“It really is the most significant quarter for Resolute since my time here and a remarkable performance,” he told a media conference call this morning.

The reason for his enthusiasm is the complete turnaround of the company’s balance sheet, having repaid $95 million in debt through the conversion of convertible notes and the exercise of options late last year.

Strong operational cash flows of $78 million from its three producing assets – namely Golden Pride in Tanzania, Syama in Mali and Ravenswood in Queensland – in the latest quarter have provided further comfort, growing the company’s kitty in the form of cash and bullion to $71 million.

It also provided the group with the much-needed to scope to cast its net for other opportunities in its search for another advanced project.

Sullivan told MiningNews.net Africa was an obvious place to look, given its 15 years of operational experience on the continent, as well as perhaps the Asia Pacific region.

“We have been looking at other opportunities over the last 12 months ... we currently have nearly a decade of feed from our operations but clearly, at some point, we want to find another operation,” he said.

“We would love to have another operation in Australia but Australia is a bit more mature and not so attractive from the point of view of getting into advanced orebodies with a lot of upside.”

In the meantime, the company is keen to grow through exploration and this year has doubled its search budget to $20 million.

According to Sullivan, the only hiccup in meeting its exploration ramp-up is the inertia within the drilling sector, driven by a lack of available rigs and labour and by long assay turnarounds.

“But we do have lots of exploration targets, particularly around Syama and Ravenswood,” he told MNN.

Its longest running operation, Golden Pride in Tanzania, is due to wind down by the first half of next year but waiting in the wings is its Nyakafuru property which is located to the northwest.

A draft scoping study on Nyakafuru has been completed, while drilling continues to show encouragement along the Kanegele trend.

“At the moment, we are going to incorporate the results from that drilling before we make any further decision about where we are going with Nyakafuru and the potential to move the Golden Pride plant down to redevelop that orebody,” Sullivan said.

Meanwhile, definitive feasibility studies on expanding its 80%-owned Syama operation in Mali and the Sarsfield deposit at Ravenswood in Queensland are running to schedule and are due to be handed down in the current quarter.

He acknowledged Syama needed to deliver a lot more ounces in the second half of the year to meet its guidance but was confident it would be achieved.

Production from the site in the latest three-month period reached 35,142oz at cash costs of $822/oz, versus 25,958oz at $794/oz in the September quarter.

Ravenswood contributed a further 32,937oz at cash costs of $795/oz in the December quarter compared to 33,214oz at costs of $756/oz in the previous three-month period.

Golden Pride produced 27,589oz at cash costs of $698/oz in the quarter, versus 30,232oz at costs of $563/oz in the September three-month period.

Shares in Resolute Mining were up 2.45% or 5c in morning trade to $2.09.