PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner St Barbara said this week that it would continue to focus on resolving issues at its Pacific operations, after the mines failed to impress during the three months to June.

Group gold production increased by 24% quarter-on-quarter to 107 363 oz, helped by a strong performance from the Australian operations, while its Pacific operations did not achieve the level of performance planned.

The combined full-year production reached 364 601 oz, which was within 0.4% of the production forecast.

“Two key issues impacting production in the Pacific operations have been the delay in commissioning the Simberi oxide expansion, and lower-than-expected metallurgical recovery at Gold Ridge,” MD and CEO Tim Lehany noted.

A number of short-term issues, including heavy rainfall and mining fleet reliability issues, contributed to the poor performance of the Simberi project, in Papua New Guinea.

Delays to the commissioning of the oxide plant expansion, owing to delays both in obtaining government permits and in the electrical commissioning of the processing circuit, impacted on mill performance.

The oxide plant expansion was now substantially complete, and Lehany noted that final commissioning was pending the issue of government permits.

At Gold Ridge, in the Solomon Islands, St Barbara was able to increase quarterly gold production to 17 236 oz, owing to the increased use of the mining fleet and the continuing improvements in the processing plant and operating capability.

While metallurgical recoveries at the mine were lower than planned, they were still higher than the previous quarter, owing to the processing of less refractory ore from the Valehaichichi deposit, and ongoing plant improvements.

Lehany told shareholders that the 2014 financial year would continue to be one of further improvements from St Barbara, as the company continued with its production growth through building its operational capacity in the Pacific.

St Barbara would also focus on reducing costs and adding to its gold inventory through exploration.

For the full 2014, St Barbara expected to deliver between 395 000 oz and 445 000 oz of gold.