Six weeks ago Apex was forced to head to the market to raise $A24.6 million after delays to the refurbishment of the Wiluna processing plant, caused by “unforeseen faults”

The delays resulted in deferred revenue of around $20 million during the commissioning period.

There are signs the project is now beginning to hit its straps, with Apex saying all major plant components are complete.

As a result, the Wiluna plant has produced at a rate of over 9000oz per month since mid-February.

In February, average gold production was 290 ounces per day, around 106,000oz per annum on an annualised basis, rising to 310oz daily or 113,000ozpa.

However, the company’s gold poured came to only 5388oz, with the difference representing gold locked in the carbon-in-leach circuit.

This amount is “expected to vary in quantity from month to month,” the company said.

Plant recovery averaged a relatively low 82% in February – well below its targeted rate of 90% – increasing to an average of 84% in the second half of the month and the company said it was focused on improving production rates and recoveries.

Mining rates were also increasing, with production from the open pit in February reaching 43,000 tonnes at 4.8 grams per tonne gold, while underground production came to 17,800t at 4.6gpt gold.

The company said it had faced some issues with its stoping with slot firing, and new slot drilling techniques were in place to fix its problems.

With its cash flow problems, Apex had put off further exploration at its Western Australian gold play, but said it hopes to restart this work halfway through the year.

Shares in Perth-based Apex were last trading at 27c, down 1c this morning.