en.Wedoany.com Reported - West Australian gold miner Catalyst Metals brought a fourth mine into production at the Plutonic gold belt in the June quarter, with underground development at its Trident project advancing in parallel. This marks the first time the Plutonic gold belt has sourced ore from four separate operating areas—Plutonic Main, Plutonic East, the Trident open pit, and the newly commissioned K2 underground mine.

During the quarter, mining of the Trident open pit was completed and progress was made on underground portal construction, with first ore from underground operations expected in the first half of 2027. Catalyst Metals said these developments serve a long-term strategy: lifting annual production at the Plutonic gold belt from approximately 100,000 ounces to 200,000 ounces over the next decade.

Company management said this quarter marked the third full year of Catalyst's ownership of the Plutonic gold belt, and while the belt today looks very different from when it was acquired, the geological endowment and existing fundamentals such as infrastructure remain unchanged. The pathway to annual production exceeding 200,000 ounces is now defined, with the mines supplying ore either in production or under development, and the infrastructure required for processing already in place.

The number of operations feeding the central processing plant has grown from one three years ago to four today. The Old Highway and Cinnamon projects continue to advance through permitting. During the quarter, the Trident project increased its underground resource to 1.1 million ounces at a grade of 5.4 grams of gold per tonne, with expected annual production of 60,000 to 80,000 ounces once fully ramped up.

Exploration at the Cinnamon deposit has progressed, with recent drilling extending the high-grade underground zone to more than 700 metres of strike length, with intersections including 38 metres at 10.5 g/t gold and 17 metres at 21.5 g/t. The company noted that new discoveries such as Cinnamon and Trident have reinforced its view of the belt's geological potential, while existing infrastructure and sunk capital—though aged and underinvested—enable Catalyst to develop mines faster and at lower cost.

Catalyst also completed a refurbishment study for a second processing plant at Plutonic, which could lift processing capacity from 2 million tonnes per year to between 2.5 million and 3 million tonnes. At the end of the quarter, the company held cash and gold of US$331 million, remained debt-free, and recorded annual gold production of 103,761 ounces, in line with company guidance.