Granny Smith gold mine
| Granny Smith gold mine | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| General information about the mine | |||
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| Mining technology | Open pit | ||
| Information about the mining company | |||
| Operating company | Barrick Gold | ||
| Start of operation | 1980s | ||
| Funded raw materials | |||
| Degradation of | gold | ||
| Geographical location | |||
| Coordinates | 28 ° 59 ′ 0 ″ S , 122 ° 41 ′ 0 ″ E | ||
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| Location | Laverton | ||
| State | Western Australia | ||
| Country | Australia | ||
The Granny Smith Gold Mine is located 650 km northeast of Perth and 23 km south of Laverton , in Western Australia , Australia . The mining is adjacent to Mount Weld , a rare earth deposit .
Barrick Gold has been operating the gold mine since early 2008 as part of its Yilgarn South operation with the Lawlers gold mine and Darlot Centenary gold mine . The three gold mines together produced 372,000 ounces of gold in 2011 .
history
The Granny Smith gold deposit was discovered in 1979 by RL Smith, a prospector who found exposed gold on a hill. Construction of the facility began in the late 1980s. Initially, the mining was owned by Delta Gold , renamed Auriongold in February 2002 . Auriongold was acquired by Placer Dome in 2003 until it finally acquired the global mining company Barrick Gold in March 2006.
Some of the ore from the Wallaby deposit, located approximately 10 km to the west, was processed at the Granny Smith mill. In February 2009, Barrick Gold and Crescent Gold , which operates the Laverton Gold Mine , agreed that their ore produced would be ground at the Granny Smith Gold Mill facility.
geology
The gold deposit is located in a north-extending corridor where three mineralizations have occurred known as the Granny, Windich and Goanna mineralization.
A granitic intrusion occurred in the west, meta volcanic and meta sedimentary rocks lie in the west. Granodiorites occur in the south of Windisch Creek . In the center and in the north there are debris . Silt and shale cover banded ferruginous rocks and tuff in the mineralization in the Windich Creek area . To the north and east, close to the Granny mineralization, there is a layer of iron-rich greywacke into which other rocks have penetrated. The Goanna mineralization is the same as that of Granny.
landscape
The mining area, about 410 meters above sea level, is flat and dominated by two hills with banded ferrous rock. The larger hill rises to the west at 465 meters above sea level and the smaller at 435 meters in the south of the Windisch Creek. This is only filled with water when there is heavy rainfall, mostly in summer. The groundwater in the mining area is salty and rose towards Lake Carvey, 10 kilometers south .
The vegetation is sparse. It is an open bushland, mostly overgrown with mulga bushes . Annual precipitation is 230 millimeters, more than half of which falls mainly from January to June.
Mine operation and the environment
The plant on the mine operates a crushing plant for the ore rock and extracts the gold in a carbon-in-leach process. The preparation of the rock is carried out in this method, after comminution of the rock, flotation and cyanide leaching the participation of activated carbon .
Barrick Gold emphasizes that she has a safe practice in handling cyanide. In the process of cyanide leaching, gold is chemically bound in highly toxic seepage water. After filtration and precipitation, brown sludge is produced which, after washing and drying, turns into raw gold through reduction . In this process, hydrogen cyanide and cyanides are produced , which can escape into the environment despite reuse of the lye. This can u. a. happen through accidents, leaks and disasters. All substances produced in this process are poisonous. Although these are easily decomposed and broken down in nature, the resulting large spoil heaps and cyanide dusts can be distributed in an uncontrolled manner by wind and water, toxins can enter the environment in an uncontrolled manner and cause serious ecological damage.
Remarkably, there are plans to fish trout and barramundi on the disused gold mining site of Granny Smith . The salinity of the water increases the closer the mine is to Lake Carey .
Gold production
Granny Smith Gold Mine Gold Production Figures:
| year |
Gold production |
salary | Cost per ounce |
| 1996 | 312,262 ounces | ||
| 1997 | 376,386 ounces | ||
| 1998 | 604,806 ounces | ||
| 1999 | 523,092 ounces | 4.52 g / t | A $ 161 |
| 2000 | 412,049 ounces | 3.94 g / t | A $ 340 |
| 2001 | 347,179 ounces | 3.28 g / t | A $ 338 |
| 2002 | 358,648 ounces | ||
| 2003 | 307,341 ounces | ||
| 2004 | 293,228 ounces | ||
| 2005 | 278,806 ounces | ||
| 2006 | 314,000 ounces | 0.108 oz / t | US $ 401 |
| 2007 | 170,000 ounces | 0.056 oz / t | US $ 651 |
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b barrick.com ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Australia Pacific , accessed April 26, 2012
- ↑ barrick.com ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Australia Pacific , accessed April 26, 2012
- ↑ a b c crcleme.org.au (PDF file; 437 kB): DJ Gray, MJ Lintern, CRM Butt: Granny Smith Gold Deposit, Western Australia , in English, accessed on April 26, 2012
- ^ Infomine.com : Wallaby , in English, accessed April 26, 2012
- ↑ barrick.com ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Use of Cyanide at Barrick Granny Smith , accessed April 26, 2012
- ↑ regenwald.org : 12 questions and answers on the topic of gold , accessed on April 26, 2012
- ↑ abc.net.au : Lisa Stingel: Fishing the goldfields , in English, accessed on April 26, 2012
- ↑ 24hgold.com : Granny Smith Gold Mine , in English, accessed April 26, 2012
- ↑ a b c The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition , p. 90
- ↑ a b barrick.com ( Memento of the original from September 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Fourth Quarter & Year-End Mine Statistics 2007 , in English, accessed April 12, 2012
