The St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) share price has jumped 1% this morning as ASX resources shares rebound strongly and the gold miner withdrew from a joint venture (JV).
Why is the St Barbara share price on the move?
Advanced gold and copper explorer, Alice Queen Ltd (ASX: AQC), advised this morning that St Barbara was withdrawing from the Horn Island JV. St Barbara entered into the JV in 2019 to explore areas outside of Alice Queen's existing Horn Island Inferred Resource.
Alice Queen said it was "disappointed" by the withdrawal and election to not pursue further exploration expenditure under the JV. The smaller JV partner will continue pursuing exploration including a scoping study to bring Horn Island to production as soon as possible.
Under the terms of the JV, Alice Queen will retain all of the information generated by St Barbara's ~$2.6 million expenditure so far.
The St Barbara share price has climbed in early trade following the update alongside many ASX resources shares.
How has St Barbara been performing?
Prior to this morning, the St Barbara share price had slumped 17.8% lower in 2021 to Friday's close. That comes amid a broader softening in gold prices as investors have pulled back on bearish views.
Record government stimulus and a rising US dollar have buoyed investor spirits and turned many away from the safe haven asset of gold.
That has put ASX gold shares like St Barbara under pressure to start the year. The Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) share price has slumped 23.3% while Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) shares are down 7.7% in 2021.
What's happening on the ASX this morning?
The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has climbed 0.4% at the open following strong stimulus signed off by the Biden administration.
Early gainers include BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) and Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: LYC), which are up 2% at the time of writing. The A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) is among this morning's fallers, down 0.6% at the open.
