The company delivered 108,612 ounces on the back of its Gwalia mine in Western Australia, which lifted production by nearly 30 per cent.

The mine delivered 51,297 ounces in the June quarter, totalling 171,156 ounces for the 2020 financial year and meeting its guidance of 170,000–180,000 ounces.

The company also achieved its highest mill throughput at Gwalia since 2014 with 244,000 tonnes, while its recovery remained unchanged at 97 per cent.

St Barbara missed its production guidance (105,000–115,000 ounces) at the Simberi mine in Papua New Guinea with 104,068 ounces, but the opposite took place at the Atlantic Gold operations in Canada.

St Barbara beat its Atlantic guidance of 95,000 to 105,000 ounces with 106,663 ounces of gold produced.

The company lifted its 2021 financial year production targets on the prior corresponding period at all its producing mines except at Simberi. The new targets are, however, are still shy of St Barbara’s production at Gwalia and Simberi for the 2019 financial year.

St Barbara managing director Craig Jetson said the company was entering a new phase at the Simberi operations as it focussed on productivity improvement.

“For us, that means being in command of our value chain, optimising operations, and all the while, prioritising safety and ensuring the wellbeing of our people and communities,” he said.

“We will improve our business and how we work so we can embark on our growth agenda. This includes delivering on current brownfield expansion projects, maintain a prospective exploration pipeline and identifying suitable assets for future acquisition where it adds shareholder value.”

St Barbara will continue progressing its feasibility study for the Simberi sulphide project.

It also reported a 93 per cent completion at the Gwalia extension project, which will allow the company to maximise ore extraction and production in the future.