Kanowna Belle gold mine
| Kanowna Belle gold mine | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| General information about the mine | |||
| Mining technology | Underground mining | ||
| Information about the mining company | |||
| Operating company | Barrick Gold | ||
| Start of operation | 1992 | ||
| Funded raw materials | |||
| Degradation of | gold | ||
| Geographical location | |||
| Coordinates | 30 ° 59 ′ 0 ″ S , 121 ° 58 ′ 0 ″ E | ||
|
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| Location | Kanowna | ||
| State | Western Australia | ||
| Country | Australia | ||
The Kanowna Belle Gold Mine (also known as Kanowna Belle ) is located in the Goldfields Esperance region , near the ghost town of Kanowna , 19 kilometers northeast of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and 625 kilometers from Perth in Western Australia , Australia .
The gold mine is operated in 2012 by Barrick Gold with 300 employees.
history
In the area where gold was found in 1893, a settlement was established, which in 1894 was named the city of Kanovna. When the superficially stored gold was mined in the floodplain , the search was continued underground. Since the gold veins are not superficial, the finds declined and the city, which had 12,500 inhabitants in 1899, became depopulated. During the Great Depression , the city's railway station was closed and the town was abandoned in 1953. When the price of gold rose in the 1970s, a search for gold was resumed and drilling revealed that there was a large gold deposit there. The gold mining was again in the 1984 open pit added.
geology
The gold deposit from the Archaikum located in Norsman - Wiluna - Greenstone belt and consists of a number of accumulated ore lenses which extend over a length of 600 meters and up to a depth of over 1000 meters. The ore body does not emerge from the surface. Enriched iron oxide is about 35-45 meters below the earth's surface, which a sulfide - mineralization subject. Some unweathered superficial mineralization on the surface is not fractured, but in the lower elevations the ore concentrations were heated before the gold was leached.
Mine
The gold deposit was explored in 1989 by Delta Gold NL and Geopeko Gold . Construction of the facility began in 1992 and mining began in 1993.
The mine was wholly owned by Delta Gold Ltd until 1999 , which merged with Goldfields Ltd , who jointly formed Auriongold Ltd in February 2002. Auriongold was acquired by Placer Dome in 2003, which at the time held 60% of the mine. Placer Dome was acquired by Barrick Gold in March 2006 for US $ 10.4 billion.
Since 2008 gold has been mined in three underground mines , the Kanowna Belle , Raleigh and Bullant gold mines .
The Kanowna Belle gold mine has two viewing platforms on its site and a building that explains the mine.
Technology and the environment
The mined and ground ore is sprinkled with cyanide and the solution seeping through the heaps creates a concentrate, a brown sludge, which is then thickened and the chlorides washed out. It is heated in two stages to oxidize pyrite and remove arsenic . After this process, it is treated with lime and a cyanide solution. Gold is then absorbed in a series of seven tanks using activated carbon . The gold is deposited on steel wool in an electrolysis process and then poured into bars in a smelter.
In the process of this cyanide leaching, poisons are created, the gold is chemically bound in highly toxic seepage water. After filtration and precipitation, brown sludge is formed, from which raw gold is absorbed after washing and drying by reduction . Hydrocyanic acid and cyanides are formed , which can escape into the environment despite reuse of the lye. The 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.
The gold-bearing ore in this mine is mined underground using the company's automated mining technology . Before that, the mine was operated in open-cast mining with shovel excavators and dump trucks until 1998.
production
Production numbers:
| year |
Gold production |
salary | Cost per ounce |
| 2000 | 314,363 ounces | 5.68 g / t | A $ 245 |
| 2001 | 270,552 ounces | 4.87 g / t | A $ 306 |
| 2002 1 | 178,582 ounces | 4.63 g / t | A $ 320 |
| 2003 | |||
| 2004 | 237,291 ounces | US $ 316 | |
| 2005 | 490,000 ounces | ||
| 2006 | 506,000 ounces | 0.102 oz / t | US $ 477 |
| 2007 | 362,000 ounces | 0.102 oz / t | US $ 659 |
| 2008 | 267,000 ounces | 0.160 oz / t | US $ 734 |
| 2009 | 284,000 ounces | US $ 532 |
- 1 figures from January to September 2002.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Australia Pacific ( Memento of the original from May 4, 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. Barrick website, Australie Pacific , in English, accessed May 12, 2012
- ↑ members.westnet.com.au ( Memento of the original from March 12, 2011 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. (PDF; 164 kB): Kanowna , in English, accessed on May 11, 2012
- ↑ a b c mining-technology.com : Kanowna Belle , in English, accessed on May 12, 2012
- ↑ a b c d e mining-technology.com : Kanowna Belle Gold Mine, Kalgoorlie, Australia , in English, accessed on May 11, 2012
- ^ Nytimes.com : Placer Dome Seeks to Buy 2 Mining Concerns for $ 600 Million , in English, accessed May 12, 2012
- ↑ MINEDEX website - Granny Smith search result , in English, accessed 11 May 2012
- ↑ taverldownunder.com.au ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Kanowna Belle Gold Mines , accessed May 12, 2012
- ↑ regenwald.org : 12 questions and answers on the topic of gold , accessed on May 12, 2012
- ↑ ausimm.com.au : Publications: Underground Operators' Conference - Case Study Comparison of Teleremote and Autonomous Assist Underground Loader Technology at the Kanowna Belle Mine , in English, accessed on May 12, 2012
- ↑ a b c The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003–2004 Edition , p. 98
- ↑ 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 May 12, 2012
- ↑ a b barrick.com ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Fourth Quarter & Year-End Mine Statistics 2008 , in English, accessed May 12, 2012
