There have been a couple of big announcements in the gold industry today.
Let's see how the market is reacting to the news:
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Regis Resources Ltd (ASX: RRL)
The Regis Resources share price is down 3% to $6.86 after a positive announcement wasn't enough to offset further weakness in the gold price.
This morning, the ASX 200 gold stock revealed that extensive work to develop an alternative tailings strategy at the McPhillamys Gold Project has confirmed filtered tailings, co-disposed within the mine waste dump, as a viable development pathway.
The McPhillamys Gold Project was hit with a Section 10 Declaration, essentially putting its development on hold. But this new alternative tailings strategy bypasses areas that are off limits.
The good news is that the new strategy has strong financial outcomes. It notes that a new pre-feasibility study (PFS) demonstrates that at a A$4,000 per ounce gold price, the project would deliver 190,000 ounces average annual gold production and an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of A$1,718 per ounces.
This is expected to generate gross revenue of $7.1 billion and an IRR of 21.8% post tax.
Commenting on the news, Regis Resources' CEO, Jim Beyer, said:
It is very pleasing to be able to reinstate the McPhillamys reserves of 56Mt at 1.1g/t Au for 1.89Moz (100% Probable), achieving a significant milestone for Regis. Since the disappointing Section 10 Declaration in August 2024, we have developed a dual path strategy to get the Project back on track. We have pursued our legal rights in challenging the procedural fairness of the Section 10 Declaration through a judicial review and we await the Court's decision.
At the same time, we have worked methodically to identify an alternative development pathway that preserves the value of the Project and provides optionality. The IWL approach is a technically sound and practical pathway forward, and one that keeps McPhillamys within the accessible Project footprint. Our technical and Project teams have worked extremely hard to get us to this point, and I want to recognise their effort and rigour in advancing this solution.
St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM)
The St Barbara share price is down 4% to 58.5 cents.
This appears to have been driven by a weaker gold price, which has overshadowed an update on the 15-Mile Processing Hub Project.
St Barbara has announced that the Initial Project Description (IPD) for the 15-Mile Processing Hub Project has been confirmed to have passed the conformity review stage. The IPD submission triggers the formal planning phase.
St Barbara's CEO, Andrew Strelein, was pleased with the news. He said:
This submission marks a major milestone in advancing the 15-Mile Processing Hub Project to approval. This reflects nearly three years of work to redesign and strengthen the Project design to incorporate and address feedback received from regulators, local communities, and Mi'kmaq communities, resulting in a Project that is both more acceptable and more beneficial for the communities.
