PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner St Barbara has reported consolidate production of 72 990 oz for first quarter ended September, compared with the 108 612 oz delivered in the previous quarter.
The company on Thursday told shareholders that the declining production resulted from unscheduled maintenance at the Simberi operation and a fall of ground at the Gwalia mine, which temporarily interrupted production.
The fall of ground was in addition to the planned prioritization of development over ore production in the September quarter, which resulted in production at Gwalia declining from 51 297 oz in the previous quarter, to 22 625 oz in the September quarter.
St Barbara told shareholders that while operations at Gwalia had resumed, the final production shortfall for the quarter was greater than originally anticipated. This shortfall in production is expected to be substantially recovered in the December quarter, with the gold miner maintaining its 2021 full year production guidance at between 175 000 oz and 190 000 oz.
Meanwhile, Simberi delivered 23 139 oz in the September quarter, while the Atlantic operation contributed a further 27 226 oz.
St Barbara is expecting group production to reach between 370 000 oz and 410 000 oz in the 2021 financial year, compared with the 381 887 000 oz produced during the 2020 financial year.