade of 1.5 g-2 g per ton for 100,000 oz-300,000 oz. That exploration target is based on existing sparse drilling data, which confirms extension of the mineralized shear zones and the same host rocks at depth. Again, looking to displace low grade 0.6 g-0.8 g per ton ore in FY 2029 and FY 2030. With Gilbeys Underground material grading at 1.5 g-2 g per ton, this will have a meaningful impact. Moving on to slide 15, Dalgaranga open pit potential. From an exploration lens, Dalgaranga remains a corridor for future discoveries, both to the north and south of the Gilbeys mine area.
Surface drilling during quarter has evaluated a number of targets in the southern Gilbeys area at Plymouth, Sly Fox, and Gilbey South. Last quarter, we reported a result of 4 m at 42.6 g per ton gold from Plymouth, highlighting the high grade potential. More recently, we've recorded a number of encouraging results from Sly Fox, including 16.5 m at 2.5 g per ton gold. With that, I'll now hand over to Darren.
Thanks, Peter, and morning all. I'll now be speaking to slide 16. For the March quarter, we generated AUD 101.9 million of free cashflow. This is up on the prior quarter, even in a period of reinvestment into the business. The all-in sustaining cost for the quarter was AUD 2,211 per ounce, and we've driven higher, driven by higher maintenance costs associated with the planned mill shutdown in the period and associated impact on mill throughput. Also impacting the all-in sustaining cost was the higher gold price, which increased royalty costs and added approximately AUD 20 per ounce for the quarter. The year to date, all-in sustaining cost of AUD 1,987 per ounce remained below the AUD 2,000 and leaves us well-placed compared to our peers.
During the quarter, we sold 38,150 oz at an average realized price of AUD 5,795 per ounce, which included a mix of spot and committed forward sales. We pre-delivered 8,000 oz of the June quarter hedge book commitments, which leaves us unhedged position for the remainder of FY 2026 with full upside to this remarkable gold price. In total, sales revenue for the quarter was AUD 221.1 million. The realized gold price for the quarter was up 12%, up 12% on an average improving spot price and also included the impact of the hedge commitments. The AUD gold price itself improved over the quarter by 5%.
The resulting all-in sustaining margin, which is the average realized gold price less the all-in sustaining, was AUD 3,584 per ounce, our best on record, and represents an all-in sustaining margin of 62%. Moving on to slide 17 and the cash flow for the business for the quarter. Operational cash flow was AUD 171.3 million, an increase on the prior quarter despite the lower production. After taking into account the cost of the Q3 hedge book deliveries of AUD 16.1 million, this reduced to AUD 155.2 million, which is still an increase quarter on quarter. This operational cash flow funded growth capital investment for the quarter of AUD 51.2 million, which mainly related to underground development Never Never. The stage two cutback at Break of Day and infrastructure across both Dalgaranga and Mt Magnet.
Our investment in exploration resource definitions for the quarter totaled AUD 26.4 million and was focused on Dalgaranga, Mt Magnet, Cue and Penny. As highlighted by Peter, we're seeing the returns on investment in our exploration results to date. The resulting underlying free cash flow for the quarter was AUD 101.9 million. This underpinned our ability to make a total cash payment of AUD 110.2 million in share buybacks to reward shareholders. This equates to 44% of the AUD 250 million share buyback program announced back in December last year. Lastly, we closed out our FY 2027 hedge book and pre-delivered the June 2026 quarter hedges.
The FY 2027 hedge book closure costs equated to AUD 28.4 million, pre-delivery of the June quarter hedges in this quarter totaled AUD 30.6 million, assuming these ounces were sold on the average spot price for the month. The remainder of FY 2026 is unhedged, no further forward contracts are currently being considered. The resulting closing cash and gold position was AUD 606.5 million . On slide 18, we provide a table noting key updates to FY 2026 guidance.
We have increased our all-in sustaining cost to AUD 1,900 to AUD 2,050 per ounce, still remaining in the low cost quartile with the three main drivers of this increase being, one, the declaration of commercial production at the Never Never underground one quarter earlier than planned, resulting in an additional AUD 100 per ounce in all-in sustaining. It is important to note that this is merely a reclassification of cost from growth capital to sustaining, aligning with the fact that the mine is now profitable earlier than we expected with higher gold price at higher initial grades initially modeled. All in all, a positive for the business. Secondly, higher gold price resulting in higher gold royalties, which is expected to increase all-in sustaining by approximately AUD 40 per ounce in FY 2026.
Thirdly, diesel costs, which at current prices are estimated to impact the all-in sustaining by AUD 35 per ounce or AUD 20 after factoring in our diesel hedge book. On growth capital, as mentioned earlier, we have updated our Mt Magnet plant construction strategy to front-end load engineering design work, which has resulted in some expenditure originally planned for FY 2026 to be now incurred in FY 2027. Importantly, there is no impact on our overall project timing. Overall, at the group level, we have revised PP&E growth capital for FY 2026 to AUD 90 million-AUD 100 million.
On growth capital mine development, the reclassification of Never Never mine development from growth to sustaining that we just discussed, has resulted in reduction in mine development growth by approximately AUD 20 million, which at the midpoint of our production guide and equates to AUD 100 an ounce impact. Again, I can't stress enough, overall, the sustaining in mine development costs for the Never Never underground are unchanged and is just a classification of costs for this in the fourth quarter. On depreciation amortization, the earlier than expected commercial production from Never Never underground has resulted in amortization of the mine property, which resulted in the acquisition cost of the project commencing sooner than initially expected. Revised guidance for the depreciation amortization of FY 2026 is AUD 310 million-AUD 330 million.
On slide 19, we are highlighting our historical returns to shareholders, predominantly in the form of dividends with buybacks added to the mix in FY 2026. As previously disclosed, the Ramelius board wants to ensure shareholders return are maintained during our investment period in FY 2026 and FY 2027, then we grow the returns. In FY 2026, we have already exceeded FY 2025 returns, with the interim dividend of AUD 0.03 per share paid in the quarter, along with the 110 million share buybacks made. We look forward to continuing this trend as we move forward. I'll now pass it back to Mark to wrap up.
Thanks, Darren. We're on slide 20, where we have summarized our key focus areas for the remainder of the financial year. At the corporate level, we will continue to drive improvements in our safety performance and also closely monitor diesel fuel supply and usage whilst continuing our share buyback program. Our exploration team will remain focused on high-grade targets as discussed by Peter, particularly at Mt Magnet and Dalgaranga. We'll continue to ramp up at Dalgaranga underground and also ramp up the ore haulage quantities to ultimately match production levels. On the Mt Magnet plant upgrade, we'll continue with both stage one refurbishment of the existing plant and complete the front-end engineering design and award the EPC contract for stage two. Lastly, we expect to hear back from the EPA on our Roe environmental approval during this June quarter.
These key focus areas will drive our next phase of growth and value creation. We'll now open up the line for questions if we can please, Cody.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question via the phones, you will need to press the star key followed by the one on your telephone keypad. If you wish to ask a question via the webcast, please type your question into the ask a question box. Your first question comes from Hayden Bairstow with Argonaut.
Good morning, guys. Just a couple for me. Mark, just on the drilling you're doing at Mt Magnet. I mean, how quickly do you think you can start defining some of those open pits? Because pushing that Eridanus feed into stockpile rather than through the mill would be obviously pretty material on a three-year outlook. Also, can we just have an update on where the Edna May process is at too? Thanks.
Thanks, Hayden. Unfortunately, bringing in new open pits that aren't currently in the mine plan, that may be a longer lead time to bring those in than we'd all like. I'm thinking, you're thinking Hesperus, maybe Windbag, maybe a bigger Frank's Tower and those sorts of things. There is an investment at Eridanus, which we think is worthwhile because ultimately once we're down into the higher grade material, that'll supply decent grade, base load feed to the mill for the long term. In terms of Edna May, we're still considering, you know, our options there. There's obviously a lot of value on the table at Edna May at the moment. The nice thing is we don't need any answers to, you know, to deliver on our five-year plan.
We're still, you know, considering what we do with Edna May.
Great. Thanks, Mark.
Thank you.
Your next question comes from Ben Wood with UBS.
Morning, team. My question is just on some of the CapEx that we'll see go from FY 2026 and FY 2027, relating to the FEED project and potentially Rebecca-Roe early works. How much do we sort of expect of that AUD 100 million, say, do we expect to be carried forward? Is it the full amount or is it, you know, potentially a bit less than that?
Yeah. I on the Mt Magnet plant expansion, probably thinking, you know, somewhere between the 50%-75% of the FY 2026 numbers. You know, a lot of that given our new strategy, Mark just spoke to. Rebecca-Roe, we just really wanted to double down on Mt Magnet. You know, probably about 75% of those costs will move into FY 2027 also.
Thanks. Bye.
Hopefully, we answered your question there, Ben.
Yep. Yeah, that's good. Thanks, guys.
Yeah.
We will do one final call for questions at star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Or type your question into the ask a question box and click submit. As there are no further questions, that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.