The results were thanks for stronger than expected grades from the Fosterville mine in Victoria and the Detour lake mine in Ontario, Canada.

While the quarter’s guidance was the lowest for the forthcoming calendar year, Kirkland Lake president and chief executive officer Tony Makuch said the company was pleased to be on the right track.

“We are pleased with our production results in quarter one 2021, which exceeded target levels largely driven by stronger than expected results at Fosterville and Detour Lake,” Makuch said.

“As we emerge from quarter one, we are on track to achieve our full-year 2021 production guidance and are poised to have three strong quarters over the balance of the year, with previously-disclosed guidance of 330,000 – 360,000 ounces in quarter two 2021 and 700,000 (to) 750,000 ounces expected during the second half of 2021.”

Fosterville has consistently returned the best recovery rate of all the company’s projects over the past six months, as 98.2 per cent of the mine’s resource was retrieved.

The Victorian operation saw 19.8 grams of gold for each of the 174,206 tonnes processed over the quarter, amounting to 108,679 ounces.

This grade was less than half the quality retrieved in the prior corresponding period, which was expected as Kirkland Lake increased its mining of lower grade areas to allow for an improved exploration program.

Company gold sales averaged $US1788 ($2348) per ounce for a revenue of $550 million across the quarter.