Good morning, everyone, thank you for joining us for St Barbara's September 2021 quarterly report briefing. Please note the disclaimer is on slide two. I'm Chris Maitland, Head of Investor Relations for St Barbara. On today's call, our Managing Director and CEO, Craig Jetson, will discuss the Q1 performance, provide project updates. Just a reminder that you will need to press star one and the operator will line up your question. With that, I'll hand the call over to Craig.
Thank you, Chris. 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 into the presentation, I'd like to acknowledge and welcome the appointment of Peter Cowley to the role of Chief Operating Officer, Australasia. Peter has been in the acting position for the capacity of the last three 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 number one 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 zero. This quarter, we had four 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 focused 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 operations in the coming months. In the September quarter, we produced 67,000 ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of AUD 1,492 per ounce.
The exploration team's been busy drilling targets in the Leonora Province. 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. The restart at Simberi remains on schedule for the coming quarter. As part of the sulfide project, we finalized the concentrate offtake agreements for Simberi with a number of global trading companies. In addition, we have submitted the two addendums to CEPA relating to the final testing for waste rock management and the DSTP footprint. Operating cash flow would have been AUD 24 million higher. 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 AUD 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 contained in ore purchased from Linden Gold. Mine grade for the quarter was also higher at 8.6 g per ton. The higher production this quarter resulted in all-in sustaining costs of AUD 1,448 per ounce, and the total material movement was higher at 284,000 t, which was the highest quarter since Q4 FY 2020.
There was an increase in waste movement and a slight reduction in ore mined. Our Atlantic operations recorded 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 cost of AUD 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. The company will work with the Nova Scotia government to deliver appropriate permits in a timely manner. At Simberi, the processing plant remained shut as 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 impact. We are limiting personnel access to each of our sites and our operations, as we'll be supporting a vaccination program as we go forward. For September quarter, the Building Brilliance transformation program has delivered a cash benefit of almost AUD 23 million. During FY 2022, Building Brilliance will focus on sustainability of the initiatives implemented last year at each of our operations, and we are extending the program to our corporate activities.
We are embedding Building Brilliance processes with business as usual mindset in daily activities and ensuring business improvement initiatives continue to be developed and implemented all across our business. 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 2020. 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 m of depth, there were 7 m of 10.5 g per tonne. At 87 m of depth, there were 60 m at 2 g per tonne.
At Jasper Hills, the best results were, at 16 m depth, was 15 m at 1.5 g per tonne, and at 46 m there was 11 m at 1.9 g 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 km 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 ore to the plant for at least one 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'll 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 Andorra, prospects returned very encouraging results. Trotsky had a high mix of oxide material and transition sulfide material, the best drilling intercepts include at depth 25 m, there was 52 m at 1.5 g per tonne. At 58 m depth, there were 32 m at 2 g per tonne.
Andorra, the best results show more transitional material and included from depth of 28 m there was 32 m at 5.5 g/t and at 26 m, there was 40 m at 1.8 g/t . Positively, Andorra is approximately 500 m from the processing plant. We continue to explore oxide material that can displace the processing and transition material that lead to higher returns. Following 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 new near surface open pit, with short trucking distance to Leonora, along with ongoing improved operational performance at Atlantic and Leonora as well. We certainly progressed our strategy for establishing three 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 for the timing of gold shipments. We have also extended the terms of our debt facilities to June 2025. The Building Brilliance program delivered a cash benefit of AUD 23 million in the quarter, building on the AUD 41 million we delivered from last year. With that, I thank you, and I will now open the line for any questions.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from Matt Greene of Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning, Craig and team. I just have a quick question on the development fronts at Gwalia. You mentioned there's a 27 improvement in daily development rates, but I noticed that the number of fronts you have of 23 this quarter is down from 24 in the last quarter. Could you just provide 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? Thanks.
Yeah, Matt, good question and it's a great pickup, 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 stay constant at one heading. The holy grail for us is we're heading somewhere between 28-30 at the end of this year, and that's still the trajectory that we're looking for. By quarter on quarter, I expect this to change by one or two headings. It's not material. I think we certainly have moved a lot of waste again this quarter. 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 our production, I guess, uplift through a combination of grade and material is moved.
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. Thanks, Craig. Really you need to get to about the 28- 30 to sustain that circle, 1.1 million tonnes coming from the underground.
Yeah, look, exactly right. 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 the flexibility within the mine. That's planned maybe quarter four this year. We'll see how the planning goes in the next few months while the development's still ongoing.
That's great. Thanks for that. If I could just move to Beaver Dam. I note there's additional requests or perhaps areas of concern surrounding the EIS. Can you just provide a little bit more color on what those additional requests are? I know that you were expecting feasibility study to be complete in the September quarter. Looks like this is now due sometime this quarter. Has that slight slippage there been driven by the additional requests?
Yeah, look, in summary, absolutely. There's two 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. 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'd 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. 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, those talks and those conversations are still continuing on.
Really it is a journey and it is very, I guess, time-consuming to deal with permits. We're getting through them and we have a permit team that is fully focused on achieving that. It's progressing, but obviously quite slowly.
Got it. Thanks, Craig. That's it for me.
Thanks, Matt.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Peter O'Connor of Shaw and Partners. Please go ahead.
Good morning, 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?
Yeah, 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. 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 example, is how we do that, the standard that we achieve, and the technical information that we put in there.
One of the things, for example, the last round of permits that are being valued, we've had 3 independent reviewers look at the waste rock permits, for example, at Touquoy. Once we have permitted Beaver Dam, we'll certainly take all those learnings into Fifteen Mile Stream and Cochrane Hill and believe that we will do our 50% much better than we have in the past and deliver permits at a quality in a timely manner. I think the government also on the journey, and particularly the environmental people, are also, one, been inundated with permits, but also learning as they go through how the system really works, because it is changing in Nova Scotia.
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 on what that is and have reasonable outcomes in a timely manner.
Just further to that, is the approval that's pending for an FID at the, I think it's the December quarter this year? That's next year?
Next year.
Sorry, next year. Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. Just to Simberi, just three questions. The COVID impact you talked about, will that affect the ramp-up this quarter into next year? 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, and was that meaningful? Thirdly, just thoughts on the transition profile of production at Simberi that 2022, 2023, 2024, as you're moving from one feed to the other.
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. The reason I say that is because the drilling programs at Simberi have been so successful in identifying more opportunity around, I guess, Andorra in particular and Trotsky, which is all very close to the mill. What we've been doing is 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. 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.
On the way through, with all the drilling work that's been gone on, 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. That's going to be really difficult to talk about the profile. One of the things or two 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. 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 startup at the end of this quarter.
We get the best return, the best recoveries, and the best production rates through. To be able to look out 2-3 years as to the Sulfide Project, that 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 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. 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.
There's not a lot to do except finish the engineering and take that to FID end of this year, and then through permitting onto construction at some stage in the next 12-18 months. I think 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? We've done a three million ton milling base case run rate and sized the plant accordingly. We've also looked at 3.3 and 3.5 million ton milling rates as well, and what would the throughput look like at that stage. In the early phase of repairing, 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 Sulphide maximum business case at 3.5 million tons. There's no more upgrades to do. The second part of that would be the saltwater mixing tanks, the saltwater pumps, and the associated pipework have all been upgraded to the capacity of the Sulphide project. 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 and accommodate the higher throughput rates for the Sulphide project.
COVID on Simberi, any effect on the next quarter or so?
Look, I really don't think so. If I look at the team that's there and the contractors that are there doing the DSTP repairs, rebuilding out a pipeline, et cetera, they're all in a bubble. 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-19 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 and going through our checkpoints on the way to the plant and been able to quarantine them until the 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 that I am concerned about the current outbreak of COVID-19 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-19 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.
We've had meetings as recently as last week with Peter, myself, and some others from St Barbara meeting the site team and the mine guys on the island to, again, communicate and educate the island about what vaccinations mean and what COVID means and help us police the boat traffic in and out of the island, protecting people. 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 one year's production. When you-- mean, that's one year of topping up Gwalia or that's one full year's production? How do I think about that line that you made?
Yeah. I guess without talking too soon, it's probably, at this point, unknown. 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 cut back. 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. What I mean by that is we still need to do a considerable amount of drilling, which over the next six months in particular, we'll really be able to map out whether it's one year or whether it's optimistically two years. We'll see.
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 four, quarter one 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, three months away from putting some real numbers behind it.
Thanks, Craig.
Thank you. Your next question comes from David Radcliffe of Global Mining Research. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning, Craig and team. My first question is just to follow up on the development of Gwalia. Just wondering how we should think about how that catch-up in development rates really translates to delivering higher ore tons, and, I guess, thinking initially back to sort of the historical peaks of around 900,000 t a year, sort of in FY 2015 and 2016, and then sort of moving beyond that and when you think that would sort of top out today?
Yeah, look, I think if I look at where we finished at the end of last year, and the run rates in quarter four in particular, it sort of takes you from up close to the 950,000 t sort of run rate. That was a 25% uplift. We've been able to maintain that rate. We had a significant jump quarter four 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 if you remember back in quarter four, we had lower grade than we anticipated. This quarter, we got higher grade than we anticipated. Together, we got a much better result.
I think by the time we get our 28-30 headings, intermediates, Trevor Bore, well, obviously Trevor Bore out, I think the intermediates and the Shallows will be around that 1 million-1.1 million ton run rate by the end of this year. I think that balances out with where we want to go with Gwalia Deep, in particular Gwalia the mine. I think then if we continue with some of the opportunities in the province that are very high. We've got some really good targets. I hope there's a lot more to come in the next quarter or so. I think we're looking quite encouraged the way that Leonora is starting to look at the moment.
Okay, thanks. Maybe just to follow up on Simberi. The sort of reported cash outflow of AUD 39 million, I think there was AUD 5 million of sustaining growth. That's operating cash cost of around AUD 34 million, which seems just sort of shy of the normal kind of operating spend. I note that the mining rate was sort of well down on, I guess, what it's been in previous quarters. 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? Should we just think about Simberi as just being very high sort of fixed cost operation.
Look, I think there's two 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 berms and setting the mine up for future production rates, looking at the mine design keeping in mind the mine design for the sulfide project. That's driving our costs up, 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 shift, we've been doing most of the mining on day shift at this point in time, that's not efficient. Really, the catch-up work in the processing plant, some of our mobile fleet, is driving our costs up probably higher than where we would be. Clearly, the labor force there, and we took the decision to keep as many of our 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 in particular, is not as good as where we'd like it to be.
There's a lot of costs going into that operation that's certainly not getting paid for for now, but that will change at the end of this quarter. Yes, there will be a lot of significant change once we get going on oxides and producing gold in our operating costs.
Okay. That makes sense. Thanks for that. I'll pass it on.
Thanks, David.
Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Your next question comes from Reg Spencer of Canaccord. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Good morning, Craig. If I can start at Leonora. Obviously, the grade can vary quarter to quarter depending upon where you are in the stoping cycle. Based on your quarterly production split or your guides for quarterly production, that kick-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.
Yeah, look, I think if we hold the grade, as we've guided on, I think my view with the productivity, the cost 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 the mining contractors, I'd have to call them out and say they're doing a great job with what they've got. We are struggling with operators and mechanics and all the typical things to keep the fleet going. Having said all that, to achieve the rates that they've been achieving is exceptional in my view. To do it reasonably safely as well has also been good. 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. Thanks, Craig. Just lastly, I see that you've finalized your offtake for Simberi Sulphide Gold Concentrate. Are you able to disclose what the final payabilities on that would be? 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'd have to say the guidance we put out is still the guidance, and it's accurate on what we've been able to achieve. There will be a lot more to talk about the Sulphide project in the next quarter, and I'll give you more of a clearer number on that then. The guidance we gave back then, 80%-88%, has been realized.
Excellent. Great. Thanks very much. I'll pass it on.
Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Your next question comes from Matthew Freedman of Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Yeah, sure. Thanks. Morning, Craig. Firstly, Gwalia. You made a decision during the quarter not to process any surface stockpiles. 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.
Yeah, 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. There was none 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 four or five days. There was a few hills to climb. When you have the better material to process, you process the better material. It's just a business decision, that's all.
Yeah, sure. We might still expect, at times over the coming quarters, that you'd still process some surface stockpiles if the opportunity arises?
Oh, absolutely. I don't like it sitting on the surface. It needs to go through the mill. Every chance we get, the team, led by Peter, will certainly deal with that.
Cool. Thanks. Just looking at slide 20, the development timeline 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 Harbor 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. 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?
Look, Matthew, there's not an easy one silver bullet for these sorts of outcomes, right. If you remember a bit over one year ago, we mentioned that we were strengthening the technical bench strength across the organization. We did that. We had a reorganization of technical people, a different focus on exploration globally and within the province. The whole thing started to come together about one year ago. That identified when, I guess, I spoke about the opportunity of the Leonora Province Plan. The complexity, I think, with Harbor Lights, Tower Hill, Trevor Bore in the mix, and others was how much information did we have and 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. There's different ore types as well, which also increases the complexity. With a focus on different areas for exploration and potential targets, we changed. If you remember, middle of last year, I talked about the different exploration strategy and where the drills were turning. 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? Here's a prime example of how that sort of technical thinking with the team at Leonora and in Perth coming up with the right targets.
This will be one of many, I would suggest, over the period of time. There's some other complexities around Tower Hill, Harbour Lights that have to be brought into a Province Plan. That is, what is your mine design? Are you going underground? Is it open pit? Do we have enough ore body knowledge? The answer to all that was probably no. 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. I think it's a combination of all that coming together, is the benefit you're seeing. Optimistically, there'll be more upside to come.
Yeah, sure. Thanks. 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 AUD 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? 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 being able to mobilize, get people there. There's a stranded, I suppose, drilling program unfolding in that region now, given what we are seeing. The AUD 1 million expenditure is way off the spend rate that we need to spend this quarter, for example. We'll certainly do better in that space. It will be targeted.
Got it. Thanks, Craig.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Peter O'Connor of Shaw and Partners. Please go ahead.
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?
Yeah, exactly. I think Kin Mining in particular still is the strategic, I guess, partner that we were looking for. Things haven't changed from a justification and a need of why we entered into being a significant shareholder with Kin. 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, what you're alluding to, is what's happened in the last month. That was quite a strange process, to be honest. To be very clear, we were approached by Kin, to see if there was something more that we could do together. 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, it was rejected.
Kin went off for their raise and we're, for now, left with it back.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Craig 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 somewhat 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. Of course, more synergies like Kin and beyond. 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 in commissioning the plant in this quarter. That's well advanced and well and truly underway.
Of course, the permitting at Atlantic with the Beaver Dam submissions and also the waste rock submissions for Touquoy. All those things together have certainly got resources and activity around them. 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. Thank you everybody for your questions today. Certainly appreciate the interest and the support. We'll now get on and deliver the next quarter and the rest of this year. Thank you very much.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.