Assay results from drilling at St Barbara’s Simberi gold mine have returned strong results.
St Barbara managing director and chief executive officer Andrew Strelein said the drilling results were encouraging and could see a boost in potential for Simberi.
“Hole SDH550 intersected 40m at 3.1 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold from 21m, including 24m at 4.4g/t from 37m, and is another very encouraging intercept from within the current mineral resource,” he said.
“While these drilling results won’t be able to be included in the mineral resource and ore reserve update currently underway, they would be included in subsequent updates.
“Having almost completed our first sulphide diamond drilling program since 2011 we believe significant potential remains for defining additional sulphide ore.”
St Barbara released its 10-year outlook for Simberi back in May, giving the major a road map to more profitable production.
St Barbara found that investing in the 3.7 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) option provided the most compelling development pathway to lift Simberi’s production from its current range of 70–75,000 ounces to an average of 230,000 ounces.
“The concept study provides a strong case for St Barbara to push forward with the larger 3.7 Mtpa throughput options at Simberi,” Strelein said.
“We now have a road map we can pursue that can take us to increased, more profitable production at Simberi into the mid-2030s.”
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