Gold production was up 10.9% over the three months to September at 46,947 ounces, with a 4.6% higher mill throughput of 976,000 tonnes and reduced reagent usage, helping drive a 17.8% drop in C1 cash costs to $A819/oz.

This represents the lowest C1 cash cost for the company since the December quarter in 2010.

At the company’s Paddington operations in Western Australia, open cut mining delivered 20.2% fewer ore tonnes over the quarter at a 9% higher grade of 1.4 grams per tonne gold, while underground work resulted in 28.4% more ore at a 1.8% better grade of 5.9gpt gold.

This contributed to a 7.5% increase in feed grade at the Paddington mill north of Kalgoorlie to 1.7gpt gold and a steady recovery rate of 88%.

Norton shipped 14.3% more gold over the quarter at 47,588oz at a 2.6% lower average gold price of $1431/oz.

Gold was last trading at about $1419/oz.

Major progress over the quarter included the acquisition of Bullabulling Gold and its namesake mine, which the company has begun assessing for future operations.

“Engineering and evaluation studies continued in support of the feasibility study into the establishment of a 7.5 million tonne per annum open pit mining operation at the Bullabulling gold project,” Norton said.

“Ten diamond drill holes completed in Q2 2014 have provided the material and samples for the metallurgical and the geotechnical programs for the feasibility study.”

Norton also arranged two forward sales programs over the quarter, which taken together account for 100,000oz of gold at a weighted average price of $1420/oz deliverable by March 2016.

Cash and cash equivalents was down 35.2% during the three months to $17.5 million.

Shares in Norton last closed at 13.5c.