The future of the Simberi gold mine mining lease will be discussed at the Warden Court from April 8–9.
The hearings are the next step in St Barbara’s bid to have the Simberi mining lease renewed in accordance with the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Mining Act 1992.
It follows the acceptance and registration of Simberi’s application for early lease renewal by the Mineral Resources Authority of PNG (MRA) in December 2024.
Once the Warden Court hearings have been conducted, the Mining Advisory Council will make a final recommendation to Minister for Mining Wake Goi.
“The announcement of the Warden Court hearing dates is an important next step in application for early renewal of Simberi’s mining lease,” St Barbara managing director and chief executive officer Andrew Strelein said.
“We are very grateful for the support of our renewal submission from all directors of the Simberi Landowner Association, the New Ireland Provincial Government, the Local Member of Parliament and from the Namatanai District Development Authority.”
The announcement of the court dates follow St Barbara’s extensive discussions with stakeholders of Simberi in relation to the company’s proposal for an enhanced net profits-based royalty.
St Barbara is currently completing its 2024–25 financial year drilling program at Simberi, with “significant” intercepts found, including:
- 31m at 6.1 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 35 m,
- 45m at 1.5 g/t gold from 5m
- 25m at 1.9 g/t gold from 17m.
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