Gold miner St Barbara’s balance sheet brightens
Under pressure gold miner St Barbara delivered full-year production at the top end of its forecast range for 2023.
St Barbara achieved 260,368 ounces of gold over the 2023 financial year, against the 265,000 ounces that marked the upper end of its guidance. The better than expected 138,050 ounces out of Leonora were responsible for the result.
St Barbara’s Gwalia gold mine which was on course for Genesis Minerals ownership. Getty
Last month, St Barbara shareholders endorsed management’s plan to sell its flagship Gwalia gold mine in the Leonora district of Western Australia to Genesis Minerals in a controversial process, overlooking interest from Silver Lake Resources.
Genesis, led by gold magnate Raleigh Finlayson, inked a $628 million deal for Gwalia in April, before Silver Lake offered to buy the assets for more. But St Barbara’s top brass were committed to Genesis’ bid, much to the chagrin of Silver Lake, which wanted due diligence.
Indeed, Mr Finlayson’s Genesis is seeking to revive Gwalia by combining it with Genesis’ undeveloped gold resources about 30 kilometres away, as well as other gold mining and milling assets near Leonora.
The motivation to strike a deal with Genesis was St Barbara’s precarious financial position, prizing certainty over the chance of getting a better deal. On Wednesday, in its after-market update to the ASX, it said it had $294 million in cash on hand, up from $60 million at the end of the March quarter.
St Barbara was on track to breach debt covenants by June 30 if it did not get an injection of funds via the Gwalia sale it previously told shareholders, underlining the urgency of discussions.
It will release a detailed quarterly report including costs on July 27.
Late last month, St Barbara
Read more on afr.com
