Dacian Gold has declared commercial production at its Mt Morgans gold operation in Western Australia, some nine months after producing its first gold bar at the mine.

The declaration, made on January 1, followed combined mining rates across the operation achieving feasibility study-design levels during the December quarter, the company said.

Production for the December quarter totalled 37,930 oz, a significant increase on the prior quarter and in line with the company’s guidance of progressively increasing output throughout its 2019 financial year. Gold poured for that quarter totalled 38,479 oz.

Dacian said underground mining was now underway across all three declines at Westralia (Beresford South, Beresford North and Allanson), while, at the Jupiter open pit, higher‐grade ore in the Cornwall Shear Zone was expected to be mined later in the current March quarter.

This combined progress across the operation will support continued operational momentum and underpin further quarterly increases in production throughout the remainder of Dacian’s 2019 financial year, the company said.

Dacian Gold Executive Chairman and CEO Rohan Williams said the declaration of commercial production was another example of the company meeting its development and production targets.

“We are pleased to have achieved this important milestone – exactly when we said we would,” he said. “It was an outstanding quarter, with production increasing 30% from the September quarter.”

Mt Morgans is expected to produce around 200,000 oz/y of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of around A$1,000/oz ($716/oz) when fully ramped up. This will come from a reserve base that totals 1.4 Moz.