Activist shareholder Elliot built A$1B stake in Northern Star

The Australian Financial Review reported on Monday that Elliott Investment Management built a stake in Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) that is significant enough to place it amongst the gold miner’s largest shareholders.

The publication, citing sources, said the Florida-based fund now owns roughly A$1 billion ($713.90 million) in Northern Star’s equity, representing 4% of the company. This, AFR added, would place Elliot amongst the top 5 shareholders, joining the likes of Van Eck Associates and BlackRock.

This stake was later confirmed by Elliot. In a presentation published on Monday, the activist shareholder outlined its vision for value creation from the Northern Star investment, highlighting the company’s “world-class gold mining portfolio”.

Strategic review

However, the US fund also called out the gold miner’s underperformance versus its Australian peers, attributing it to “repeated operational missteps” and “deeply inadequate disclosures”.

As such, it proposed that Northern Star should appoint a new board with mining expertise, and urged it to also hire an external CEO to launch a strategic review.

“Northern Star’s recent pattern of operational missteps, cost overruns and inconsistent strategic direction demands urgent action,” it said.

The Subiaco-based miner is currently one of the world’s largest gold producers, with three production centres across Western Australia and Alaska. Its biggest asset is the KCGM, host to one of Australia’s largest open-pit gold mines.

Concerns deepen

Elliot’s disclosure piles on the growing investor concerns over the company’s operations. This year, Northern has cut its production forecast twice, once in January due to “unplanned maintenance and operational hurdles” and then in March for weak performance and supply issues at KCGM.

Recently, its managing director Stuart Tonkin said he will be stepping down after a decade at the helm. The MD was seen as integral to the company’s growth through multi-billion-dollar acquisitions of Saracen Mineral Holdings and De Grey Mining.

Even with improved profits after last year’s gold price surge, Northern Star’s stock has slumped this year, falling as much as 30% despite reaching an all-time high in early February. In 2025, the company’s share price soared by three-quarters, benefiting from one of gold’s best-performing years.

In April, the company announced it would buy back about 1.6% of its shares. “We believe current share prices do not fully reflect the quality and future potential of our assets,” Tonkin said at the time.