Australia’s St Barbara to part ways with Canada gold operations

Australian gold miner St Barbara said on Wednesday it was planning to separate its Atlantic gold operations in Nova Scotia, Canada via a sale or vend-in of its assets to another party, or a demerger into a separate Canada-listed firm.

The Atlantic gold operations include the miner’s 15-Mile, Beaver Dam and Cochrane Hill projects, along with its Touquoy processing plant.

In 2019, St Barbara had bought the then Toronto-listed Atlantic Gold Corp for C$722 million ($505.35 million).

After the divestment, the miner will focus on its Simberi gold operations and the expansion of its Simberi sulphide project in Papua New Guinea, it said in a statement.

“The decision to separate Atlantic from St Barbara is underpinned by the… potential of the Atlantic projects under a Canadian-listed company with a local leadership team… to benefit from being closer to regulators,” CEO Andrew Strelein said.

St Barbara had to close the Touquoy mine and put the processing plant into care and maintenance in October 2023, following a failure to obtain permits in time.

Proceeds from the divestment could be distributed among shareholders or used for the Simberi sulphide expansion, or a combination of both, the Perth-based miner said.

St Barbara’s shares dropped 7.3%, as of 0005 GMT, compared with a 1.4% decline in the broader gold miners’ sub-index.

The company expects to complete the divestment by the first half of fiscal 2026.

($1 = 1.4287 Canadian dollars)

(By Aaditya Govind Rao; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Rashmi Aich)