ASX-listed gold explorer St Barbara has defined an initial underground mineral resource estimate (MRE) at its Old Austen Mine Down-Plunge prospect, in Nova Scotia, Canada.

A total of 500 000 oz of gold contained within 4.8-million tonnes of material was identified at an average grade of 3.4 g/t in this prospect area.

The updated MRE incorporates mineable stope optimisation (MSO) constraints to define the underground resource geometry outside of the previously reported MRE for the Old Austen Mine openpit.

St Barbara is currently planning a large drilling project to better test and upgrade its underground mineral estimates.

“The definition of a maiden underground MRE at Old Austen Mine Down-Plunge boosts our Nova Scotia MRE by 500 000 oz to three-million ounces. This is the direct result of our resource geology work evaluating the underground mining potential beneath the proposed Old Austen Mine openpit.

“Together with the MRE increase of 500 000 oz, announced on July 28, we have increased the total mineral resource inventory by 50% in the first four months of the 2027 financial year,” says St Barbara MD and CEO Andrew Strelein.

TUOQUOY RESTART, SHARE BUY-BACK PROGRAMME

St Barbara has also received confirmation from the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change (NSECC) that all the prerequisite steps under the Touquay Restart Industrial Approval amendaments have been met for the resumption of ore processing at the Touquoy gold mine.

The company says Tuoquoy is now scheduled to reopen on November 3, with commissioning and operating expected to ramp up quickly over November and December.

However, on October 30, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAA of Canada) issued a determination that a Federal Impact Assesment will be required for the company’s 15-mile processing hub project.

The determination follows the IAA of Canada review process of the initial project description (IPD) and responses to the summary of issues for this processing hub project.

The company will be engaging with both the Canadian and Nova Scotia governments over the coming three weeks to confirm whether this decision will add “cost, confusion and workload”, and whether there is risk to St Barbara’s targeted timetable for the processing hub project.

“St Barbara supports the proposed Bill C-39 to legislate reasonable timelines for federal permit applications.

“The revised mine plans for the 15-mile processing hub project reflect years of work to redesign and incorporate feedback from First Nations and neighbouring communities to achieve an expectional design for the collective projects to achieve dramatically improved impacts,” Strelein highlights.

St Barbara also intends to conduct a market share buy-back of up to 100-million shares, beginning on November 23, and this will be undertaken in the ordinary course of trading over 12 months.

“Fundamentally, we view St Barbara shares as continuing to be significantly undervalued.

“The company’s strong balance sheet and upcoming cash flow from the Touquoy restart creates the opportunity to concentrate ownership and future dividend payments into the hands of shareholders who share our view that St Barbara shares are significantly undervalued,” Strelein says.