Ora Banda Mining cashes in on record gold run
- Murray Ward
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Ora Banda Mining (ASX: OBM) has spectacularly rung the bell, delivering a stunning set of full-year results from its Davyhurst gold project, with revenue doubling to a record $807.5 million and sending earnings rocketing. The company’s profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation surged a remarkable 134 per cent to $431.1 million for the 2026 financial year.
The stellar performance, which also saw cash flow from operations jump 124 per cent to $426.7 million, was fuelled by the successful transition to a two-mine underground operating model and a powerful macro tailwind. Gold has been the big story, hitting record highs in January and remaining far above prior-year levels, keeping margins and attention elevated across the sector. This allowed Ora Banda to bank an impressive average realised price of A$5,742 per ounce, up 32 per cent on the previous year.
Ora Banda’s operational execution appears to have been textbook. The company delivered record gold production of 140,949 ounces, a 53 per cent increase on the prior year, driven by the ramp-up of its second underground mine, Sand King. In a significant vote of confidence for its operating model, the Sand King underground mine achieved capital payback just 12 months after its portal was established.
The financial metrics paint a picture of a company in rude health. Net profit after tax came in at $216.2 million, a 16 per cent increase on the prior year, even after accounting for a non-cash tax expense of $97.7 million. Free cash inflow for the period was up 184 per cent to a robust $214.5 million, helping to swell the company’s closing cash balance to $267.7 million, more than triple the $84.2 million it held at the same time last year.
When combined with a $200 million revolving credit facility, upsized from $50 million, Ora Banda has boosted its total available liquidity to an eye-catching $468 million.
FY26 marked a step-change for Ora Banda, with the successful transition to a two-mine underground operating model driving record production, cash generation and profitability across the Group. Sand King's rapid payback, achieved within 12 months of portal establishment and consistent with Riverina Underground's payback in FY25, confirms the strength and repeatability of our underground mining model and gives us confidence as we build on this platform heading into FY27. Ora Banda Mining Managing Director Luke Creagh
However, the company hasn’t just been sitting on the cash pile. It has ploughed more than $235 million back into development, infrastructure, exploration and resource development during the year. The works included more than 6000m of drilling to progress its Riverina and Sand King operations, in addition to critical infrastructure upgrades such as camp improvements and the Riverina airstrip.
Notably, the investment also covered pre-feasibility work for a new $233 million, three million tonne per annum mill at its Davyhurst operations, highlighting the company’s future growth ambitions to target 300,000 ounces of gold production per annum. The capex spend has also paid another dividend, boosting its mineral resources by 75 per cent to a hefty 3.69 million ounces of gold and its ore reserves by a massive 159 per cent to 610,000 ounces, underpinning a longer mine life.
To protect its margins against future price volatility, the company has additionally locked in put options and partial collars covering 167,000 ounces at a formidable A$6000 per ounce exercise price from November 2026 through to June 2028.
The result comes as Australian gold corporate activity heats up, with major consolidation deals underscoring a broader-scale race in the local gold patch. Industry commentary shows gold-focused dealmaking and financing have remained unusually strong in 2026, supporting the idea that growth spending and balance-sheet strength are being rewarded rather than punished. Against that backdrop, producers that deliver rising output, disciplined growth and plenty of cash in the bank are increasingly commanding market attention.
Five principal mining sources have now emerged across Ora Banda's Davyhurst gold project, namely the Waihi underground mine, the Waihi open pit, the Round Dam open pit, the Sand King underground mine and the Riverina underground mine, which includes the promising Little Gem discovery. The headline act in the recent resource update was Round Dam, where the open pit resource rocketed more than tenfold from 125,000 ounces to a hefty 1.33 million ounces of gold.
With its transition to a two-mine operator now a resounding success, a war chest of liquidity and a significantly bulked-up resource and reserve base, Ora Banda is no longer just another participant in the WA gold scene. In a market hungry for scale and production growth, the company now looks like a serious player with the financial muscle to dictate growth on its own terms.
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