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The Dalgaranga processing plant is currently operating above its 2.5 mtpa design capacity

which is one of our strategies internally.” cast production on an 18-month rolling ba- time making sure you’ve still got a sig-
Hay is also proud of the diverse work- sis for the term of the loan. nificant portion that is open to the upside,
force currently running the show at Dalgar- Gascoyne also has put options in place because when you’re talking to investors
anga, although he acknowledged this was for this calendar year at $2,300/oz, roughly they’re looking for that upside when the
an area with room for further growth and $100/oz higher than the current spot price. gold price goes for a run.”
improvement. Hay has been around long enough to
Gascoyne recently promoted a number recognise that few companies survive
of women to key roles, including Fiona Vil- voluntary administration and even fewer
joen (human resources and administration One of things come out of the process with as much up-
manager), Lerisia Smit (processing man- “ side as that which Gascoyne appears to
ager) and Nikki Hayward (processing shift that we’re seeing have, not only at the Dalgaranga opera-
supervisor). now out of our team is tion but also across its regional exploration
Smit has been with the company for four portfolio.
months after making the move to Australia resilience. The team has With a mantra of only looking back at
from Africa where she worked for Reso- actually been through the past when required, Gascoyne – which
lute Mining Ltd. Hay said she was a great also bucked another trend of not changing
example of someone who deserved the so much now that when the name of the company when encounter-
opportunity to demonstrate her leadership another thing is thrown ing choppy waters – now appears on track
qualities in an official capacity. to deliver on the potential first identified by
“She comes from a background of con- at us we just find a way investors at the start of the last decade.
tinuous business improvement, so she’s to deal with it. “I want us to now be seen as a progres-
done a lot of collaborative style of work sive company that has a solid cash flow
where she’s not been the boss per se, but producing asset with significant growth
she’s had to influence and we could see opportunities,” Hay said.
that straight away,” Hay said. “In fact, Dave “Some people say don’t ever hedge, “The upside potential on that growth
Baumgartel [executive general manager, some people say hedge everything, but pathway is something we’ll be pursuing
operations and development] and myself we look at it from a strategic sense about very strongly because we see that as the
both spent a long time with Barrick [Gold what we need to lock in to ensure that we differentiator, compared to one or two of
Corp] in the continuous improvement field can gain the best value for the company,” our peers, where that five-year period of
and we could see in Lerisia straight up that Hay said. not having enough cash and starved ex-
she had massive potential to take that col- “There are certain aspects of it where ploration is a huge opportunity for us to
laborative influencing ability into a leader- you need to have that guaranteed revenue organically grow.”
ship role and so we’ve backed her in and source…but I think the key thing is know
she hasn’t disappointed. your business and what you need to pro- – Michael Washbourne
“Nikki is one of the first supervisors tect on the downside, whilst at the same
we’ve promoted from a mill operator up to
a supervisor level and she’s also doing a
great job. For us, it’s about seeing where
the opportunities are and giving those
people the chance to develop with a men-
tor who can assist with that understanding
of what leadership is all about.”
While the gold price has come off in
recent months, Gascoyne remains in an
excellent position with its hedging commit-
ments, with 53,722oz gold locked away for
$2,611/oz for the period between January
this year and July next year. As part of its
debt obligations to Investec, the company
has committed a minimum 40% of its fore-

Gascoyne boasts a diverse
workforce at Dalgaranga,
but the company believes
it is still an area for further
growth and development

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