A third investor has called on St Barbara directors to embrace a competitive auction for its assets, as St Barbara’s preferred bidder, Genesis Minerals, insists it is “on track” to create a leading gold miner by seeing the deal through.

St Barbara representatives flew to Sydney this week to try to soothe an increasingly divided shareholder base, some of whom are concerned at St Barbara’s plan to sell its flagship Gwalia mine to Genesis for a price that is about 10 per cent lower than a price offered by rival Silver Lake Resources.