PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner St Barbara has reported a slight decline in production during the March quarter, as lower grades impacted all three operations.

In the three months to March, group gold production reached 82 303 oz, down from the 89 670 oz produced in the first quarter.

The Simberi operation, in Papua New Guinea, contributed 18 981 oz during the quarter under review, while the Gwalia operation, in Western Australia, contributed 42 716 oz.

Atlantic Gold, in Nova Scotia, contributed 20 606 oz of gold during the quarter, down from the 26 693 oz produced in the December quarter.

“The third quarter of the financial year saw the results of Building Brilliance start to be realised across our business. This is the first of three uplifts that form our company strategy and it is pleasing to see strong foundations now established,” said MD and CEO Craig Jetson.

“The business performance during the month of March, across all three operations, reflects this positive improvement. Since Building Brilliance was launched in September 2020, it has delivered significant operational efficiencies and cost reductions. Of the targeted A$30-million to A$40-million annualised cash contribution benefit for 2021, A$18-million has been achieved as at the end of March 2021.

“Many of the production-related improvements were realised in the latter part of the March quarter, including a record milling month and improved gold recovery at Atlantic, and ‘filling the mill’ at Leonora. This is expected to continue in the final quarter of 2021, supported by excellent development rates at Gwalia and the early transition of Macmahon as the new underground mining contractor,” Jetson added.

“Uplift 2, the execution of our brownfield expansion projects, is unlocking value in our business as we utilise our deep resource knowledge and execute to plan. The Simberi sulphide project feasibility study results announced on Tuesday are an important first step.”

Jetson noted that at Gwalia, new areas in St Barbara’s mining lease and current footprint have been identified for inclusion in overall mineral resources. Drilling is under way, with the results of this work to be discussed in more detail in the June quarter, he said, including an increase in mineral resources and discussion on plans to launch a prefeasibility study covering Tower Hill, Harbour lights and consideration of a mill expansion.

“As part of debottlenecking Gwalia’s underground production rate, a number of areas above the current Gwalia Deeps mining front have been identified and incorporated into the mine plan, including the ‘intermediates’ and ‘shallows’. An initial start-up team from Macmahon was brought in during March to commence works in this area. In addition to the Gwalia shallows target, a review of the upper part of the mine identified a number of attractive targets for further infill drill programmes, with these areas to be drilled over the coming 12 months.”

Looking at the full year, St Barbara has firmed up its production guidance to between 370 000 oz and 380 000 oz, compared with the previous guidance of between 370 000 oz and 410 000 oz.