Regis said today that Garden Well had produced 48,430 ounces of gold in the March quarter, below December quarter production of 51,562oz and below guidance of 50,000-55,000oz gold.

“Operations at Garden Well were impacted by high rainfall during two periods in late February and in March as a result of the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Rusty and a second high rainfall weather event,” the company said.

The high rainfall led to the processing of wet oxide ore, which impacted crushing circuit throughput and in turn reduced mill throughput to less than 4 million tonnes per annum for over a week.

To minimise the impact of wet oxide ore on the crushing circuit throughput, lower-grade transitional zones were mined.

Ore milled for the quarter was 1.16Mt, up from 1.05Mt, but the average head grade dropped to 1.39 grams per tonne gold from 1.65gpt gold.

The company said the plant had run at 5Mtpa for the last two weeks of March.

In February, Regis downgraded June half guidance for Garden Well to 108,000-116,000oz from 130,000-140,000oz due to grade reconciliation issues.

The company has not yet provided guidance for the June quarter, but the mine will have to produce at least 60,000oz to meet the lower end of guidance.

Regis will release its full quarterly later this month.

Meanwhile, Moolart Well production of 26,158oz was in line with the December quarter, with total group production totalling 74,588oz.

Regis shares dropped 3.8%, or A15c, to $3.81.