Following lower than anticipated average mined grades, St Barbara has revised Simberi’s production and cost guidance for the second half of the 2024–25 financial year (H2 FY25).
Production from Simberi for H2 FY25 is now anticipated to be between 32,500 and 42,000 ounces of gold.
Despite the lowered guidance, St Barbara is keen to keep up momentum at Simberi, successfully commissioning the SAG mill resets in January while lifting availability and throughput in February.
St Barbara managing director and chief executive officer Andrew Strelein said the company is pleased with the progressive improvements at the site.
“Gold production is anticipated to be weighted more to the June quarter relative to the March quarter with the benefit of a full three months of benefit from the sizer and improved SAG throughput and availability together with improving grades in the schedule,” he said.
“We were already trending to the low end of guidance after the December 2024 half-year and therefore this lower average mined grade outlook will now leave us short of achieving our previous annual guidance and so this revision has been necessary.”
St Barbara announced back in February that it would focus more of its energy on becoming a dedicated PNG gold producer after separating its Atlantic gold operations.
“The decision to separate Atlantic from St Barbara is underpinned by the opportunity to unlock the full value potential of the Atlantic projects under a Canadian listed company with a local leadership team, to focus on delivering upcoming project milestones and benefit from being closer to regulators and key stakeholders,” Strelein said.
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