Quarterly - ASX:WGX
Westgold Sept quarter: 98,393oz gold at A$2,912/oz AISC; Treasury up A$101M to A$1,040M
Westgold produced 98,393oz of gold in the September 2026 quarter at an AISC of A$2,912/oz, flat on the June quarter and on track for FY27 guidance of 385-425koz. Cash, bullion and liquid investments rose A$101M to A$1,040M with no debt, after buy-backs, growth capital and exploration. The report contains no new drilling results, so the signal rests on production, costs and cash.
(price sensitive) - Westgold Resources announced: "September 2026 Quarterly Results" (25 pages) - read the original
What investors must know
- Q1 FY27 gold produced was 98,393oz (Q4 FY26: 98,854oz), with 99,900oz sold at an achieved A$6,029/oz for A$602M of gold sales revenue.
- AISC rose to A$2,912/oz from A$2,802/oz in Q4 FY26, which the company attributes to higher open-pit waste movement, planned maintenance, labour increases and toll milling.
- Treasury rose A$101M to A$1,040M (cash A$730M, bullion A$98M, liquid investments A$212M); the company's underlying build was A$251M before buy-backs, growth and exploration spend.
- Company-defined mine operating cash flow was A$292M, from which growth capital of A$64M, plant and equipment of A$47M and exploration of A$24M were paid.
- The company is debt free with A$600M of undrawn revolving facilities and says total liquidity is A$1.6B.
- FY27 guidance of 385-425koz and AISC of A$2,980-3,380/oz is reaffirmed; the Q1 AISC of A$2,912/oz sits just below the bottom of that cost range.
Money: can they follow it up?
- Period ending
- 2026-09-30
- Cash
- $730m
- Debt
- $0
- Undrawn facilities
- $600m
- Exploration spend (quarter)
- $24.0m
- Shares on issue
- 940.4m
- Options, rights & convertibles
- 8.5m
- Gold produced
- 98,393 oz
- AISC
- A$2,912/oz (margin about A$3,020/oz at the day's gold price)
- Revenue
- $602m
- Guidance
- FY27 guidance 385-425koz and AISC of A$2,980-3,380/oz; company says on track. Q1 only, so not yet met, raised or cut. Q1 AISC is just below the bottom of the cost range.
Gold produced 98,393oz; sold 99,900oz. No Appendix 5B is in this document, so the item 8 funding fields are blank. Cash of A$730M is from the corporate table; Treasury of A$1,040M also includes bullion (A$98M) and liquid investments (A$212M), and excludes the Valiant Gold holding (A$64M, in escrow to 27 March 2028). Undrawn A$600M revolving facilities. Operating cash flow is not stated; the A$292M mine operating cash flow is a company-defined notional measure. About A$180M of FY26 tax payable is due in Q2 FY27, and a A$95M dividend was paid early in Q2. Buy-backs: 4.09M shares at an average A$5.46 for A$22.3M in total, of which A$19.6M was paid in cash in the quarter. All figures A$; no conversion needed. The company says it can fund growth from operating cash flow without new capital; no raising is reported.
Appendix 5B explained - why runway predicts raisings - every company's runway
Resource / reserve
- Contained metal
- 4.10 Moz
- What changed
- Restates Group Ore Reserves of 4.1Moz (up 41% after depletion and asset sales) and a 1.1Moz maiden Fletcher Ore Reserve, plus a Fletcher Mineral Resource of 3.0Moz, all from the 20 August 2026 statement. Not new in this report. Tonnes, grade and category split are not given here.
How the price reacted
News signal positive, and on day 1 the stock moved +2.9% against the gold index (XGD).
From the last close before the market could trade on it ($4.97 on 20 Oct 2026), with day-1 volume 1.7x the 20-day average.
WGX's past price-sensitive news
After 9 earlier announcements, WGX rose on day 1 7 times and fell 2 times - an average move of +2.2%.
DrillScore has no price-sensitive reactions on record for Westgold, so there is no past pattern for this kind of news. The release came out before the market opened on 21 October, and the only price in the context is the 20 October close of A$4.97. Since then the shares have moved to A$5.71, while gold miner ETFs have fallen and the ASX Gold index has risen. Four weeks of market moves cannot be attributed to this quarterly report.
Past reactions describe what happened, not what will. How prices react to results
The historical pattern
What share prices did after past results like this one, from DrillScore's own records. It describes the past: it isn't a forecast for WGX and it isn't advice.
After 41 other announcements read as 'positive', stocks moved +1.8% by day 1, +2.2% by day 5 and +1.0% by day 20 against the XGD on average.
- Day 1
- +1.8%
- Day 5
- +2.2%
- Day 20
- +1.0%
After its earlier announcements, WGX moved +0.6% by day 1, +0.8% by day 5 and -6.4% by day 20 against the XGD on average.
- Day 1
- +0.6%
- Day 5
- +0.8%
- Day 20
- -6.4%
In the 20 trading days before this release the XGD gold index moved -3.8% (falling). After 34 past gold announcements released into a falling gold index, stocks moved +1.9% by day 1, +4.2% by day 5 and +11.4% by day 20 on average - before taking the market's own move out.
- Day 1
- +1.9%
- Day 5
- +4.2%
- Day 20
- +11.4%
A strand leans up or down when its day-5 average is 1% or more either way. Each is shown on its own and never added up into a prediction: small samples swing, and every result is different. The full backtest - how it's worked out
The market it landed in
| Market | On the day | Now | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold (US$/oz) | US$4,143 | US$3,886 | -6.2% |
| Gold (A$/oz) | A$5,932 | A$5,737 | -3.3% |
| Copper (US$/lb) | US$6.57 | US$6.09 | -7.3% |
| AUD/USD | 0.6983 | 0.6774 | -3.0% |
At release (20 October close) spot gold was US$4,142.6/oz and A$5,932/oz. It is now US$3,886.3/oz and A$5,737/oz. The A$ fall is smaller than the US$ fall because the Australian dollar also fell, to US$0.6774 from US$0.6983, while the US dollar index rose to 103.41. The quarter's achieved price of A$6,029/oz was above today's A$ spot, while the A$2,912/oz AISC sits well below spot at either level. No study price deck is given in this report, so the cost guidance cannot be tested against a stated deck. Sector mood: since release, GDX is down 5.2% and GDXJ down 8.2%, while the ASX Gold index (XGD) is up 2.3%. COPX is down 12.5%, but copper is not a Westgold product. The US 10-year yield is 5.15%, little changed since release.
Against WGX's own history
Previous intercepts: none on record, so there is no drilling comparison. Cash: the June quarter figures in this report (cash A$667M, Treasury A$939M, zero debt) match earlier records. However, DrillScore's database also holds a conflicting June quarter entry showing cash of A$734.78M, debt of A$138.98M and operating cash flow of A$964.33M, and the operating cash flow figure looks like a full-year number. This report does not support the debt figure, so the database entries should be checked. Production: Q1 FY27 gold of 98,393oz is close to Q4 FY26 (98,854oz); the company says 402koz was produced over the past four quarters. FY26 production was a record 387,354oz per earlier records. AISC: A$2,912/oz against A$2,802/oz in Q4 FY26. Raisings: none on record; buy-backs and dividends continue. Guidance: the FY27 guidance of 385-425koz and A$2,980-3,380/oz issued on 9 September 2026 is reaffirmed. Reserves: the 4.1Moz Ore Reserve was announced on 20 August 2026, so this report does not add new reserve information.
Risks & caveats
- AISC rose to A$2,912/oz from A$2,802/oz in Q4 FY26, and the company expects cost pressure from waste stripping to be part of the trend.
- Headline AISC and mine operating cash flow exclude OPA costs and OPA ounces (12,193oz produced via OPA in the quarter), so they are not a straight comparison with total gold produced.
- About A$180M of FY26 tax payable falls due in Q2 FY27, and the A$95M FY26 dividend was paid early in Q2, both of which will reduce Treasury.
- Westgold is fully unhedged, so cash flow moves with the spot gold price, which has eased since the release.
- Bluebird mined at an annualised 870ktpa against a 1Mtpa target, and Great Fingall is mining next to old workings that need careful safety management.
What's next
- Bluebird mining rate to reach the targeted above 1Mtpa as new South Junction areas open - Q2 FY27 (company expects)
- Paddy's Flat resource definition drilling to start on the southern third of the trend - November 2026 (company expects)
- Speedway and Sleuth aircore greenfield drilling at Higginsville, delayed by lake water - Q2 FY27, as soon as practical
- Fortnum drill-out to start for the Murchison Open Pit Program - Q2 FY27
- Great Fingall to reach commercial production at a mining rate of about 500ktpa - By end FY27
- Cue Expansion Plan commissioning to 1.7Mtpa - FY27 commissioning, expanded capacity from FY28
- Meekatharra Expansion Plan commissioning to 2.9Mtpa - FY28 (company targets)
- Fletcher Southern Goldfields studies, including a ~4Mtpa processing option - not stated
Questions worth asking
- What would AISC be on a basis that includes OPA costs and ounces, and how much of the A$2,912/oz rise is waste stripping that should reverse?
- When will Bluebird reach its 1Mtpa target, and what is the Great Fingall ramp-up profile to commercial production?
- How much Treasury will be used by the A$180M FY26 tax payment and the A$95M dividend in Q2, and what is the buy-back pace after that?
- What grades, widths and drilling results are expected from Speedway, Sleuth and Paddy's Flat, and when will they be reported?
- What reserves, studies or funding support the 'pathway beyond 600kozpa', and by when?
What it means
For someone following Westgold, this quarter is a steady operating update rather than a new discovery story. Production held close to the prior quarter, costs rose but sit just below the bottom of the FY27 range, and the balance sheet grew while the company bought back shares and paid dividends. The points to watch are whether Bluebird and Great Fingall ramp up as planned, how the A$180M tax bill and the A$95M dividend affect Treasury in Q2, whether AISC eases as waste stripping falls, and whether the 600kozpa pathway gets a reserve or study basis. This is general information only, not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold.
General information only - not financial advice. DrillScore's analyses are produced automatically by an AI model (Claude, by Anthropic) from the company's own ASX announcement and public market data, and scored by a fixed formula (how it works). They can be wrong or incomplete, don't consider your objectives or circumstances, and are not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold anything. Always read the original announcement and consider advice from a licensed adviser.
Decoded 15 Nov 2026, 8:17 am by claude-haiku-5-5 - confidence: high. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
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