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Less than two months after Zeptner was quizzed during “Obviously around 2018 we felt we were getting well positioned
Diggers in August 2017, Ramelius acquired the Edna May gold in terms of life-of-mine and cash reserves to be able to return to
mine, about 300km east of Perth, from Evolution Mining Ltd for the dividend-paying days. It was always a desire, it just became
a total consideration of $90 million. It would become the second a matter of being in the right position to be able to do it.”
operating asset in the company’s portfolio alongside Mt Magnet As this edition went to print, Ramelius was celebrating its share
in Western Australia’s Murchison district. price hitting an all-time high of $2.50, its market cap surpassing
It would also kick off a series of strategic acquisitions around $2 billion and joining the ASX200 for the first time.
those two mining centres that would ultimately put the company Those milestones followed a record-breaking year for the
in a position to pay out a maiden dividend at the end of FY2019. company in FY2020 with new benchmarks set for full-year
As outlined at its AGM in late 2018, Ramelius has committed group production (230,426oz at $1,041/oz AISC) and quarterly
to a minimum 1c/share dividend each year with a maximum group production (86,517oz at $1,164/oz AISC for the June
payout of 30% of free cash flow. The policy remains subject to quarter), as its cash and gold balance climbed to $185.5 million.
the company maintaining a minimum cash and gold balance of Ramelius expects to better those numbers in FY2021 with
$50 million and a reserve life of at least five years. group production of 260,000-280,000oz at $1,230-1,330/
Ramelius rewarded shareholders with the promised 1c/share oz AISC guided, including a conservative output of 65,000-
dividend post FY2019 after recording a net profit after tax 70,000oz at $1,250-1,350/oz AISC for the September quarter.
(NPAT) of $21.8 million. That fully-franked offering was boosted “Records are always nice, you’re only as good as your last
to 2c/share last quarter after the company’s NPAT surged quarter and fortunately for us our last quarter was our best
420% to $113.4 million in FY2020. ever,” Zeptner says.
“This is our third year above 200,000oz and for that to come at
a time with COVID in the background…to be able to kick up to
record levels is very satisfying for the team, especially now that
we’re delivering some serious cash flow to the bank balance
as well.”
Celebrating records and being within touching distance of
churning out 300,000oz in a single year is a far cry from the
perilous position Ramelius was in when Zeptner was appointed
chief executive in June 2014, having been its chief operating
“ While it’s a serious business
officer for two years prior.

we’re in, we like to enjoy what we
do, we like to work with people who get

along and we all share in the success.

Zeptner, a mining engineer, recalls having a mandate of simply
doing everything possible to keep the company afloat during
what proved to be a challenging time for all junior stocks but
especially single-asset producers.
“At the time it was about making sure that Ramelius survived
the short to medium term, to be brutally honest,” Zeptner says.
“Gold price would have been $1,400/oz, we had about $15
Mark Zeptner million in the bank and Mt Magnet was having some issues
in the early days. Even our geological models weren’t quite
“The company actually paid a special dividend back in 2009 on performing as we had hoped. So, it was all about surviving and
the back of one or two exceptional years from the Wattle Dam getting the operations up and running as they should.
gold mine and we still had a large retail shareholder base who
“We were able to do that and in doing so we just became more
yearned for those days to return,” Zeptner explains.
comfortable with the orebodies and the processing facilities.
“We always had in mind that at a point in time when we had a Because of all that, I think we’ve been able to become better
clear runway in terms of life-of-mine and the bank balance to be operators, which then enabled us to benefit from things like the
able to afford not only dividends, but we had enough money to rising gold price.”
put into our own projects and exploration, we would look more
At the end of his first 12 months in the hot seat, Zeptner was
seriously at a dividend policy.
promoted to the managing director’s chair. With operations at

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