PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Gold miner St Barbara has reported a 19% increase in attributable gold production for the three months to December, with the miner producing some 93 000 oz during the quarter, compared with the 78 000 oz of attributable production in the previous three months.

St Barbara reported that its Gwalia operations had produced some 43 745 oz during the period, up from the 34 293 oz produced in the previous quarter.

The miner was expecting an increase in the ore grade at Gwalia for the second half of the financial year, which would underpin full-year production of between 175 000 oz and 190 000 oz for the Gwalia project, with over 100 000 oz expected to be produced in the second half of the year.

At the King of the Hills operation, St Barbara produced 12 709 oz during the quarter under review, compared with the 15 935 oz produced during the September period. An additional 2 000 oz was mined but not processed at the end of the quarter.

The reduction in ore mined for the quarter was largely owing to a planned transition in mining method, with more ore sourced from the Western flank using higher cost cut-and-fill, and room and pillar mining methods.

For the full year, the King of the Hills operation was expected to produce between 55 000 oz and 60 000 oz.

Meanwhile, the Southern Cross operation produced 12 292 oz during the December quarter, before being placed on care and maintenance at the end of the year.

Earlier this year, St Barbara entered into an agreement with Hanking Gold Mining to sell the Southern Cross operations for A$22.5-million in cash. Subject to obtaining the relevant approvals, the sale would be completed either in late February or early March.

At the Simberi operation, in Papua New Guinea, St Barbara produced 13 291 oz of gold during the three months to December, down slightly from the 13 700 oz produced in the previous quarter.

The miner said the operation experienced some unexpected downtime at the mill, which led to reduced throughput for the quarter. However, improved mine planning and more efficient mining operations resulted in an increase in ore mined for the quarter.

The delivery of additional trucking and excavator capacity to the operation in February this year would see these volumes increase further, to meet the increased milling capacity, once the oxide expansion project was commissioned.

For the full 2013, the Simberi project was expected to deliver between 55 000 oz and 60 000 oz of gold.

At the Gold Ridge project, in the Solomon Islands, St Barbara produced 10 654 oz of gold during the quarter under review, down from the 14 100 oz produced in the September quarter.

St Barbara said that the operation’s performance was improving with increased mining performance and daily throughput rates towards the end of the quarter, in line with second-half production plans.

The focus for the March quarter would continue to be a lift in mining and haulage rates, as well as achieving the required blend of ore at the run-of-mine stockpile.

For the full year, Gold Ridge was also expected to deliver between 55 000 oz and 60 000 oz of gold.