PERTH, March 17, 2026, 06:47 (AWST)
Northern Star Resources shares fell another 5.38% on Monday to close at A$20.58, extending a steep selloff after Friday’s 18.75% slide. The earlier drop came after the miner said it may struggle to hit even the low end of its fiscal 2026 production target.
This matters now because investors are no longer reacting to a single warning. They are trying to judge whether Northern Star can keep production steady at Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines, or KCGM, while it finishes a larger mill that management says is central to stronger output in fiscal 2027. The next hard check comes on April 22, when the company is due to publish its March-quarter report, covering the three months to March 31.
The broader market was no help. Reuters reported on Monday that softer gold prices and a firmer dollar hit Australian gold stocks, with peer Evolution Mining down 2.5%, but Northern Star’s fall was steeper and kept attention on its own operating problems.
In its March 13 operational update, Northern Star cut its best estimate for fiscal 2026 production to above 1.50 million ounces from previous guidance of 1.6 million to 1.7 million ounces. The company said January and February gold sales were 220,000 ounces, hit by weaker-than-planned milling at KCGM and lower mining productivity across several areas, especially Jundee.
Chief Executive Stuart Tonkin said management would “not compromise the transition to the new plant” in pursuit of short-term guidance. Northern Star said the KCGM expansion remains on track to start up in early fiscal 2027, with about 800 contractors on the plant and another 400 on enabling works. NSR Limited
Tonkin also said Northern Star had heard calls from investors for a clearer medium-term production, cost and capital outlook and was “committed to presenting this information to the market later this year.” The company said work on those forecasts had begun. NSR Limited
MT Newswires reported Monday that Jefferies sees Northern Star as unlikely to meet its fiscal 2026 output target because of persistent issues at KCGM.
But the near-term risk still sits with the old mill. Northern Star said the full-year outcome has both downside and upside tied largely to KCGM throughput – the volume of ore the plant can process – and said performance at the existing plant remains highly variable until the expansion comes online.
There is a counterpoint. The company said mining volumes at KCGM were tracking well and it had built a stockpile of about 100,000 ounces of higher-grade ore by end-February for processing in fiscal 2027. Still, April 22 has become the next scheduled test.
