Sydney, January 9, 2026, 17:07 AEDT — Market closed
Northern Star Resources Ltd (NST.AX) shares rose 0.5% on Friday to end at A$24.72, after the gold miner said it still cannot quantify how much a softer December quarter will lift its annual costs. The stock traded between A$24.54 and A$25.35, with a 52-week range of A$15.30 to A$27.99.
The move came in a flat market, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 edging down three points to 8,716 on the close. Northern Star’s issue is more specific: investors are still trying to pin down what the production downgrade means for costs and cash generation into the second half.
That matters now because cost surprises can hit sentiment quickly in gold miners, where small shifts in grade, plant uptime and labour can change the earnings picture. A cost reset would also feed into how the market reads the company’s full-year guidance credibility.
In its response to an ASX “aware” letter, Northern Star said it did not have full sales, shipment and production data across its three production centres until Jan. 1, and so could not assess the combined impact earlier. It said any impact on annual cost guidance was “not yet known” and would be updated “promptly and without delay” once it could be confirmed and quantified; the company added that it treats an expected variation of 10% or more in its own production guidance as material. “It is not for NST to speculate about explanations for trading,” it wrote of the share move after the earlier downgrade. nsrltd.com
Northern Star cut its FY26 gold sales guidance on Jan. 2 to 1.6 million to 1.7 million ounces from 1.7 million to 1.85 million ounces after preliminary December-quarter sales of about 348,000 ounces. It pointed to reduced throughput — the volume of ore the plant can process — after a primary crusher issue at KCGM, unplanned downtime tied to carbon-in-leach tank failures at Thunderbox (a processing step used to pull gold out of slurry), and lower mined grades at Pogo due to underground dilution.
A separate filing showed the company issued 95,284 unquoted performance rights on Dec. 31 under an employee incentive plan, while another showed 138,237 performance rights lapsed the same day after employment ceased. Performance rights are equity awards that typically vest only if set conditions are met and they do not trade on the exchange.
But the next update could cut both ways. If the revised cost outlook comes in above what the market is braced for — or if plant performance stays uneven — the stock could give back ground quickly, even if gold prices hold up.
