The first three doŕe bars, containing 1139 ounces of gold, were poured over the weekend, just scraping in to make the joint venture's target of first gold by the end of June.

The gold was produced from the carbon-in-leach and elution circuits.

Gold Fields executive vice president Stuart Mathews said first gold from a new tier one mine was a significant achievement.

"Gruyere is a tremendous asset based on a world‐class orebody and a forecast long mine life," he said.

"The Gruyere JV's focus now shifts to the safe and successful ramp‐up to nameplate capacity to allow us to deliver full value to all stakeholders."

Gruyere was discovered by Gold Road less than six years ago, with the company introducing Gold Fields as 50% partner and operator in late 2016.

"Importantly, Gold Road joins the ranks of ASX‐listed gold producers as owner of a 50% stake in the world‐class Gruyere gold mine," Gold Road managing director and CEO Duncan Gibbs said.

"Our work is far from done - we remain committed to exploring the highly prospective Yamarna Greenstone Belt to unlock the potential through the discovery of more resource ounces for Gruyere and new discoveries that could be developed as stand‐alone gold mines."

As reported last month, there has been a one-month delay in commissioning the gravity circuit at Gruyere.

The JV said the commissioning remains on track for completion early this quarter following the reinstallation of pipe work.

Low-grade ore will initially be processed and once the ball mill is operational, full ramp-up will take 6-7 months.

Guidance for the remainder of 2019 is 75,000-100,000oz, with commercial production expected to be declared later this year.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Paul Hissey said commercial production was the next focus.

"We expect the market to provide additional scrutiny to declaration of ‘commercial production' as it's the final milestone of successful ramp-up - although we caution that the definition is highly subjective (open to interpretation) and different companies will assume a different threshold," he said.

"What is important to us is when Gold Road/Gruyere can demonstrate sustained positive cashflow."

Gruyere is expected to produce about 300,000oz per annum at all-in sustaining costs of $1025 an ounce over at least 12 years.

Shares in Gold Road were up 1.5% to $1.005. The stock reached an all-time high of $1.15 four weeks ago.