The Homestead underground mine is part of the the Mount Pleasant gold camp, which is one of the company’s most prospective areas. It is located 18km south-west of the Paddington Mill and 35km north-east of Kalgoorlie and has significant potential to provide high grade ore to our mill over the long term.

The Homestead deposit is the first of several potential underground deposits in the area to be successfully mined by the company. Homestead has been fully operational since early financial year 2011 and had produced 47,000oz of gold up to the end of June 2011. Resource extension drilling has effectively replaced mining depletion on an annual basis to date.

Project milestones

Development began with the cutting of the portal on 18 April 2009 and successfully intersected the Homestead ore body in December 2009. Production mining at Homestead commenced in July 2010, following completion of the decline development and infrastructure in the previous year.

Exploration success at Homestead has seen the identification of several new ore zones including the Phantom and VN03 mineralised veins, and extended the main zone at VN01 down-dip and to the south. Resource development drilling is effectively replacing depleted resource and reserve. In financial year 2011, a total of 164kt of ore was mined at a grade of 6.82g/t Au (35,961oz).

Mine design

Homestead Underground is accessed via a decline with a portal from the Quarters Pit . The mine design is a conventional, bench stoping design with material hauled to surface using trucks via a decline developed in the footwall. Longhole open stoping extraction was selected as the mining method due to the deposit’s steeply dipping geometry and competent wall rock.

Homestead Operations Resource Video