St Barbara seeks early lease renewal at Simberi

St Barbara is confident its Simberi mine could increase production to 200,000 ounces of gold per year, if its application for an early lease renewal is granted.

The company is hoping to extend its Simberi Mining Lease 136 through until 2038, which is in line with the current Simberi expansion project mine life.

The Mining Advisory Council (MAC) met at a specially-convened meeting in early July, and has since been in correspondence with the company’s leadership. It was expected to finalise its decision at an ensuing late-July meeting, or shortly after.

The MAC recommendation is the last step before PNG mining minister Rainbo Paita makes a final decision on the early renewal request.

“We appreciate the attention and priority given to our renewal application,” St Barbara managing director and chief executive officer Andrew Strelein said.

“We continue to be very grateful for the support of our renewal submission from all directors of the Simberi Landowner Association, the New Ireland Provincial Government, the Sentral Niu Ailan Local Level Government and of the Namatanai District Development Authority.”

St Barbara’s drilling program has continued throughout the talks, with the latest analysis showing additional sulphide and gold mineralisation in two sections of the project. This included one sample grading 45.9 grams per tonne of gold across 3m in the Sorowar–Pigiput Trend deposit.

Strelein said the latest drilling results gave him confidence that Simberi production could be expanded significantly once the renewal question is settled.

“The renewal of the Simberi mining lease is a key step towards unlocking the sulphide ore reserves and expanding gold production to over 200,000 ounces per annum,” he said.

St Barbara began the early lease renewal process for Simberi in December last year, with submissions to the Mineral Resources Authority. These were followed by public hearings led by PNG’s mining warden in April.