PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner St Barbara has fallen just short of record production for the September quarter.
The miner on Tuesday announced that output had reached 111 039 oz of gold for the three months ended September – just 0.2% below the March quarter record of 111 288 oz.
Production for the quarter was also higher than the 99 359 oz produced in the June quarter, after mining had ceased at the King of the Hills project, in Western Australia, during April.
St Barbara has continued to process stockpiled ore at King of the Hills, producing a final 9 112 oz of gold during the September quarter.
At the Gwalia operation, also in Western Australia, St Barbara produced 72 388 oz of gold, with the project benefiting from higher volumes and grades.
The Simberi mine, in Papua New Guinea, delivered 29 539 oz of gold during the quarter and the mine set a new production record exceeding the 100 000 oz/y target run rate for the second consecutive quarter.
The improved performance at Simberi was owing to increasing productivity at both the mine and plant, with some 2.67-million tonnes of ore and waste mined during the quarter, while 860 000 t of ore was milled.
For the full 2016, St Barbara was expected to deliver between 319 000 oz and 369 000 oz of gold.
Edited by: Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online
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