| Fosterville Gold Mine |
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Perseverance owns and operates the Fosterville Gold Mine, located 20 kilometres east of Bendigo in central Victoria. History Gold mining at Fosterville field dates back to the 1890’s, when there a community of around 3,000 people. Perseverance began open cut mining oxide ore on the site in 1992 and in the period to 2002 produced 385,000 ounces gold. Mining re-commenced in April 2004 based initially on production from the Falcon open pit followed by the Ellesmere and Harrier open pits. Underground mining started in mid 2006 after a decline had been developed from the southern end of the Falcon open pit. The most recent Ore Reserve and Mineral Resource statement was released with the 2006 Annual Report. A graph of Fosterville’s mineral inventory is shown below.
Mineral resources are quoted inclusive of ore reserves Current ore reserves support an underground mine life of 7-8 years. Conversion of mineral resources to ore reserves will allow mine-life to extend beyond 10 years Open Pit Mining Mining started initially in the Falcon Open Pit and a total of 4.3 million bank cubic metres of material has been moved since mining started in April 2004. Development of a second pit, the Ellesmere, started in March 2005. First sulphide ore from this pit was delivered for processing in January 2006. Mining of a third pit, the Harrier, started early in 2007. The surface mining contractor has a fleet of eleven Cat 777 haul trucks, two Hitachi diesel-hydraulic excavators (EX1900) and additional support plant. Open pit mining is expected to be completed in 2007. Under the three year surface mining contract, 9.8 million bank cubic metres will have been mined. Planned gold production from open pits is 270,000 ounces. Underground Mining Decline development from the southern end of the Falcon Open Pit started in early 2006 and first ore was delivered to the treatment plant stockpile in mid 2006. Access to the underground ore is via a single 5.5m by 5.5m decline and ore is hauled using 55 tonne capacity trucks. Early in 2007, development of a decline portal began at the base of the Ellesmere open pit, to enable production from underground. Based on current ore reserves, the underground mine life is 7-8 years. There are good prospects to extend the underground mine life, assuming mineral resources are converted to ore reserves and additional mineralisation is found down plunge and below each of the three ore bodies. The first two years underground production is being mined under contract by MG Mining. Metallurgy Ore treatment consists of a conventional crushing and SAG mill circuit, followed by flotation. The flotation concentrate, which represents around 10% of the mill feed, is then oxidised using the Goldfields of South Africa patented BIOX® process. The oxidised product is then passed through a CIL circuit (carbon in leach) and then a gold elution circuit before the production of gold dore. Employees As at December 2006 there were 296 employees on site including 206 contractors. The mine contributes around $35 million per year to the local economy through salaries, services and supplies and there is a strong focus on local employment. |
ASX Annoucements |
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27/02/2008 - Public Announcement - MG Mining Contract(PDF 49kb) 27/02/2008 - Executive General Manager Northgate Australia Appointed(PDF 21kb) |
Quarterly Report |
14/01/2008 - Quarterly Report Dec 2008(PDF 1.04Mb) |
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| Community Newsletters |
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Community Newsletter February 2008 |
