S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gold mining shares are having a tough day of it with gold prices down 0.25% overnight.
At the time of writing the ASX 200 is up 0.2% while the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold Index (ASX: XGD), which contains miners outside of the top 200, is down 2.9%.
All the ASX 200 gold shares are in the red.
But St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) is doing it particularly tough.
Image source: Getty Images
Why is this ASX 200 gold share tumbling to 7-year lows?
St Barbara finished last week with a strong showing, gaining 6.1% on Friday.
This week things have gone decidedly the other direction.
After posting moderate losses on Monday and Tuesday, the stock crashed 18.6% yesterday. With today's intraday losses factored in, the miner is now down 33.6% since Friday's close.
That puts shares at 7-year lows.
So, why the brutal sell-off?
It appears investors were less than pleased with the company's announcement yesterday that it will delay its final investment decision on its Simberi Sulphide Project expansion and undertake a strategic review. Simberi is located in Papua New Guinea.
As The Motley Fool reported, the ASX 200 gold share will undertake the strategic review to determine the best capital allocations between Simberi and two of its other projects.
Also dragging on the St Barbara share price was the announcement that its Canada based Touquoy project faces disruption. Regulatory authorities are seeking more details on the miner's plan to convert the Touquoy open pit into a Tailings Management Facility after it finishes the open pit mining.
St Barbara share price snapshot
The ASX 200 gold share finds itself at the bottom of the list of performers among the top listed gold stocks.
Year-to-date the St Barbara share price is down 44%, with shares down 55% since this time last year.
For some context, the ASX 200 is down 11% over the full year while the ASX Gold Index has dropped 17%.
