Sydney, June 12, 2026, 05:04 (AEST)
- Northern Star Resources shares finished at A$18.32 on the ASX, dipping 1.19%. The stock earlier hit an intraday low of A$17.55.
- Elliott Investment Management wants board changes and a formal strategic review. Northern Star says a sale process isn’t right at this point.
- S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.23% to 8,633.20, with Australian shares weighed by market nerves.
Northern Star Resources Ltd shares fell 1.19% to A$18.32 Thursday as the ASX closed, with the market watching for moves after Elliott Investment Management pushed for a sale and the company held its ground. The shares traded between A$17.55 and A$18.51 for the day, putting market cap at about A$26.15 billion, according to Google Finance.
Australian shares fell as the broader market lost ground. The S&P/ASX 200 slipped 20.10 points, or 0.23%, to 8,633.20, while the All Ordinaries dropped 0.23% to 8,836.70. Tensions in the Middle East, an uptick in oil prices, and selling in banks and tech stocks weighed on sentiment, keeping support for individual names thin.
Northern Star dropped as much as 5.3% to A$17.55 early Thursday, Reuters reported, hitting lows not seen since March 24. The selloff came after Elliott ramped up its push for changes at Australia’s largest gold miner. Elliott now holds a stake above A$1 billion and wants a stronger board and a review of strategic options, according to Reuters.
Northern Star’s shareholder letter, signed by chairman Michael Chaney AO, admitted the company’s share price hasn’t delivered this year. Chaney said the board is open to talking with Elliott and looking at any ideas for value creation.
Chaney pushed back on Elliott’s proposal to start a sale process, saying, “we do not consider that this is the right time to do so.” He said Northern Star was approached by several companies in the last year for possible combinations, but those talks were dropped as they weren’t seen to be in shareholders’ best interests.
Elliott said the board’s letter backed up its case, pointing to Northern Star admitting both underperformance and buyer interest, and noting the company is looking at structural changes like possible asset spin-offs. The activist also said all strategic options should stay on the table as Northern Star looks for a new CEO and tries to put together a turnaround.
Investors are watching to see if activism speeds up changes in motion. Barrenjoey analyst Daniel Morgan told Reuters that much of what Elliott wants Northern Star to do, the company will probably do, but Elliott’s involvement might push the miner to move sooner.
Gold traded flat, leaving the sector with uneven support. Spot gold held at US$4,081.99 an ounce by 11:27 a.m. ET Thursday, according to Reuters, after dipping earlier. August U.S. gold futures slipped 0.7% to US$4,103.60. The metal struggled as inflation worries and expectations for higher rates pressured prices.
Northern Star’s share price debate keeps coming back to its operating environment. Reuters said the company has had issues at Kalgoorlie and warned that hitting even the low end of its 2026 production target won’t be easy. The company in its letter flagged big work happening at Fimiston and talked up its Hemi project progress in the Pilbara.
Northern Star says it runs three main production hubs — Kalgoorlie, Yandal and Pogo — in Western Australia and Alaska. Hemi is listed as a development project. The governance and capital allocation fight, plus potential changes to the portfolio, have taken over as the main issue for shareholders after another shaky week for ASX-listed gold names.
