Increased grade from the bottom of the Didipio pit plus increased throughput saw 62,748 ounces of gold produced and 51,467oz sold, with all-in-sustaining-costs (AISC) put at minus-US$105 per ounce net of copper credits.

Didipio is now transitioning to an underground operation as the pit is completed in the current quarter.

Didipio continues to win various environmental, workplace and community awards for OceanaGold, with CEO Mick Wilkes suggesting negative “noise” in the country was the result of the “unilateral” actions of “an individual and her supporters”, rather than facts.

At Haile in the US, commercial production is expected to be declared in the next month or two, with the new operation in South Carolina yielding just under 21,000oz in the March quarter.

In total OceanaGold’s operations produced 147,956oz at AISC of $521/oz - with copper production totaling nearly 6000t - versus 102,428oz at $639/oz in the December quarter.

Meanwhile the company took advantage of the “hot” share price of Canadian listed explorer Gold Standard Ventures to opportunistically sell some of its investment – realising a gain of $5.3 million in the process – with Wilkes saying the junior remained a “strategic investment” for OceanaGold.    

As at the end of March the company had immediately available liquidity of $85.8 million which included a cash balance of $70.6 million, excluding $90.2 million in marketable securities from strategic investments.

During the quarter, OceanaGold drew down $12 million from its revolving credit facility and repaid $3.6 million of finance lease repayments. At the end of the quarter, total debt stood at $332.8 million.   

The dual-listed OceanaGold was one of only a small handful of significant gold stocks on the TSX to record a gain in trade overnight.

On the ASX the company closed Thursday at A$4.05, capitalising the company at $2.5 billion.