The Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR) share price is on the slide on Monday morning.

In early trade, the ASX 200 gold stock is down 1.5% to $2.05

Why is this ASX 200 gold stock falling?

Investors have been selling the gold miner's shares today following the release of a preliminary quarterly production update for its Gruyere joint venture (JV).

The Gruyere JV is a 50% owned operation which manages and operates the Gruyere gold mine in Western Australia. The other half of the venture is owned by Gruyere Mining Company, which is a member of the Gold Fields Group.

According to the release, the Gruyere preliminary production result shows that a record 91,631 ounces of gold (100% basis) was produced during the December 2024 quarter. This is up a sizeable 33.2% on the September quarter's production of 68,781 ounces.

However, this was not as much as hoped, which means the operation has fallen short of its guidance for the full year. This may be why its shares are falling today despite records being broken.

Gruyere's 2024 annual production totalled approximately 287,270 ounces on a 100% basis. This is below its annual guidance of 290,000 to 305,000 ounces.

Nevertheless, management believes that the quarterly result and production exit rate for 2024 positions Gruyere for a strong production performance in 2025.

Costs and sales

No details have been provided in respect to its annual and quarterly attributable all-in sustaining costs (AISC). Management advised that these will be provided with the fully reconciled production numbers in the quarterly report later this month.

Gold Road's gold sales totalled 47,745 ounces at an average sales price of A$4,093 per ounce for the three months.

Gold ore and bullion on hand on 31 December 2024 was approximately 1,782 ounces. It continues to be unhedged and 100% exposed to the spot gold price.

This means that the ASX 200 gold stock's cash and equivalents balance increased substantially to approximately $173.9 million, which is up from $109.2 million during the September quarter. Pleasingly, it has no debt drawn.

Gold Road made a $4.6 million investment in ASX listed securities during the quarter. This means that at 31 December 2024, the company held listed investments with a market value of approximately $740.6 million. This represents almost a third of the company's market capitalisation.

Despite today's pullback, the gold miner's shares are still up 21% over the past 12 months.