Northern Star Resources Limited (ASX: NST) has released its annnual Mineral Resource and Ore Reserves update for the 12 months ended 31 March 2023. The group Ore Reserve inventory provides the foundation for Northern Star’s profitable growth strategy.
Mineral Resource growth of 3.5Moz from exploration highlights the value generated by the company’s sustained exploration investment, offsetting mine depletion and divestments. Northern Star’s portfolio continues to provide significant organic growth optionality within our assets located in Western Australia and Alaska, both prolific, Tier-1 mining districts.
KEY POINTS
- Group Mineral Resource increases to 57.4Moz, after mining depletion and portfolio optimisation, reflecting:
- Growth of 3.5Moz from exploration success across operating centres including:
- Maiden 1.2Moz Mineral Resource at 1.1g/t defined at Red Hill, 3.5km from Kanowna Belle
- New discovery “Hercules,” less than 30km from KCGM’s Fimiston Plant, highlights potential that exists across the broader Kalgoorlie region
- First drilling from “Star” discovery, only 1.3km south of Pogo, returns exceptional results
- Reduction of 754koz following the divestment of non-core Paulsens and Western Tanami assets
- Growth of 3.5Moz from exploration success across operating centres including:
- Group Ore Reserve stable at 20.2Moz, after mining depletion:
- Continued definition and growth at Thunderbox’s key growth regions, Bannockburn and Wonder
- Reduction of 42koz following the divestment of Paulsens
- Modest increase to conservative long-term gold price assumptions, reflecting increased industry costs
“Northern Star’s three production centres – Kalgoorlie, Yandal and Pogo – come with incredible and genuine world-class mineral endowments that provide us with the confidence to plan organic and profitable growth of the Company’s production footprint,” managing director Stuart Tonkin said.
“Our ability to regularly replace the volumes of gold mined is a testament to the high-quality and focused work of the Northern Star team.
“Our team continues to excel at discovering new gold mineralisation near our existing operations, particularly in the Kalgoorlie district. The Hercules discovery is a good example of this type of new find that will provide us with additional growth options as we continue to unlock the potential of our assets by matching gold resources with processing capability.”
