Overview
Norton entered into an agreement to purchase Mount Morgan
on 17 January 2007.
The Mount Morgan Gold Project is based on the Mount Morgan
Gold Mine which operated from 1886 to 1981 and was for a time
the largest gold mine in the world - the mine produced over
8M oz of gold from more than 41M tonnes of ore.
Between 1981 and 1991, ~28M tonnes of tailings were treated;
operations were suspended due to rising chemical costs and
other factors. Norton intends to establish a tailings treatment
project based on the remaining tailings dams and mullock dumps
which contain more than 8M tonnes of material. The plan is
to initially process a measured resource of approximately
4M tonnes containing ~218,000 oz of gold at an average grade
of 1.7 grams per tonne. This extends operations to exploit
additional resources over an additional eight years.
A feasibility study for the project has been completed and
is to be presented to the board in July 2008. Detailed advice
on the project will be made available publicly following the
board review.
The plan is to dismantle, relocate and re-establish the Kundana
plant acquired as part of the Paddington Gold Mine acquisition.
This has been on care and maintenance since 2003.
Reserves and Resources
A drilling program has been completed that provides confidence
with a high degree of certainty for 4.0 Mt at 1.7g/t of gold
for 219,000 oz.
It is expected that operation will be extended to exploit
all economic resources on the mining lease. The company has
expressions of support from the authorities in terms of “every
effort [be made] to achieve a positive outcome” [regarding
the extension of mining activity].
Production
Mount Morgan is planned to produce 40 – 50,000 oz pa
of gold.
Future Developments
Mount Morgan is a significant development project for Norton.
It is a show case of the company’s technical capability
to design, build and bring into operation a development project
while working effectively with key stakeholders in an environmentally
sensitive location.
There is significant potential to reconfigure the project
and liberate additional value. This encompasses, subject to
approval of the Queensland Government, adding to the Reserves
and Resources and exploiting copper in the tailings as well
as gold.
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