Northern Star Resources slashes FY26 production guidance
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The news: Northern Star Resources has downgraded its annual production guidance after a softer-than-expected performance in the December quarter.
The numbers: The gold miner now expects full-year production of 1.6-1.7 million ounces, compared to its previous guide of 1.7-1.85 million ounces.
Isolated events at Northern Star's Jundee and South Kalgoorlie operations impacted production by up to 20,000 ounces during the first-half period. The miner also flagged "several unplanned maintenance and operational challenges" across its sites.
Lower gold sales across each of Northern Star's three production centres are also expected to impact cost performance for the year.
The context: At Northern Star's Kalgoorlie production centre, December gold sales were impacted by a crusher failure for four weeks. The processing plant is expected to return to normal operations in early January, though throughput is expected to remain "variable" during the second-half period.
At the miner's Yandal production centre, quarterly gold sales were lower than expected due to longer-than-planned recovery works at its Jundee site and continued lower mined grades at its Thunderbox site.
At Pogo, gold sales were affected by lower mined grades due to underground mining dilution.
The source: ASX
