PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner St Barbara has revised its production guidance at the Gwalia operation, in Western Australia, following mining delays.
St Barbra is now expecting gold production from Gwalia to reach some 220 000 t in the 2019 financial year, compared with the previous guidance of between 235 000 oz and 240 000 oz.
The miner on Friday told shareholders that the production of about 14 900 oz of gold had been deferred from June to July this year, falling outside of the financial year end, following the delay in mining one particular stope on the 1 660 level, which comprises some 56 000 t of ore at an estimated grade of 8.3 g/t gold.
The delay was caused by a temporary blockage in the paste reticulation circuit to the underground workings, and an associated delay to resume paste-filling of open stopes.
The miner noted that while such an event could normally be managed within a financial year, at this late stage in the financial year, and given the sequential mining schedule, ventilation considerations in completing concurrent work activities and the resources required for the remaining Gwalia extension project paste aggregate fill construction, it was not possible to vary the mine sequence to replace the delay in production at the single stope.
St Barbara has maintained its full-year production guidance for the Simberi operation, which is expected to produce some 135 000 oz in the full year, with consolidated group production now targeted at around 355 000 oz, from the previous estimate of between 365 000 oz and 375 000 oz.