Plutonic gold mine
| Plutonic gold mine | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| General information about the mine | |||
| Information about the mining company | |||
| Operating company | Barrick Gold | ||
| Start of operation | 1992 | ||
| Funded raw materials | |||
| Degradation of | gold | ||
| Geographical location | |||
| Coordinates | 25 ° 31 ′ 0 ″ S , 119 ° 45 ′ 0 ″ E | ||
|
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| Location | Peak Hill | ||
| State | Western Australia | ||
| Country | Australia | ||
The Plutonic gold mine is located 82 km east of Peak Hill and 180 km northeast of Meekatharra in Western Australia , Australia . The mine , operated by Barrick Gold , is eight miles from the Great Northern Highway .
history
In 1988, Great Central Mines discovered the gold deposit which was purchased by the Plutonic Gold Mine Company for A $ 50 million. Homestake Mining Company acquired Plutonic in April 1998 for more than A $ 1.0 billion. Homestake was acquired by Barrick Gold in late 2001.
geology
The gold deposit is located at the southern end of the Plutonic Well Greenstone Belt . The greenstone belt contains Proterozoic and Archean rocks such as granite , gabbro , and a few volcanic , mafic, and ultramafic rocks that intruded .
Gold mineralized in different veins with amphibolite rocks, mafic to ultramafic volcanic and sedimentary rocks . The mineralization took place with sulfides and oxides. The veins are one to ten meters long and one to three meters thick , the gold connected with the minerals quartz , biotite , titanite, amphibole, epidote , carbonate, tourmaline , arsenopyrite , chalcopyrite , scheelite in the rocks syenite , diorite , dolerite and peridotite contain.
Mine
The mine was operated as an open pit in 1990 and continued underground from January 1995 . Which was extended civil engineering between 1998 and 2000. It is for the Teifa- and Tagebauerz one each treatment plant. The civil engineering can process 1.8 million tons of sulfide-containing ore and the open- cast mine 1.2 million tons of oxide-containing ore.
Crushing, grinding and foaming of the ore and the extraction of gold take place in both plants.
Gold mining and the environment
The separation of rock and gold is done by gravity and the carbon-in-leach process. In this process, the rock is processed after crushing the rock, flotation and cyanide leaching with the help of activated carbon . The Plutonic gold mine is certified for this process in accordance with the International Cyanide Management Code .
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. 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 dust can be distributed in an uncontrolled manner by wind and water, toxic substances can enter the environment in an uncontrolled manner and cause serious ecological damage.
production
Production numbers:
| year |
Gold production |
Grade | Cost per ounce |
| 2000 | 253,623 ounces | 2.91 g / t | A $ 197 |
| 2001 | 288,000 ounces | 3.35 g / t | A $ 313 |
| 2002 | 307,377 ounces | 2.74 g / t | US $ 184 |
| 2003 | 333,947 ounces | US $ 193 | |
| 2004 | 304,468 ounces | US $ 223 | |
| 2005 | 251,000 ounces | 0.140 oz / t | US $ 302 |
| 2006 | 237,000 ounces | 0.141 oz / t | US $ 363 |
| 2007 | 208,000 ounces | 0.113 oz / t | US $ 541 |
| 2008 | 127,000 ounces | 0.115 oz / t | US $ 873 |
| 2009 | 144,000 ounces | US $ 652 |
Individual evidence
- ↑ theage.com : Chairman Argus has a little bet each way , accessed May 13, 2012
- ↑ fundinguniverse.com : Homestake Mining Company - History , in English, accessed May 13, 2012
- ↑ a b c mining-technology.com : Plutonic Gold Mine , in English, accessed on May 13, 2012
- ↑ barrick.com ( Memento of the original from May 14, 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 Plutonic , accessed May 13, 2012
- ↑ cyanidecode.org : Signatory Companies , in English retrieved 13 May 2012
- ↑ regenwald.org : 12 questions and answers on the topic of gold , accessed on April 26, 2012
- ↑ a b The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition , p. 121
- ↑ 2003 Fourth Quarter Report ( Memento of the original from November 20, 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. in English, accessed May 13, 2012
- ↑ a b 2004 Fourth Quarter Report ( Memento of the original from October 28, 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. in English, accessed May 13, 2012
- ↑ Fourth Quarter & Year-End Mine Statistics 2006 ( 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. in English, accessed May 13, 2012
- ↑ Fourth Quarter & Year-End Mine Statistics 2007 ( 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. in English, accessed May 13, 2012
- ↑ a b Fourth Quarter & Year-End Mine Statistics 2008 ( 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. in English, accessed May 13, 2012
