In 2025, several gold mines have achieved their first gold pour, marking significant milestones for the companies involved, as they transition up the curve from explorer, then project developer, to revenue-generating producer.
Here are three that have made this jump recently; with the caveat that for West African Resources, it’s the company’s second mine. With gold trading at US$3,358.35 an ounce – in Australian dollar terms, $5,194.47 – there could hardly be a better time to become a gold producer. Of this trio, the best investment prospect is West African Resources, which has dividends on its horizon.
West African Resources (WAF, $2.26)
Market capitalisation: $2.6 billion
One-year total return: 52.7%
Three-year total return: 19.6% a year
Analysts’ consensus target price: $3.70 (Stock Doctor, four analysts), $3.35 (FN Arena, two analysts)
True to its name, West African Resources operates in the regional nation of Burkina Faso, where it mines gold at two operations, Sanbrado (open-pit and underground) and Kiaka (open-pit), 45 kilometres to the south. Both projects are 90% owned by West African Resources, with the Burkina Faso government owning 10%.
West African poured first gold at Sanbrado in March 2020, six months ahead of schedule and US$20m under budget. In June, the company repeated the feat at Kiaka, pouring that project’s first gold again ahead of schedule and under budget, achieving its aim of getting two long-life, low-cost gold production centres into operation by the end of 2025.
In the financial year 2024 (the company uses the calendar year), Sanbrado produced 206,622 ounces of gold, at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of US$1,240 an ounce (the AISC is the effective break-even point of a mining operation: it incorporates not only the “cash cost” of production but all the costs that allow production to be sustained).
With Kiaka contributing in 2025, WAF expects to produce more than 350,000 ounces, and build toward the company’s target of producing more than 500,000 ounces a year by 2030. Production guidance for the current financial year is set in the range of 290,000–360,000 ounces.
The target will also be helped by the development of the Toega deposit as a satellite mining operation to Sanbrado: it is located within trucking distance of the Sanbrado gold processing plant, with initial ore deliveries to the plant expected in early 2026.
Right now, West African has a mineral resource of 12.8 million ounces and a reserve of 6.1 million ounces (the reserve is the portion of the mineral resource that can be realistically and profitably mined under current economic conditions and with available technology). The company sees Sanbrado as at least a 15-year mine-life from the present, producing up to 200,000 ounces a year – a ten-year production outlook is expected to be released by the end of September – and sees Kiaka as a 20-year mine-life producing 234,000 ounces a year. There is plenty of exploration potential at and around its sites, and the company is actively exploring over 1,300 square kilometres of near-mine tenements.
In the June 2025 quarter, West African produced 45,611 ounces at an AISC of US$1,492 an ounce, and sold 49,840 oz at an average price of US$3,282 an ounce – giving some indication of the kind of margins the company is generating. West African remains unhedged.
West African is profitable, and analysts expect dividends to commence in 2026, kicking off at an initial payout ratio of 31% of net profit. At $2.26, the projected 18-cent dividend would represent an unfranked yield of close to 8%.
Analysts are very bullish on WAF. The most bullish is Canaccord Genuity, which has a price target of $4.70 on the stock.
Meeka Metals (MEK, 13.5 cents)
Market capitalisation: $340 million
One-year total return: 206.8%
Three-year total return: 38.3% a year
Analysts’ consensus target price: 23 cents (Stock Doctor, one analyst), 23 cents (FN Arena, one analyst)
Meeka Metals picked up the Murchison gold project in Western Australia in 2021, and has worked at a quick pace: the company only broke ground at the site in July 2024, and successfully poured first gold exactly 12 months later, in July 2025. Site activity is ramping up with open pit mining commencing in the March 2025 quarter and process plant commissioning in the June 2025 quarter.
Murchison is a multi-deposit project, with three main areas: Andy Well, which comes with a gold processing plant built in 2013; Turnberry; and St. Anne’s. The underground mine at Andy Well is under way, with first ore expected in the September 2025 quarter; open-pit mining has progressed with ore extracted from the St Anne’s North pit, while Turnberry Central – now the second of five planned high-grade oxide pits – has also entered production.
Meeka’s definitive feasibility study (DFS), completed in December 2024, envisaged a production profile of up to 76,000 ounces a year, with gold production of 544,000 ounces over a ten-year production plan. The all-in sustaining cost (AISC) is put at A$1,982 an ounce, generating an internal rate of return (IRR) of 180%. The mineral resource stands at 1.2 million ounces at 3 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold. This is considered a high-grade resource.
MEK is debt-free and hedge-free following the removal of a gold loan facility in late 2024. With strong macroeconomic tailwinds, the company is set to fully benefit from the prevailing gold price. Broker Morgans believes MEK’s existing mine infrastructure places it as the best-positioned single-asset gold development company on the ASX, with further resource growth potential through its drilling program.
Meeka Metals is not well-followed by analysts, but broking firm Morgans has a price target on the stock of 23 cents.
Native Mineral Resources (NMR, 14 cents)
Market capitalisation: $137 million
One-year total return: 536.8%
Three-year total return: –2.3% a year
Analysts’ consensus target price: n/a
Native Mineral owns a portfolio of advanced projects in Queensland, with the flagship project being the Blackjack gold project near Charters Towers. Last week, the company produced the first gold from Blackjack. At the same time Native Mineral successfully commissioned its 340,000 tonnes-a-year processing facility. According to broker Blue Ocean Equities, initial production targets a range of 20,000–30,000 ounces a year, at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of under A$2,000 an ounce.
Native Mineral only bought the Blackjack project, which comprises the Far Fanning and Blackjack gold projects, including the Blackjack processing plant, in November for $18.9 million, plus a 2% production royalty. In mid-February, NMR raised $15.9 million to refurbish the plant. A shallow project, Blackjack was previously mined in the 1980s, with the deepest pit reaching only 25 meters. The company believes Blackjack deposit, shallow and just 600 metres from the processing plant, could produce 20,000 ounces of gold a year, and could potentially quadruple output within a few years of expansion. Charters Towers is an established mining town with about 12,000 residents, and serves as a good base for main mining services, and supports a residential workforce.
Blackjack, which produced ore as recently as 2019, does not have a Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC)-compliant resource, so NMR will conduct a drilling program to define a resource. The historic Blackjack and John Bull underground workings were intermittently mined from 1875 to 1889, to a depth of 230 metres: Blackjack is located east of the open pits and can be accessed without affecting processing, meaning it is a future potential ore source if underground mining is considered at Blackjack. However, John Bull lies beneath the Blackjack treatment plant and care will be needed not to interfere with processing plant.
The project also includes the Far Fanning historic mine, which has a resource of 2.3 million tonnes at 1.84 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold, for 138,000 ounces. Located 95 kilometres from the Blackjack plant, Far Fanning was mined from eight shallow pits, in 1986 and 1987; between 2000 and 2004, SMC Gold Limited mined fresh material from three pits and a two-level underground operation beneath the Main Pit, with the Main Pit reaching a depth of 70 metres.
There are also two other gold deposits in the package, the Great Britain deposit located 11 kilometres from the Blackjack plant; and the Granite Castle deposit, 200 kilometres away. The Great Britain deposit is estimated to contain 109,000 ounces at 2.2 grams and the Granite Castle deposit has a resource of 77,000 ounces at 3.14 grams.
Native Mineral Resources is not well-followed by analysts, and there are no share price targets in the market.
