* lower
recover reflects the successful carbonaceous trial in October
Paddington No. 1 and No. 2 open cut pits were mined from
1985 to 2002. In 1994, mining intensity was expanded and the processing plant was upgraded to 3.0 Mtpa.
Exploration and acquisitions have underpinned the pipeline
of mill feed since the original Paddington open cut was mined
out in 2002. The Paddington open void cut now serves as an in-pit
tailings storage facility with a capacity of over 20 years.
A merger with Delta Gold in 2001 delivered several potential
sources of mill feed, for example, the Red Hill deposit which
was completed in June 2007. The Mount Pleasant and Ora Banda
properties were acquired from the administrator of Centaur
Mining Limited and the Golden Cities property was acquired
from AMX, both prior to Norton's ownership. These projects
are now being developed.
Homestead development
The Company announced it had commenced development
of the Homestead underground mine on 8 April 2009. click
here
Homestead is expected to be producing by December 2009. It
is expected to lift overall production at Paddington towards >200,000
oz pa in FY2011 and contribute approximately 30,000 oz
in FY2010 and 65,000 oz in FY2011.
The estimated capital cost of $13.1M will be funded by operating
cash flow and the total cash cost of production (including development
capital) is estimated to be less than $600 per oz. A contractor
has been appointed for seven months of decline development.
The initial mine plan is for 101,000 oz from 428,000 tonnes
of ore at 7.4 g/t. There is upside via resource development
and an 8 to 10 yr underground project pipeline anticipated based
on the Mount Pleasant Gold Camp.
Homestead is part of the Mount Pleasant Gold Camp, 18 kilometres
from the Paddington mill. The camp encompasses several deposits
to be developed in series that are expected to deliver up
to 100,000 oz pa of gold for 8-10 years.
Mineralisation is hosted in quartz veins similar to those
in the now depleted Quarters Mine which is 1 km to the north and in the same geological
setting and which produced 339,000 oz of gold
at a grade of 6.2 g/t from underground operations.
For Homestead, a JORC Code-compliant Resource of 480,000 tonnes
at 12.4 g/t for 190,000 oz has been defined including an Ore
Reserve of 364,000 tonnes at 8.9 g/t. The Ore Reserve is a
subset of an initial mining inventory of 428,000 tonnes at
7.4 g/t. The deposit is open at depth and along strike and
has a number of parallel structures that require further exploration
to upgrade into a Resource.
Secondhand infrastructure has been acquired to support Homestead
development. We are accessing the ore body via a straight
decline off the existing Quarters open cut pit:
- a straight decline will be cheaper than a spiral decline
- use of Quarters' infrastructure and facilities already
in place such as piping and electrics reduces project complexity
and cost
- intersecting the ore body at a lower richer level enables
full scale production to be achieved earlier and for less
initial investment
the decline opens up adjacent areas for underground development.
The Tuart deposit is 400 metres away. Marlock, Golden Kilometre,
Green Gums and Homestead extension deposits are nearby.
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