St Barbara upped its mineral resources at the Simberi gold mine in PNG by 20 per cent to 4.8 million ounces (oz) in 2023.
The company cited the incorporation of resource definition drilling at the Simberi operations as responsible for the net 780,000oz increase.
“We are pleased to provide this annual update to St Barbara’s mineral resource and ore reserve statement showing overall mineral resources at Simberi and Atlantic has grown from 5.9 million ounces (Moz) to 6.7Moz,” St Barbara managing director and chief executive officer Andrew Strelein said.
“This growth has primarily come from Simberi and this is before any inclusion of results from the ongoing 2023–24 financial (FY24) year program.”
St Barbara’s Atlantic operations in Nova Scotia, Canada increased its mineral resource by 40,000oz overall in 2023.
Strelein said its overall reserves are expected to grow even further in the coming months.
“An updated statement is planned for the end of FY24 and will incorporate results available from the resource definition program where we are targeting an upgrade of one million ounces from inferred to indicated mineral resource.”
“Our mineral resource position of 6.7Moz is incredible for a company of our market capitalisation.
“We recognise that the value proposition for St Barbara lies in demonstrating the development potential of these projects and we are moving quickly on the respective work programs.”
The company emphasised its overall results are reflective of the sale of its Leonora gold assets in Western Australia, including the Bardoc properties, to Genesis Minerals in June 2023.
Genesis acquired St Barbara’s Leonora assets for $625 million, coming to a total of 3.1Moz of reserves and 15.1Moz of resources in the Leonora region.
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