Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) shares are marching higher today.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gold stock closed yesterday trading for $24.60. In late morning trade on Friday, shares are changing hands for $25.01 apiece, up 1.7%.
For some context, the ASX 200 is up 0.1% at this same time, while the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold Index (ASX: XGD) is up 1.5%.
Despite today's lift, Northern Star shares remain in the red in 2026, having yet to fully recover from the 8.6% plunge on 2 January.
Why did Northern Star shares kick off 2026 with a whimper?
Although many Aussie investors opted to take an extended New Year's holiday break, the ASX was open on Friday, 2 January.
And Northern Star shares got pummelled after the miner reported gold sales of around 348,000 ounces for the December quarter. That came in below market expectations amid a series of equipment failures and unplanned maintenance at Northern Star's production sites over the quarter.
Management also rattled investors after downgrading Northern Star's FY 2026 gold sales guidance to between 1.6 million and 1.7 million ounces. That was down from previous gold sales guidance of 1.7 million ounces to 1.85 million ounces.
What did the ASX 200 gold stock report?
Northern Star shares are pushing higher today after the miner responded (after market close on Thursday) to an ASX Aware letter questioning the timing and amount of information the company had about its likely gold production and cost outlook prior to the 2 January announcement.
The company noted that in the 2 January release, it disclosed that lower gold sales during the December quarter are expected to impact its annual cost guidance.
As for why Northern Star didn't provide the market with specifics on cost guidance, today the miner said, "However, any impact on annual cost guidance is not yet known to NST because the company requires further, more complete information that is not yet available to it."
The miner added, "Accordingly, the likelihood of any impact and its extent was not capable of being disclosed in the announcement."
The ASX also asked when Northern Star first became aware of the information that led to its FY 2026 gold production downgrade.
The miner replied:
On 1 January 2026 … NST received actual operational and production figures for the December quarter and was in a position to consider – on a reasonably informed basis – whether softer operational performance in that quarter was, having regard to operational performance and actual production in the September quarter prior and expected operational and production outcomes (including ongoing or potential, new challenges to those outcomes) for the balance of FY26, likely to cause a material variation in NST's published annual production guidance.
There you have it.
Despite a shaky start to 2026, Northern Star shares remain up 51.1% over 12 months, not including dividends.
