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Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for St Barbara's September 2021 quarterly report briefing.Please note the disclaimers on Slide 2.I am Chris Maitland, Head of Investor Relations for St Barbara.[ For ] today's call, our Managing Director and CEO, Craig Jetson, will discuss the Q1 performance and provide project updates, after which we will open the call to questions. [Operator Instructions]With that, I'll hand the call over to Craig.
Thank you, Chris. And good morning, everybody, and welcome to St Barbara's September quarterly report for 2021.I'd like to begin, as always, by recognizing the traditional owners, the First Nation people, of the lands of -- where we operate in Canada, Australia and Papua New Guinea; and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.Before I move in to the presentation, I would like to acknowledge and welcome the appointment of Peter Cowley to the role of Chief Operating Officer of Australasia. Peter has been in the acting position for the capacity over the last 3 months and has now taken up the challenge to be there full time. I'd also like to welcome to the call all other members of the executive at St Barbara.Starting off with safety. Safety remains our #1 priority, and we are committed to the goal of eliminating fatalities and life-changing injuries. Positively, our total recordable injury frequency rate has dropped this quarter to 3.6, but we know we still have a long way to go to reach our goal of 0. This quarter, we had 4 recordable injuries, all of low severity in nature. And importantly, there were no recordable injuries in July. The focus over the quarter was the commencement of the Safety Always leadership program, which is a new program based on building better infield safety leadership at all levels and having regular conversations about finding and fixing any areas of concern. This program started at Leonora and will be rolled out across all the operations in the coming months.In the September quarter, we produced 67,000 ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,492 per ounce. The exploration team has been busy drilling targets in the Leonora province. And today, we are excited to announce significant intercepts at Trevor Bore, which is located only 25 kilometers north of Leonora. These results are significant enough that we'll be moving straight into a planning stage for a new open pit. I will discuss this in more detail shortly.Work on the DSTP placement pipeline at Simberi continued, and the restart of Simberi remains on schedule for the coming quarter. As part of the sulfide project, we finalized the concentrate offtake agreements with Simberi with a number of global trading companies. In addition, we have submitted the 2 addendums to CEPA relating to the final testing for waste rock management and the DSTP footprint.Operating cash flow would have been $24 million higher, but due to timing of gold shipments, that cash will now be realized in the December quarter. We have also strengthened our balance sheet by extending our syndicated debt facility to July 2025. As I mentioned earlier, group gold production was 67,000 ounces, which was a good result given Atlantic was focused on waste movement and Simberi was suspended for the whole quarter. The group all-in sustaining cost was approximately 8% lower at $1,492 per ounce, compared to the prior quarter, primarily due to increased gold production at Leonora.At Leonora, gold production was up 15% to 51,757 ounces, which included 3,426 ounces of contained in -- from -- contained in or purchased from Linden Gold. Mine grade for the quarter was also higher at 8.6 grams per tonne. The higher production this quarter resulted in an all-in sustaining cost of $1,448 (sic) [ $1,488 ] per ounce. And the total material was -- movement was higher at 284,000 tonnes, which was our highest quarter since Q4 FY '20. There was an increase in waste movement and a slight reduction in ore mined.Our Atlantic operations recorded a -- 15,243 ounces for the quarter, as the mine was focused on waste movement and reestablishing work areas in the pit. Lower gold production was the driver for an increased all-in sustaining costs of $1,504 per ounce. Our permitting team is currently focused on waste rock storage permits at Touquoy. A number of alternative options are being investigated, and the company will work with the Nova Scotian government to deliver appropriate permits in a timely manner.At Simberi, the processing plant remained shut as the work continued on replacing the DSTP pipeline. However, mining continued in the quarter and was focused on waste stripping and placing oxide and transitional ore in stockpiles in preparation for the restart. The DSTP installation contractor has been mobilized to site and is proceeding with enabling works. Pipeline fabrication will continue through October and completion on schedule for November, followed by commissioning. The restart of the processing plant also remains on schedule for this quarter. A recent outbreak of COVID-19 in the region continues to be a challenge at site, and we are working closely with the local community to [ minimize the impact ]. We are limiting personnel access to each of our sites and their operations, as we will be supporting a vaccination program as we go forward.The September quarter, the Building Brilliance transformation program has delivered a cash benefit of almost $23 million. During FY '22, Building Brilliance will focus on sustainability of the initiatives implemented last year at each of our operations, and we are extending the program to add corporate activities. We are embedding Building Brilliance process as a business-as-usual mindset in daily activities and ensuring business improvement initiatives continue to be developed and implemented all across our business.Now taking a look at the performance indicators for Atlantic and Leonora, which we first outlined in the December quarter. The mill throughput, availability and recovery rates at Atlantic all improved, with 5% increase in mill availability. At Leonora, the team has reduced mining costs by 17% whilst increasing development rates by 20% and total material moved by 14% compared to FY '20.During the quarter, we continued advancing the Leonora Province Plan with drilling at Trevor Bore and Jasper Hill, delivering significant surface intercepts. At Trevor Bore, this included at 17 meters of depth. There were 7 meters of 10.5 grams per tonne. At 87 meters of depth, there were 16 meters of 2 grams per tonne. At Jasper hills, the best results were at 16 meters depth was 15 meters at 1.5 grams per tonne. And at 46 meters, there was 11 meters at 1.9 grams per tonne. Drilling will resume at these prospects during the quarter, subject to continued encouraging results. We are moving into a study phase, with an aspiration to bring an open pit online by 2024. Importantly, Trevor Bore is only 25 kilometers away from Leonora, which is within easy trucking distance. At this stage, we are confident there is sufficient near-surface high-grade material to provide [ also plant ] for at least 1 year, maybe more, but that will be dependent upon further drilling.Overall, this is exciting news for Leonora, as it's the first tangible results from the Leonora Province Plan and, hopefully, the first of many options that we will bring to bear over the coming year as we begin to fill the mill. We also commenced a multi-facet drilling program at Tower Hill and Harbour Lights this quarter. I look forward to providing further updates on all our drilling programs in the coming quarters.At Simberi, the exploration drilling programs have been targeting areas with potential to add oxide mineral resources. At Trotsky and Andora, prospects returned very encouraging results. Trotsky had a higher mix of oxide material transitioned to sulfide material, but the best drilling intercepts include: At depth 25 meters, there was 52 meters at 1.5 grams per tonne. At 58 meters depth, there were 32 meters at 2 grams per tonne, while Andora, the best results showed more transitional material and included, from depth of 28 meters, there was 32 meters at 5.5 grams per tonne. And at 26 meters, there was 40 meters at 1.8 grams per tonne. Positively, Andora is approximately 500 meters from the processing plant.We continue to explore oxide material that can displace the processing and transition material with higher -- would lead to higher returns. Following up (sic) [ follow-up ] drilling is planned in the current quarter at Simberi as well.In conclusion, we've had an excellent start to the new year, the potential for near -- new near-surface open pit [ with sure truck additions ] in Leonora, along with ongoing improved operational performance at Atlantic and Leonora as well. We certainly progressed our strategy for establishing 3 mines with greater than 10 years of life of mine. We will continue to provide further details on the Leonora Province Plan, the Simberi sulfide project and Beaver Dam throughout the year.Operating cash flow for the quarter was strong, and we would have been stronger [ but ] the timing of gold shipments. We have also extended the terms of our debt facilities to June (sic) [ July ] 2025. The Building Brilliance program delivered a cash benefit of $23 million in the quarter, building on the $41 million we delivered from last year.So with that, I'll thank you. And I will now open the line for any questions.
[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Matt Greene of Crédit Suisse.
I just have a quick question on the development front at Gwalia. You mentioned there's a 20% improvement in daily development rates, but I noticed the number of fronts you had of 23 this quarter is down from 24 in the last quarter. Can you just provide us some color on what's going on there? And just what's needed from here to get to the target of 28 by year-end?
Yes, Matt, good question, and it's a great pick-up really. It's certainly going to fluctuate between 18 and 22 for a period of time, and that's what's been happening. There's not, I guess, a position in the mine plan of where we stayed constant at 1 heading. The holy grail for us is we're heading somewhere between 28 to 30 at the end of this year and that's still the trajectory that we're looking for. And by quarter-on-quarter, I expect this to change by 1 or 2 headings. It's not material. I think we certainly have moved a lot of waste again this quarter. And we've been able to do that and refocus somewhat to open up the mine because grade is a little bit higher. And we achieved a production, I guess, uplift through a combination of grade and materials moved, but as we transition the mine from where it's been in the last few years to this year, we're going to see a different number of headings quarter-on-quarter.
Okay. So really you need to get to about the 28 to 30 to sustain that circa 1.1 million tonnes coming from the underground.
Yes, look, exactly right. And also, eventually when we bring the intermediates and the shallows into the production plan will also help us maintain that, I guess, heading number but also achieve a flexibility within the mine. And then that's planned maybe quarter 4 this year, but we'll see how the planning goes in the next few months while the development is still ongoing.
That's great. And then just if I could just move to Beaver Dam: I note there's additional requests or perhaps areas of concern surrounding the EIS there. Could you just provide a little bit more color on what those additional requests are? And I note that you were expecting the feasibility study to be completed in the September quarter. It looks like this is now due sometime this quarter. Is that slight slippage there being driven by these additional requests?
Yes. Look, in summary, absolutely. So there's 2 fronts of permitting that we're dealing with at Atlantic. One is the project side of the permits, which Beaver Dam falls under. And then there's the waste rock permitting that the Touquoy operations, I guess, falls under. So we're certainly progressing the Beaver Dam. And we're getting a lot of questions around the environmental impacts; and more, I guess, information is required. I'll have to say that the information for Beaver Dam is taken right off high-level technical environmental questions, to very small deviations of what that could mean. So we're going quite well in that space. The permits for the waste rocks at Touquoy are progressing. We have a number of options currently in front of the regulators and the government in Nova Scotia. So that -- those talks and those conversations are still continuing on, but really it is a journey. And it is very, I guess, time consuming to deal with permits, but we're getting through them. And we have a permit team that is fully focused on achieving that. So it's progressing but obviously quite slowly.
Your next question comes from Peter O'Connor of Shaw and Partners.
Craig, just further to the question about the permits in Canada. Given the change of management oversight that you've had there over the last quarter or so, is that dialing up of the process a reflection of that? Or is this the Canadian authorities lining up better, or is it both?
Peter, look. I actually don't know what the silver bullet would be. What I can share is that what we're learning over the applications not just for the waste rock permitting at Touquoy and the headwinds there and the Beaver Dam but the way the whole process works has changed. I mean we've got a new government. We've got a change, I guess, in different ministers. And there's a whole range of different things that create some of the headwinds. I think the requests for information have been -- in my view, they've been valid. I think the learning for us is when we put through future permits, for examples, how we do that, the standard that we achieve and the technical information that we put in there. So one of the things -- for example, the last round of permits that have been valued. We've had 3 independent reviewers look at the waste rock permits, for example, at Touquoy. So how we apply for those sorts of things in the future will change. Once we've got permit at Beaver Dam, we'll certainly take all those learnings into Fifteen Mile Stream and Cochrane Hill; and believe that we will do add 50%, much better than we have in the past, and deliver permits at a quality and a timely manner. I think the government also on the journey and particularly the environmental people are also, one, being inundated with permits but also learning as they go through how the system really works because it is changing in Nova Scotia, but I think, all in all, the focus of the permitting team, being able to work with the regulators, has been quite productive. We just need to make sure that we're agreeing what that is and have reasonable outcomes in a timely manner.
And just further to that: Is the approval that's pending for -- or an FID at the -- I think, the December quarter this year -- that's next year.
Next year.
I'm sorry. Next year. [ Sorry ]. I'm getting ahead of myself. And just on Simberi, just 3 questions: The COVID impact you talked about, will that affect the ramp-up this quarter and into next year? And secondly, during the downtime -- you talked about work that you've done as part of the sulfide transition in the mill. How much did you get done, or was that meaningful? And thirdly, just thoughts on the transition profile of production at Simberi over '22, '23, '24 as you're moving from one feed to the other.
Yes. So I'll start with your last question, first. I think the profile is going to be a very difficult one to talk about in a lot of detail that would make a significant change in the thinking. And the reason I say that is because the drilling programs at Simberi have been so successful in identifying more opportunity around, I guess, Andora in particular and Trotsky, which is all very, very close to the mill. What we've been doing is [ cutback ], doing some cutback work, because we have been on restricted mining. It hasn't been full mining since we had the fatality in April this year, but we have been doing a lot of training, a lot of development. We've changed our mine plans. We're certainly developing the mine ready for the sulfide project and the sulfide mines, but on the way through with all the drilling work that's been going with successful results we've had out of the drilling program, we may well extend the life of the oxide program for a lot of the obvious and good business reasons. So that's going to be really difficult, to talk about the profile. 1 of the things or 2 of the things that we've been able to do is identify higher areas of oxides versus the transitional material into the sulfides. And we've been able to stockpile each particular, I guess, sulfide and all the way through to the oxide. So our plan would be -- for the next 12 months in particular is to maximize the oxide footprint, get as much oxide material in front of the mill as we possibly can before start-up at the end -- in this quarter so we get the best return and the best recoveries and the best production rates through. So to be able to look out 2 to 3 years as to the sulfide project, for now quite, difficult to do given where we're landing with some of these positive drilling results.The other bit, in terms of what we've been able to do with the -- there's a lot of maintenance that have been going on with the mobile fleet but also the fixed plant around -- the processing plant in particular, not a lot of upgrades but certainly a lot of maintenance. Now keeping in mind that the sulfide project is a bolt-on to what we already have, it's not really replacing what we've got. It's a front-end bolt-on, so there's not a lot to do, except finishing engineering and take that to FID at the end of this year, and then through permitting, on to construction that starts at some stage in the next 12 to 18 months. I think the -- what we have done with the failure of the DSTP, for example, is look forward to think, well, what are our capacities going to look like potentially for these sulfide projects. So we've done a 3 million tonne milling base case run rate and [ size the plant ] accordingly. We've also looked at 3.3 million and 3.5 million tonnes milling rates as well and what would the throughput look like at that stage. So in the early phase of repairing and replacing the DSTP from an engineering perspective, we've rated it for the higher-throughput scenarios to make sure that this replacement is really a sulfide -- although, we have to replace it. We've engineered it and we're replacing it as a sulfide maximum business case at 3.5 million tonnes, so there's no more upgrades to do. The second part of that would be the salt water mixing tanks, the salt water pumps and the associated pipe work have all been upgraded to the capacity of the sulfide project. So we've -- obviously backing ourselves to have a great project. And the things that we have to change because of the DSTP failure now will fit the and accommodate the higher throughput rates for the sulfide project.
And COVID on -- any effect on the next quarter or so?
Look. I really don't think so. The -- if I look at the team that's there and the contractors that are there doing the DSTP repairs, the building of the pipeline, et cetera: They're all in a bubble, so we're managing through that. We are seeing as recently as this week -- if you'd asked me this question last week, it might have been a different answer, but this week, we're definitely seeing an increase of COVID positive cases coming through to the island from different parts of PNG. Our systems, so far, have been working and working very well with our COVID-19 management plan. We've been able to grab those people on the way through security or way on -- and going through our checkpoints on the way to the plant and been able to quarantine them until their results come back or quarantine them and look after them until they've given a negative within that 14-day period.Now I'd have to say I am concerned about the current outbreak of COVID in PNG and the way that it's getting around the country. I'm not sure of the data, but I can -- believe we have not been affected at this point, but we're certainly keeping an eye and doing a lot of work with our COVID management plan to keep us that way. We're doing a lot of work with the community. And we're running vaccination awareness programs and vaccination programs themselves for the community. And we've had meetings as recently as last week with Peter and myself and some others from St Barbara meeting the site team and [indiscernible] on the island to again communicate and educate the island about what vaccinations mean and what COVID means and help us police the -- both traffic in and out of the island, protecting people. So there's a lot of work going on there. I am concerned that the outbreak in the country is getting worse, not getting better. And the vaccination rates are still way too low.
Last quick clarification, on Trevor Bore. You talk about 1 year's production. When you -- I mean that's 1 year of topping up Gwalia, or that's 1 full year's production. How do I think about what -- that line that you made?
Yes. It's really -- I guess, without talking too soon, it's probably at this point unknown. And the reason for that is, I guess, the results are so good. We've obviously launched into a study to make sure we're ready to go mining as soon as possible because it's very shallow too. These satellite pits are very shallow, not a lot of cutback, certainly not a lot of effort to open it up, high-grade shallow, so it's a winner for us. Now it's a winner early. And what I mean by that is we still need to do a considerable amount of drilling, which over the next 6 months in particular, we'll really be able to map out whether it's 1 year or whether it's optimistically 2 years. We'll see but a minimum of a year at this point. And it will go a long way with the increase in production we're seeing out of the deeps at Gwalia now; the material that will come online during quarter 4, quarter 1 next year from the intermediates, for example. And within a year, this pit coming on is certainly going a long way to maximize what we know and call the throughput of the mill at this stage. So it's probably a little bit too early for me to say exactly how much and by when, but we're only, I think, 3 months away from putting some real numbers behind it.
Your next question comes from David Radclyffe of Global Mining Research.
So my first question is just a follow-up on the development of Gwalia; just wondering how should we think about how that catch-up in development rates really translates to delivering higher ore tonnes and, I guess, thinking initially back to sort of the historical peaks of around 900,000 tonnes a year sort of in FY '15 and '16 and then sort of moving beyond that and where you think that would sort of top out today.
Yes. Look. I think, if I look at the where we finished at the end of last year and the [ run rates and ] quarter 4 in particular, it sort of takes you from [ a close to ] [indiscernible] tonne sort of run rate. And that was a 25% uplift. We've been able to maintain that rate. So we had a significant jump quarter 4 last year. We've maintained and just almost bettered that rate -- or maintained that rate into this quarter. The upside for this quarter, of course, was we had the -- if you remember, back in quarter 4, we had lower grade than we anticipated. This quarter, we got higher grade than anticipated, so together we've got a much better result. I think the -- by the time we get our 28 to 30 headings, intermediates, Trevor Bore -- well, we obviously have Trevor Bore. I think the intermediates and the shallows. We'll be around that 1 million, 1.1 million tonne run rate by the end of this year.So I think that balances out with where we want to go with Gwalia deeps and in particular Gwalia mine. I think then, if we continue with some of the opportunities in the province that are very high [indiscernible] -- but we've got some really good targets and hope there's a lot more to come in the next quarter or so. So I think we're looking quite encouraged the way that Leonora is starting to look at the moment.
Okay. Then maybe just a follow-up on Simberi, the sort of reported cash outflow of $39 million: I think there was $5 million of sustaining and growth, so that's operating cash cost of around $34 million, which seems just sort of shy of the normal kind of operating spend, but I'd note that the mining rate was sort of well down on, I guess, what it's been in previous quarters. So I'm just trying to think. Were there other cost aspects there that we needed to consider that sort of kept that really high with the lower activity? Or should we just think about Simberi as just being a "very high sort of fixed cost" operation?
Yes, no. Look. I think there's 2 aspects of Simberi. And I think the COVID, the inability to get technical people there, a whole range of different things certainly has caused us some issues. I think some of the high costs are we're doing catch-up maintenance on our fleet, particularly our trucks and our shovels. We've also been doing a lot of maintenance work. And I'm talking mine maintenance work with roads [ and firms ] and setting the mine up for future production rates, looking at the mine design for -- keeping in mind the mine design for the sulfide project. So that's driving our costs up [ or because ] we're not feeding the mill as well, but we're still doing that activity. The other thing, I think, while we have not been working on night shifts, we've been doing most of the mining on day shifts at this point in time. And that's not efficient, but really the catch-up work in the processing plant, some of our mobile fleet is driving that cost up probably higher than where we would be; and clearly the labor force there. And we took the decision to keep as many of the labor force intact as we could. Given the labor shortage in PNG, the threat with COVID, it was the right [ insurance premium to pay ], by keeping our people on. The efficiency of those people, productivity is -- in particular, is not as good as we would like it to be. So there's a lot of costs going into that operation that certainly are not getting paid for, for now, but that will change at the end of this quarter. There will be a lot of significant change, once we get going on oxides and producing golds, in our operating costs.
[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from Reg Spencer of Canaccord.
If I can start at Leonora. Obviously the grade can vary quarter-to-quarter, depending upon where you are in the stoping cycles. Based on your quarterly production split or your guide for quarterly production, that pick-up that you guys are expecting in the December quarter of this calendar year, is that likely to be a combination of grades and throughput, or just grades or just throughput? I was just wondering if you could give me a little bit of color on that one, please.
Yes. Look. I think, if we hold the grade as we guide this on -- I think my view with the productivity, the costs coming down. And certainly the rates out of the mine these days are certainly better than where they were, and they're increasing. We still haven't got the headings that we need. We still haven't got the development where we'd like it to be. Productivity with mining contractors, I'd have to call them out and saying they're doing a great job with what they've got. We are struggling with operators and mechanics and all the typical things that keep that fleet going, but having said all that, to achieve the rates that they've been achieving is exceptional in my view. And to do it [ reasonably safely ] as well has also been good, but I think the grade will hold is my understanding. The throughput will stay the same. Or it will start to increase a little bit more as the headings come online; and again, the shallows, the intermediates come online later this year.
Understood. That's very useful. And just lastly, I see that you've finalized your offtake for Simberi sulfide gold con. Are you able to disclose what the final payabilities on that would be? I mean I think, from memory, in the last study that you put out, you expect that to be around that 87% or 88%, from memory. Have you got something a little bit firmer that you're able to disclose?
Look, because of the commercial sensitivity, no, not at this point. I'll have to say the guidance we've put out is still the guidance and [ the factoring of ] what we've been able to achieve. There will be a lot more to talk about the sulfide project in the next quarter and I'll give you more of a clear number on that then, but the guidance we gave back then, 80% to 88%, has been realized.
[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from Matthew Frydman of Goldman Sachs.
Craig, firstly, Gwalia. So you made a decision during the quarter not to process any surface stockpiles. I'm just wondering what drove that. Was it a lack of capacity in the mill during the quarter? Or are the remaining stockpiles in the region just not economic at the moment? Just wondering what drove that decision.
Yes, Matthew, I think there's just a business decision really. One is we decided clearly not to do that. They're there for the future if we need them. It was not available to us at the grade that we want to put through at this stage. I think, with Linden being processed towards the end of the quarter, our own productivity pushing the mill up in terms of throughput -- we did have a week of downtime. We had oil contamination in the girth gear, and that took the mill out for 4 or 5 days. So there was a few hills to climb. So when you have the better material to process, you process a better material, but just a business decision. That's all.
Yes, sure, so we might still expect at times over the coming quarters that you'd still process some surface stockpiles if the opportunity arises.
Absolutely. I don't like it sitting on the surface. It needs to go through the mill, so every chance we get, the team led by Peter will certainly deal with that.
And then just looking at Slide 20, the development time line that you've given across the Leonora province. Just wondering what's driven the priority of Trevor Bore, and, I guess, the Jasper region over Tower Hill or Harbour Lights, et cetera, which I guess might be a bit more of a known quantity. I mean you obviously alluded to the success you had during the quarter earlier in terms of grade, so is it a decision that's driven by grade, economics, just less work required to develop those [ Jasper bits ]? What's driving the timing there?
Yes. Look, Matthew, there's not an easy one silver bullet for these sorts of outcomes, right? So if you remember, a bit over a year ago, we mentioned that we're strengthening the technical bench strength across the organization; and we did that. We had a reorganization of technical people, a different focus on exploration globally and within the province. So the whole thing started to come together about a year ago. That identified when, I guess, I spoke about the opportunity of the province plan. The complexity, I think, with Harbour Lights, Tower Hill, Trevor Bore [ and the mix ] and others was how much information did we have. And how much, how many decisions could we make based on that information? Well, the cupboard was quite lean. And the technical team are really calling out for more drilling, more data, more information to bring all those, I guess, mines together to see what it looked like. And there's different ore types as well, which also increases complexity. So with the focus on different areas for exploration and potential targets, we changed. And if you remember, middle of last year, I talked about the different exploration strategy and where the drills were turning. And this is the upside: By focusing on the areas that's close to us and certainly with the capacity that we have in the mill, what can we do differently? And here is a prime example of how that sort of technical thinking with the team at Leonora and in Perth coming up with the right targets. So there will be -- this will be one of many, I would suggest, over the period of time.So it's really a technical overview. Then there are some other complexities around Tower Hill, Harbour Lights that have to be brought into a province plan. And that is, what is your mine design? Are you going underground? Is it open pit? Do we have enough ore body knowledge? And the answer to all of that was probably no, but we've also been able to have a look at these operations with unconstrained eyes to then put together a strategic business plan and strategy going forward to be able to unfold a province plan that made sense. And I think it's a combination of all that coming together is the benefit you're seeing. And optimistically, there'll be more upside to come.
Yes, sure. You talked a bit there about the importance of gathering more geological knowledge, finding more targets across the region to build into that plan. Just noting that you only spent $1 million of exploration expenditure across the province during the quarter, is that a sufficient spend rate? Is there an opportunity to, I guess, deploy more cash in the region and really accelerate those plans? Or were there other constraints that led to the pretty low spend during the quarter?
No. The only constraint we've got on that is [ ourselves have ] been able to mobilize and get people there. There's a frantic, I suppose, drilling program unfolding in that region now given what we are seeing. The $1 million expenditure is way off the spend rate that we need to spend this quarter, for example. And we'll certainly do better in that space, but it will be targeted.
Your next question comes from Peter O'Connor of Shaw and Partners.
Craig, just to follow up on the same province plan and how it's playing out. Thoughts on Kin Mining and what played out in the last month or so? And any lessons learned from dealing with partners?
Yes, exactly. I think the -- so Kin Mining in particular still is the strategic, I guess, partner that we were looking for. And things are -- haven't changed from a justification and a need of why we entered into, I guess, [ what's been a significant shareholding ] with Kin. And the synergies are still the same. We still value their exploration programs and what they do as a business. I think the interesting part for me is -- which what you're alluding to, is what's happened in the last month. And that was quite a strange process, to be honest. We -- and to be very clear: We were approached by Kin to see if there was something more that we can do together, and the outcome of that conversation was obviously positive. That led to an NBIO being presented, which it was. The conditions to that NBIO was clearly subject to due diligence. When we presented that then, it was rejected. [ Kin went -- offered their raise ] and we've for now left it at that.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. Jetson for closing remarks.
Well, thank you very much for that. And thanks, everybody, for dialing in this morning.I think you'll see the headwinds of the last 12 months really starting to [ blow themselves out some light ], with some positive outlook going forward. Our main focus now clearly is on -- and I'll start with Leonora, is to finish what we started a year ago, optimize that operation; have as many headings as we possibly can, heading to that 30 intermediates, more of the Trevor Bores of the world; and continue on with the province plan; and of course, more synergies like Kin and beyond. So we're looking at all aspects of that growth. The challenge now will be to finish the DSTP and all the work that's gone on at Simberi, managing the COVID in-country issues that we've got and commissioning the plant in this quarter. That's well advanced and well and truly underway. And of course, the permitting at Atlantic with the Beaver Dam submissions and also the waste rock submissions for Touquoy. And all those things together have certainly got resources and activity around them. So I look forward to continuing the positive uptick that we're seeing in our business performance, getting business continuity at Atlantic in particular and also bringing Simberi back on to be a very good mine that it should be and finish off some of our work at Leonora.But thank you, everybody, for your questions today. We certainly appreciate the interest and the support. And we'll now get on and deliver the next quarter and the rest of this year.So thank you very much.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.