DISCOVERY V I C T O R I A ’ S
E A R T H
R E S O U R C E S
J O U R N A L
N O V E M B E R
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COMMERCIAL HYDRAULICS AD
INSIDE THIS ISSUE •
REDISCOVERING OLD MINES
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NEW VIMP RELEASE
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UNDERGROUND GAS STORAGE
DISCOVERY V I C T O R I A’ S
E A RT H
R E S O U R C E S
J O U R N A L
N O V E M B E R
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contents HOPES FOR NEW GOLD IN OLD MINES
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New exploration techniques can make a difference.
TOP SHOWS IN THE HIGH COUNTRY
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VIMP data helps produce some exciting results.
VICTORIA’S RESOURCES
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A graphic overview of our mineral, oil and gas wealth.
UNDERGROUND SOLUTIONS FOR PEAK PROBLEMS
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Plans for a new gas storage facility near Port Campbell.
Hearne ADVERT (NEW)
NEW BOOST FROM ‘EYE IN THE SKY’
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cover picture
Details of the latest release of VIMP data.
VALLEY GETS NEW $200M MINE
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Highlake Resources has embarked on a major gold exploration drive throughout Victoria’s ‘old’ goldfields. The company believes the use of modern exploration techniques will prove there’s plenty more wealth to be won from the areas that made the state famous for gold discoveries last century.
A new coal mine is announced for Maryvale.
MINESITE REHABILITATION SUCCESS
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Difficult environmental problems were overcome at Moliagul.
ADAM SEEKS TO BE FIRST
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Metallurgist Adam Teague is working on better recovery techniques.
PERSEVERANCE PAYS DIVIDENDS
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The Fosterville gold mine reveals new geological secrets.
NEW RFA FOR CENTRAL HIGHLANDS
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New progress on Victoria’s forest reserve system.
regular features THE OUTLOOK IS POSITIVE
DISCLAIMER: This publication may be of assistance to you, but the State of Victoria and its officers do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication.
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Pat McNamara is buoyant about industry developments.
INDUSTRY NEWS
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Minerals and Petroleum Victoria acknowledges contributions made by private enterprise. Acceptance of these contributions, however, does not endorse or imply endorsement by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of any product or service offered by the contributors.
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All photographs, maps, charts, tables and written information in this publication are copyright under the Copyright Act and may not be reproduced by any process whatsoever without the written permission of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
What’s happening in the Victorian industry.
THE TAPE HAS BEEN CUT MPV executive director David Lea gives his views.
MINERAL LICENCES The latest on exploration licences.
© Minerals and Petroleum Victoria 1997.
Published quarterly on behalf of the Minerals and Petroleum Division of the Department of Natural Resources & Environment by RBA Communications, 3/108 Sackville St, Collingwood, Vic 3066 Tel: (03) 9416 3341 Fax: (03) 9416 3585 EMail:
. Editor: Ian Howarth Advertising: Watts Media, 1396 Malvern Rd, Tooronga, Vic 3146 Tel: (03) 9822 4461 Fax: (03) 9822 9192. Distribution enquires to Chandri Corray, Manager Marketing Development, Minerals and Petroleum Division, Department of Natural Resources & Environment, 8 Nicholson St, East Melbourne, 3002, Vic. Tel: (03) 9637 8532 Fax: (03) 9637 8118. Australia Post Print Publication PP349472/00128. ISSN Number 13282409.
1
HIGHLAKE
SPECIAL FEATURE
Like many of the new explorers making their presence felt in Victoria, Highlake Resources NL believes the application of modern exploration techniques to the old goldfields of the state will provide a new base for the gold industry. Over a century ago, Victoria hosted goldfields of a scale the world had never seen before. But in a few short decades, the industry was almost dead. However, plenty more gold still lies beneath Victoria’s surface, according to Highlake managing director, Bruce Bell. Mr Bell says using modern exploration techniques in an area of such historic gold production is a plan of action firmly based on common sense. “Victoria is only now beginning to receive serious twentieth century exploration attention,” he said. “The Victorian gold mining industry of today could be compared to the gold mining industry in Western Australia in the late 1970’s.”
Left: Drilling at Highlake’s Maryborough prospects has found encouraging signs for new gold discoveries in quartz reefs. Right: Hopes of major new gold discoveries is driving a resurgence in Victorian exploration.
hopes for new gold in old ground Highlake Resources is a junior gold company with a large portfolio of exploration projects in Victoria. The portfolio was assembled over five years and comprises mainly 100% owned blocks, including one joint venture operated by Highlake. Ten project areas are spread through eight distinct goldfields, primarily focusing on the Bendigo and Ballarat district of central Victoria. This area has accounted for 80% of the state’s historic gold production of around 80 million ounces. Highlake was floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in February and, with 61.3 million shares on issue, has a market capitalisation of around A$8.5 million. The company’s primary aim is exploring and developing extensions of historic reef workings along strike and at depth, especially where deposits were developed only to the water table by goldrush miners. Prospects are typically defined by clusters of old workings, either as pits or shafts, aligned along auriferous quartz vein systems.
Given the relative lack of historic development work and paucity of modern exploration, Highlake seized the opportunity and was further encouraged by its early work, which defined widespread gold-in-soil and gold-in-rock anomalies.
grade bulk mineable deposits and smaller higher-grade deposits.
The Maryborough Project comprises three north-trending zones of slate-belt style, quartz-reef gold mineralisation.
Mineralisation at Pearl-Croydon is contained within moderate to steeply dipping quartz lodes within a zone 40 to 80 metres wide.
The zones have been determined on the basis of the underlying geology and nature of the gold-bearing quartz reefs.
The host rocks are folded and faulted sediments with variably mineralised quartz lodes from less than 1 metre up to 20 metres thick.
positional only scan from print!
Drilling since January 1997 has focussed on the highly promising Pearl-Croydon prospect where 7,322 metres of RC drilling has been completed in 49 holes.
Drilling at 40 metre spacing over a 1.3 kilometre strike length has enabled calculation of a preliminary inferred gold resource of 80,000 ounces grading 2.2 g/t. The resource remains open internally, downdip and along strike. Follow up drilling is planned to upgrade the resource and explore the limits of mineralisation. The East Maryborough Zone is centred on a 10km by 2.5km corridor of reef-style gold mineralisation immediately east of Maryborough. Drill targets have been selected by geological mapping and soil sampling over historic workings.
In its first year as a listed entity, Highlake Resources has undertaken an aggressive drill program (32,000 metres of RC drilling) in the search for hard-rock gold deposits.
The principal targets (Cleopatra, Whitehorse, Bluchers and Frenchmans) are predominantly high grade, narrow veins that are potentially underground operations.
All of these separate exploration projects contain numerous prospects, with many yielding significant drill intersections.
Nearly 3,800 metres of RC drilling has been completed on the Cleopatra and Whitehorse prospects since August, 1996.
Drilling of the prospects is on a priority basis, determined by lead-up geochemical work and the historic productivity of the area. First pass drilling on eight prospects has concentrated Highlake’s current exploration effort in the Maryborough goldfield. Another 10 prospects have been developed to drilling stage.
All three zones contain numerous quartz reef prospects that predominantly lie within bushland managed by the Department of Natural Resources & Environment.
The Central Maryborough Zone is centred on a 5 km by 1.5km zone comprising prospects that are strike persistent and form elongate, north-south trending ridges.
The Maryborough goldfield is centred on the town of Maryborough, to the west of, and equidistant from, Ballarat and Bendigo.
The prospects are typically dissected by gullies that were worked historically as alluvial deposits.
Drill testing suggests mainly bulk mineralisation targets with associated high-grade underground targets.
Historic gold production was at least 1.3 million ounces, but the area has been essentially untouched by modern exploration methods. Highlake was attracted to Maryborough because of the size of the historic goldfield, the relationship between corridors of reefstyle mineralisation and strong, persistent fold and fault structures and the widespread and rich distribution of alluvial gold.
In the three zones defined at Maryborough, considerable potential exists both for large tonnage, bulk mineable deposits and smaller high-grade deposits.
A preliminary resource estimate is anticipated following the drilling of 7,600 metres RC, predominantly at the Long Gully prospect.
The Amherst Zone contains over 30 historically worked reefs. An estimated 80,000 ounces of gold was recovered from small-scale, shallow scavenging of highgrade reefs. Highlake sees good potential for both low3
Mineralisation at Long Gully has been defined within an 800 metre long zone associated with a plunging, faulted anticline. The zone averages around 40 metres wide at surface and apparently widens and bifurcates at depth to at least the deepest intersection at 130 metres.
FROM THE TOP DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT MINERALS AND PETROLEUM CONTACT LIST: CENTRAL MARYBOROUGH REEF CORRIDOR EXPLORATION MODEL
BUSINESS ADDRESS: 115 VICTORIA PDE, FITZROY, VIC 3065 E
POSTAL ADDRESS: PO BOX 2145, MDC FITZROY, VIC 3065 SWITCHBOARD: (03) 9412 7000 FAX: (03) 9412 7988
MINERALS BUSINESS CENTRE: Fax: (03) 9412 7442 Kim Ricketts Client Services Officer Telephone: (03) 9412 7377 MINERALS DEVELOPMENT: Fax: (03) 9637 8118 Phil Roberts Manager Minerals Development Telephone: (03) 9637 8529 Graham Gooding Regional Manager Ballarat Telephone: (03) 53 336 521 Guy Hamilton Regional Manager Bendigo Telephone: (054) 304531 EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES: George Buckland Manager Extractive Industries Telephone: (03) 9637 8541 TITLES: Fax: (03) 9412 5600 David Wallish Acting Manager Minerals and Petroleum Titles Telephone: (03) 9412 7996 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY VICTORIA: Fax: (03) 9412 7803 Tom Dickson Manager Geological Survey Victoria Telephone: (03) 9412 7801 Alan Willocks Manager Geophysical Surveys Telephone: (03) 9412 7862 Peter O’Shea Manager Geological Mapping Telephone: (03) 9412 7871 Jim Kinder Manager Geological Draughting Telephone: (03) 9412 7855
Roger Buckley Manager Mineral Resources Telephone: (03) 9412 7935
LONG GULLY PROSPECT
Alluvial gold deposit
Bob Dalgarno VIMP Co-ordinator Telephone: (03) 9412 5683
TELECOM RIDGE PROSPECT
Alluvial gold deposit
Zone of old reef gold workings
PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT: Fax: (03) 9412 5655
Zone of old reef gold workings LT
David Lea Executive Director Minerals and Petroleum Telephone: (03) 9637 8535
WELLS TRACK PROSPECT
Bulk, low grade gold mineralisation
Kathy Hill Manager Petroleum Development Telephone: (03) 9412 5639
FAU
MINERALS AND PETROLEUM DIVISION: Fax: (03) 9412 7834
W
High grade narrow vein gold deposits 0
100m
The prospect remains open at depth and laterally to the west, with potential also for mineralisation along undrilled parallel structures.
Reza Malek Manager Petroleum Resources Telephone: (03) 9412 7281
A gold-in-soil geochemistry response over Long Gully was very anomalous, with several samples returning assays over 1,000ppb.
Mike Woollands Manager Basin Studies Telephone: (03) 9412 7840
Close and parallel to the west is the Wells Track prospect, a zone of persistent gold-in soil anomaly measuring 1.1km long by 100m wide.
Maher Megallaa Manager Acreage Release Telephone: (03) 9412 5648
OTHER PROJECTS: Other preliminary resources within 30 km of Maryborough are at the Harvest and Bosuns prospects.
Bob Harms Manager Petroleum Information Telephone: (03) 9412 5649
The Harvest prospect, within the Dunolly-Moliagul Project (HLR 100%), has a preliminary resource of 60,000oz gold @ 2.5 g/t, calculated from over 8,000 metres of RC drilling.
Geoff Collins Manager Petroleum Projects Telephone: (03) 9637 8531
Harvest is located northeast of Dunolly township and centred on a 3km long trend of historic reef gold workings. The workings are focussed on irregular quartz veins hosted in folded and faulted sediments.
OPERATIONS: Fax: (03) 9412 7888
Highlake has also completed an aerial multi-spectral imaging survey over the Dunolly-Moliagul project.
Rob King Acting Manager Minerals and Petroleum Operations Telephone: (03) 9412 7860
The survey has outlined extensions to known mineralisation and prospective mineralised zones outside of the known gold targets within the area.
INFORMATION: Janne Bonnett A/g Manager Library Telephone: (03) 9412 7001 Fax: (03) 9412 7011
At the Campbelltown Project (HLR 100%), a detailed review and reinterpretation of drill data and surface geology from the Bosuns Prospect has resulted in an upgrade of the inferred resource estimate to 38,000 oz gold @ 1.4 g/t. While potential exists to increase the resource with further drilling, this has been deferred in favour of continued work at Maryborough.
Brian Wright Manager GIS & Client Services Telephone: (03) 9412 7001 Fax: (03) 9412 7911
Exploration activity at the other projects has progressed, in most cases, from preliminary data review and soil geochemistry to gridding and trenching. In some cases, limited drilling has been undertaken, but the focus is increasingly narrowed to Maryborough where the first cash flows are most likely.
Chandri Corray Manager Marketing Development Telephone: (03 9637 8532 Fax: (03) 9637 8118
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ken Gardner, formerly manager, Minerals & Petroleum Operations with MPV, has been appointed as director, Office of Gas Safety. In his new post, he will be responsible for safety regulation in the distribution and retail sectors of the Victorian gas industry. Rob King has been appointed acting manager, Minerals & Petroleum Operations while David Wallish takes on the post as acting manager, Minerals and Petroleum Titles.
Bruce Bell (Managing Director) Highlake Resources NL Telephone (03)9530 2400
4
The outlook is positive
T
he last several months has seen a cloud of negative sentiment surrounding the mining sector, particularly gold.
Much of this sentiment stemmed from the way in which the announcement of the Australian Reserve Bank’s sell down of it’s gold reserves was handled. Despite the fact that the fall was cushioned by adjustment in the exchange rate and that more recently the price has recovered to levels similar to those before the Reserve Bank’s announcement, negative sentiment persists. Given this government’s commitment to the resurrection of the mining industry through a combination of legislative and administrative reform and investment in regional geological information, how is the investment climate looking today? The answer is simply that the outlook remains very positive. More recently, there have been a number of positive events which signal that the resurrection of Victoria’s mining industry is still very much on track. These events include: • Minerals exploration expenditure in Victoria is still strong and growing. June 1997 quarter expenditure was $13.7 million, well up on the March quarter. 1996/97 expenditure of $52.3 million is the highest ever recorded for a 12-month period in Victoria. • Rebound in gold price - at the time of writing, the gold price is around A$450, which is well above its lows following the RBA sell-off and about the same as the price (in A$) early in the year. It is around 10-15 % below 1996 prices (in A$). While this price fall is not welcome or helpful to the industry, it is not large by comparison with the fluctuations seen in many other commodity prices. • Bendigo Mining NL has raised $35 million to explore the ‘New Bendigo’ goldfields underlying and surrounding Victoria’s largest goldfield. This is a great show of confidence by the market in the company, the goldfield and Victoria.
• Perseverance (Fosterville) has identified gold resources of over million ounces and is progressing plans for a major upgrade of its operations. • A number of other gold exploration/ development projects are progressing well Ballarat Goldfields (Ballarat), Alliance (Maldon), Reef Mining (Tarnagulla), Mount Wellington (New Holland & Mount Wellington Gold) • Development of the Maryvale coalfield has been announced by Yallourn Energy. This $200 million project will provide coal for power generation for 25 years. This is a show of confidence by the electricity generation industry in Victoria as a competitive source of electricity for southeastern Australia. • Minerals sands developments in the Mallee continue. RZM is nearing completion of its EES for the Wemen project. RGC has been granted exploration licences over a very wide area, with commitments to spend $8.6 million over the next two years. In particular, Victoria’s goldfields hold great potential for further development. They have been incredibly productive and are undoubtedly under-explored by modern methods. Furthermore, the high-grade character of Victoria’s gold deposits, allied with low operating costs (due to excellent infrastructure), gives underground mining developments in Victoria a better basis than most for weathering gold price fluctuations.
Patrick McNamara Deputy Premier Minister for Agriculture and Resources
The resurrection of the mining industry remains very much on track.
“The resurrection of Victoria’s mining industry is still very much on track” 5
FROM THE TOP DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT MINERALS AND PETROLEUM CONTACT LIST: CENTRAL MARYBOROUGH REEF CORRIDOR EXPLORATION MODEL
BUSINESS ADDRESS: 115 VICTORIA PDE, FITZROY, VIC 3065 E
POSTAL ADDRESS: PO BOX 2145, MDC FITZROY, VIC 3065 SWITCHBOARD: (03) 9412 7000 FAX: (03) 9412 7988
MINERALS BUSINESS CENTRE: Fax: (03) 9412 7442 Kim Ricketts Client Services Officer Telephone: (03) 9412 7377 MINERALS DEVELOPMENT: Fax: (03) 9637 8118 Phil Roberts Manager Minerals Development Telephone: (03) 9637 8529 Graham Gooding Regional Manager Ballarat Telephone: (03) 53 336 521 Guy Hamilton Regional Manager Bendigo Telephone: (054) 304531 EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES: George Buckland Manager Extractive Industries Telephone: (03) 9637 8541 TITLES: Fax: (03) 9412 5600 David Wallish Acting Manager Minerals and Petroleum Titles Telephone: (03) 9412 7996 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY VICTORIA: Fax: (03) 9412 7803 Tom Dickson Manager Geological Survey Victoria Telephone: (03) 9412 7801 Alan Willocks Manager Geophysical Surveys Telephone: (03) 9412 7862 Peter O’Shea Manager Geological Mapping Telephone: (03) 9412 7871 Jim Kinder Manager Geological Draughting Telephone: (03) 9412 7855
Roger Buckley Manager Mineral Resources Telephone: (03) 9412 7935
LONG GULLY PROSPECT
Alluvial gold deposit
Bob Dalgarno VIMP Co-ordinator Telephone: (03) 9412 5683
TELECOM RIDGE PROSPECT
Alluvial gold deposit
Zone of old reef gold workings
PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT: Fax: (03) 9412 5655
Zone of old reef gold workings LT
David Lea Executive Director Minerals and Petroleum Telephone: (03) 9637 8535
WELLS TRACK PROSPECT
Bulk, low grade gold mineralisation
Kathy Hill Manager Petroleum Development Telephone: (03) 9412 5639
FAU
MINERALS AND PETROLEUM DIVISION: Fax: (03) 9412 7834
W
High grade narrow vein gold deposits 0
100m
The prospect remains open at depth and laterally to the west, with potential also for mineralisation along undrilled parallel structures.
Reza Malek Manager Petroleum Resources Telephone: (03) 9412 7281
A gold-in-soil geochemistry response over Long Gully was very anomalous, with several samples returning assays over 1,000ppb.
Mike Woollands Manager Basin Studies Telephone: (03) 9412 7840
Close and parallel to the west is the Wells Track prospect, a zone of persistent gold-in soil anomaly measuring 1.1km long by 100m wide.
Maher Megallaa Manager Acreage Release Telephone: (03) 9412 5648
OTHER PROJECTS: Other preliminary resources within 30 km of Maryborough are at the Harvest and Bosuns prospects.
Bob Harms Manager Petroleum Information Telephone: (03) 9412 5649
The Harvest prospect, within the Dunolly-Moliagul Project (HLR 100%), has a preliminary resource of 60,000oz gold @ 2.5 g/t, calculated from over 8,000 metres of RC drilling.
Geoff Collins Manager Petroleum Projects Telephone: (03) 9637 8531
Harvest is located northeast of Dunolly township and centred on a 3km long trend of historic reef gold workings. The workings are focussed on irregular quartz veins hosted in folded and faulted sediments.
OPERATIONS: Fax: (03) 9412 7888
Highlake has also completed an aerial multi-spectral imaging survey over the Dunolly-Moliagul project.
Rob King Acting Manager Minerals and Petroleum Operations Telephone: (03) 9412 7860
The survey has outlined extensions to known mineralisation and prospective mineralised zones outside of the known gold targets within the area.
INFORMATION: Janne Bonnett A/g Manager Library Telephone: (03) 9412 7001 Fax: (03) 9412 7011
At the Campbelltown Project (HLR 100%), a detailed review and reinterpretation of drill data and surface geology from the Bosuns Prospect has resulted in an upgrade of the inferred resource estimate to 38,000 oz gold @ 1.4 g/t. While potential exists to increase the resource with further drilling, this has been deferred in favour of continued work at Maryborough.
Brian Wright Manager GIS & Client Services Telephone: (03) 9412 7001 Fax: (03) 9412 7911
Exploration activity at the other projects has progressed, in most cases, from preliminary data review and soil geochemistry to gridding and trenching. In some cases, limited drilling has been undertaken, but the focus is increasingly narrowed to Maryborough where the first cash flows are most likely.
Chandri Corray Manager Marketing Development Telephone: (03 9637 8532 Fax: (03) 9637 8118
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ken Gardner, formerly manager, Minerals & Petroleum Operations with MPV, has been appointed as director, Office of Gas Safety. In his new post, he will be responsible for safety regulation in the distribution and retail sectors of the Victorian gas industry. Rob King has been appointed acting manager, Minerals & Petroleum Operations while David Wallish takes on the post as acting manager, Minerals and Petroleum Titles.
Bruce Bell (Managing Director) Highlake Resources NL Telephone (03)9530 2400
4
The outlook is positive
T
he last several months has seen a cloud of negative sentiment surrounding the mining sector, particularly gold.
Much of this sentiment stemmed from the way in which the announcement of the Australian Reserve Bank’s sell down of it’s gold reserves was handled. Despite the fact that the fall was cushioned by adjustment in the exchange rate and that more recently the price has recovered to levels similar to those before the Reserve Bank’s announcement, negative sentiment persists. Given this government’s commitment to the resurrection of the mining industry through a combination of legislative and administrative reform and investment in regional geological information, how is the investment climate looking today? The answer is simply that the outlook remains very positive. More recently, there have been a number of positive events which signal that the resurrection of Victoria’s mining industry is still very much on track. These events include: • Minerals exploration expenditure in Victoria is still strong and growing. June 1997 quarter expenditure was $13.7 million, well up on the March quarter. 1996/97 expenditure of $52.3 million is the highest ever recorded for a 12-month period in Victoria. • Rebound in gold price - at the time of writing, the gold price is around A$450, which is well above its lows following the RBA sell-off and about the same as the price (in A$) early in the year. It is around 10-15 % below 1996 prices (in A$). While this price fall is not welcome or helpful to the industry, it is not large by comparison with the fluctuations seen in many other commodity prices. • Bendigo Mining NL has raised $35 million to explore the ‘New Bendigo’ goldfields underlying and surrounding Victoria’s largest goldfield. This is a great show of confidence by the market in the company, the goldfield and Victoria.
• Perseverance (Fosterville) has identified gold resources of over million ounces and is progressing plans for a major upgrade of its operations. • A number of other gold exploration/ development projects are progressing well Ballarat Goldfields (Ballarat), Alliance (Maldon), Reef Mining (Tarnagulla), Mount Wellington (New Holland & Mount Wellington Gold) • Development of the Maryvale coalfield has been announced by Yallourn Energy. This $200 million project will provide coal for power generation for 25 years. This is a show of confidence by the electricity generation industry in Victoria as a competitive source of electricity for southeastern Australia. • Minerals sands developments in the Mallee continue. RZM is nearing completion of its EES for the Wemen project. RGC has been granted exploration licences over a very wide area, with commitments to spend $8.6 million over the next two years. In particular, Victoria’s goldfields hold great potential for further development. They have been incredibly productive and are undoubtedly under-explored by modern methods. Furthermore, the high-grade character of Victoria’s gold deposits, allied with low operating costs (due to excellent infrastructure), gives underground mining developments in Victoria a better basis than most for weathering gold price fluctuations.
Patrick McNamara Deputy Premier Minister for Agriculture and Resources
The resurrection of the mining industry remains very much on track.
“The resurrection of Victoria’s mining industry is still very much on track” 5
REGULAR FEATURE
REGULAR FEATURE
Industry News MINEX SPENDING UP The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that Victorian mineral exploration spending for the June ’97 quarter jumped by 43% to $13.7 million. This means that total spending for 1996/97 was $52.3 m, a new record with the previous best being $51.9 m in calendar year 1996.
The company said in its annual report that 4,242 ounces were recovered in the year with the best quarter being the first when 1,246 ounces were mined. The company said that a drop in recovered grades and rising operating costs at Amphitheatre affected performance. The Mountain Hut project was similarly affected, but by different causes.
The quarterly increase was in keeping with the national trend which saw growth in all other states.
The company’s report said that a hard zone of rock below the topsoil at the Mountain Hut mine had reduced the advantages of the truckless mining operation.
BENDIGO MINING TO RAISE $35 M
A major review of operations at Mountain Hut has since seen the company reduce activities to a single operation based on the trommel plant at the Amphitheatre mine.
Bendigo Mining NL has cleared the way for a $35 million capital raising to fund its underground gold mine development at the Bendigo goldfield. The company will issue new shares on the basis of five new shares for every two existing shares held with the rights to be issued at a price of 10 cents each. The issue is to be underwritten by Resource Finance Corporation with Bendigo chairman, Peter Phillip and managing director, Doug Buerger each agreeing to sub-underwrite the issue of 10 million and five million rights respectively. The issue will increase Bendigo Mining’s issued capital from 141 million shares to 495 million shares.
However, a gold price hedging program initiated by the company has stabilised the price received by Sedimentary Holdings to slightly above $A561 an ounce.
MARYBOROUGH MINING WEEK Exploration activity around Maryborough is forging ahead with a special exploration and mining week display in September held to provide the local community with more information about the various projects in the area. Bendigo could yield another 10 million ounces says Bendigo Mining Managing Director, Doug Buerger.
“The funds are earmarked for the construction of an underground decline to access part of the 10 million ounce resource potential of the New Bendigo goldfield,” Mr Buerger said. “It will be the first large scale underground exploration operation on the Bendigo field since 1954. “The (rights) issue is an important step forward in Bendigo Mining’s strategy to become a significant gold producer.”
AVOCA GOLD PROJECT LIFTS GOLD PRODUCTION Gold production from the Sedimentary Holdings Ltd project at Amphitheatre, near Avoca, in Central Victoria, jumped 16.5 per cent in the 1996/97 financial year, but falling gold grades and rising costs have hampered the project. 6
Industry News The display was opened by Central Goldfields Shire mayor, Cr Brian O’Connor. Graham Gooding (DNRE regional manager for Ballarat), who co-ordinated the display, said it provided the opportunity for the public to meet the companies behind the resurgence in mining. The display drew attention to the increased exploration effort in the region and the use of new technology as well as the industry’s commitment to environmental protection and rehabilitation. Phil Roberts (Manager Minerals Development, DNRE) and John Reynolds (Executive Director of the Victorian Chamber of Mines) gave presentations during the week-long activities addressing the mayor and councillors about the Victorian Initiative for Minerals and Petroleum and the potential for new gold discoveries in the Maryborough area. Companies that took part included Highlake Resources, Sedimentary Holdings, Reef Mining, Alliance Mining, Kinex, Ground Developments, Tolarwood, the Prospectors and Miners Association of Victoria and the Australian Gold Panning Association.
MINING WEEK GROWING EACH YEAR The Victorian Chamber of Mines is expanding its highly successful Victorian Mining Week program to account for the rapidly growing interest in the resources in the state. Victorian Mining Week will run over 11 days from March 10 to March 21 next year and include a wide range of activities designed to broaden the community’s awareness of, and interest in, the industry which gave Victoria its economic start in life. A two-day conference to be held in Melbourne will explore many issues facing the local industry and present an accurate picture of where the industry currently stands. Interest in the Victorian mining industry is running at a level not seen for many generations as new exploration techniques and the potential for major precious and base discoveries becomes more apparent. The VCM mining week celebrations follow another Victorian mining conference, sponsored by stockbroker, JB Were and Son in early November, at which a wide range of Victorian resources industry investment options will be canvassed.
CONTRACTOR NAMED FOR FOSTERVILLE BACTERIA PLANT Perseverance Corporation has appointed Western Australian-based Signet Engineering Pty Ltd to design and construct Victoria’s first ever bacteria oxidation plant to be used to process sulphide gold ore from the company’s Fosterville gold project. Signet is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fluor Daniel Pty Ltd and has extensive experience in the design and construction of conventional gold plants and importantly, similar experience in bacterial oxidation plants, Perseverance managing director, John Kelly, said. The company carried out the design and construction of the Youanmi and Wiluna bacterial oxidation plants in Western Australia. Wiluna utilises BIOX technology, the same patented technology which will be used by Perseverance to treat its Fosterville ore. Mr Kelly said the design phase of the Fosterville plant would begin immediately with a planned construction time of 44 weeks envisaged for the building phase. This schedule would see the plant commissioned at the end of the first quarter of the 1999 financial year. He added that the design and construction of the treatment plant was a major step in the development of the Fosterville expansion to mine gold from sulphide material below the oxide ore.
OIL INDUSTRY CLEANS UP SHIPPING SPILL The Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre, based in Geelong, swung into action in August to clean up a large oil slick, found floating on the sea near Cape Otway. The slick, likely to have come from a ship, was attacked with dispersant chemicals applied from the air. AMOSC manager, Don Blackmore and the centre’s technical officer, Tom Budd, arranged for eight tonnes of oil slick dispersant to be delivered to Geelong Airport from the base facility where it was loaded into an agricultural spraying aircraft. The aircraft was specially mobilised from New South Wales for the task under a
contractual arrangement in which spraying aircraft are kept available at short notice. A total of 1.8 tonnes of chemical dispersant was sprayed over the oil slick just before dark, breaking up the slick. Investigations into the cause of the slick are continuing but investigators suspect an illegal discharge from a ship.
MPI JOINS MALDON GOLD SEARCH The privately owned gold and nickel company, Mining Project Investors Ltd, operator of Victoria’s largest gold mine at Stawell, has farmed into exploration of the Maldon gold field in a deal worth a total of $5 million. In partnership with the American mining company, Pittston Minerals, MPI can earn up to a 70 per cent interest in the Maldon field, currently operated by Alliance Gold Mines. MPI also has a partnership in Western Australia with the Finland based Outukumpu Oy at the high grade Silver Swan nickel mine near Kalgoorlie. Under the agreement with Alliance MPIPittston can earn up to 70 per cent of the Maldon tenements by spending $5 million over the next three years. 7
Bacteria leaching of sulphide ore at Fosterville will boost Victorian gold production.
Initially, the joint venture will fund a 5,000 metre diamond drilling program after which the MPI-Pittston team can elect to either proceed with the work or withdraw, leaving Alliance in control. MPI-Pittston can earn a 40 per cent equity share in the tenements after spending the first $2.5 million and may earn the final 30 per cent by spending the final $2.5 million under the joint venture agreement. The deal includes an option to acquire the existing gold treatment plant at Maldon from Alliance for another $5 million although Alliance retains the plant in the interim. The plant will be used to process any available underground or surface ore from its own tenements or as a toll processor for other mining companies. Alliance managing director, Garry Salter, said the joint venture left Alliance free to pursue its exploration objectives at the Clunes goldfield near Ballarat where the company hopes to delineate major new gold reserves left by earlier mining efforts.
REGULAR FEATURE
REGULAR FEATURE
Industry News MINEX SPENDING UP The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that Victorian mineral exploration spending for the June ’97 quarter jumped by 43% to $13.7 million. This means that total spending for 1996/97 was $52.3 m, a new record with the previous best being $51.9 m in calendar year 1996.
The company said in its annual report that 4,242 ounces were recovered in the year with the best quarter being the first when 1,246 ounces were mined. The company said that a drop in recovered grades and rising operating costs at Amphitheatre affected performance. The Mountain Hut project was similarly affected, but by different causes.
The quarterly increase was in keeping with the national trend which saw growth in all other states.
The company’s report said that a hard zone of rock below the topsoil at the Mountain Hut mine had reduced the advantages of the truckless mining operation.
BENDIGO MINING TO RAISE $35 M
A major review of operations at Mountain Hut has since seen the company reduce activities to a single operation based on the trommel plant at the Amphitheatre mine.
Bendigo Mining NL has cleared the way for a $35 million capital raising to fund its underground gold mine development at the Bendigo goldfield. The company will issue new shares on the basis of five new shares for every two existing shares held with the rights to be issued at a price of 10 cents each. The issue is to be underwritten by Resource Finance Corporation with Bendigo chairman, Peter Phillip and managing director, Doug Buerger each agreeing to sub-underwrite the issue of 10 million and five million rights respectively. The issue will increase Bendigo Mining’s issued capital from 141 million shares to 495 million shares.
However, a gold price hedging program initiated by the company has stabilised the price received by Sedimentary Holdings to slightly above $A561 an ounce.
MARYBOROUGH MINING WEEK Exploration activity around Maryborough is forging ahead with a special exploration and mining week display in September held to provide the local community with more information about the various projects in the area. Bendigo could yield another 10 million ounces says Bendigo Mining Managing Director, Doug Buerger.
“The funds are earmarked for the construction of an underground decline to access part of the 10 million ounce resource potential of the New Bendigo goldfield,” Mr Buerger said. “It will be the first large scale underground exploration operation on the Bendigo field since 1954. “The (rights) issue is an important step forward in Bendigo Mining’s strategy to become a significant gold producer.”
AVOCA GOLD PROJECT LIFTS GOLD PRODUCTION Gold production from the Sedimentary Holdings Ltd project at Amphitheatre, near Avoca, in Central Victoria, jumped 16.5 per cent in the 1996/97 financial year, but falling gold grades and rising costs have hampered the project. 6
Industry News The display was opened by Central Goldfields Shire mayor, Cr Brian O’Connor. Graham Gooding (DNRE regional manager for Ballarat), who co-ordinated the display, said it provided the opportunity for the public to meet the companies behind the resurgence in mining. The display drew attention to the increased exploration effort in the region and the use of new technology as well as the industry’s commitment to environmental protection and rehabilitation. Phil Roberts (Manager Minerals Development, DNRE) and John Reynolds (Executive Director of the Victorian Chamber of Mines) gave presentations during the week-long activities addressing the mayor and councillors about the Victorian Initiative for Minerals and Petroleum and the potential for new gold discoveries in the Maryborough area. Companies that took part included Highlake Resources, Sedimentary Holdings, Reef Mining, Alliance Mining, Kinex, Ground Developments, Tolarwood, the Prospectors and Miners Association of Victoria and the Australian Gold Panning Association.
MINING WEEK GROWING EACH YEAR The Victorian Chamber of Mines is expanding its highly successful Victorian Mining Week program to account for the rapidly growing interest in the resources in the state. Victorian Mining Week will run over 11 days from March 10 to March 21 next year and include a wide range of activities designed to broaden the community’s awareness of, and interest in, the industry which gave Victoria its economic start in life. A two-day conference to be held in Melbourne will explore many issues facing the local industry and present an accurate picture of where the industry currently stands. Interest in the Victorian mining industry is running at a level not seen for many generations as new exploration techniques and the potential for major precious and base discoveries becomes more apparent. The VCM mining week celebrations follow another Victorian mining conference, sponsored by stockbroker, JB Were and Son in early November, at which a wide range of Victorian resources industry investment options will be canvassed.
CONTRACTOR NAMED FOR FOSTERVILLE BACTERIA PLANT Perseverance Corporation has appointed Western Australian-based Signet Engineering Pty Ltd to design and construct Victoria’s first ever bacteria oxidation plant to be used to process sulphide gold ore from the company’s Fosterville gold project. Signet is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fluor Daniel Pty Ltd and has extensive experience in the design and construction of conventional gold plants and importantly, similar experience in bacterial oxidation plants, Perseverance managing director, John Kelly, said. The company carried out the design and construction of the Youanmi and Wiluna bacterial oxidation plants in Western Australia. Wiluna utilises BIOX technology, the same patented technology which will be used by Perseverance to treat its Fosterville ore. Mr Kelly said the design phase of the Fosterville plant would begin immediately with a planned construction time of 44 weeks envisaged for the building phase. This schedule would see the plant commissioned at the end of the first quarter of the 1999 financial year. He added that the design and construction of the treatment plant was a major step in the development of the Fosterville expansion to mine gold from sulphide material below the oxide ore.
OIL INDUSTRY CLEANS UP SHIPPING SPILL The Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre, based in Geelong, swung into action in August to clean up a large oil slick, found floating on the sea near Cape Otway. The slick, likely to have come from a ship, was attacked with dispersant chemicals applied from the air. AMOSC manager, Don Blackmore and the centre’s technical officer, Tom Budd, arranged for eight tonnes of oil slick dispersant to be delivered to Geelong Airport from the base facility where it was loaded into an agricultural spraying aircraft. The aircraft was specially mobilised from New South Wales for the task under a
contractual arrangement in which spraying aircraft are kept available at short notice. A total of 1.8 tonnes of chemical dispersant was sprayed over the oil slick just before dark, breaking up the slick. Investigations into the cause of the slick are continuing but investigators suspect an illegal discharge from a ship.
MPI JOINS MALDON GOLD SEARCH The privately owned gold and nickel company, Mining Project Investors Ltd, operator of Victoria’s largest gold mine at Stawell, has farmed into exploration of the Maldon gold field in a deal worth a total of $5 million. In partnership with the American mining company, Pittston Minerals, MPI can earn up to a 70 per cent interest in the Maldon field, currently operated by Alliance Gold Mines. MPI also has a partnership in Western Australia with the Finland based Outukumpu Oy at the high grade Silver Swan nickel mine near Kalgoorlie. Under the agreement with Alliance MPIPittston can earn up to 70 per cent of the Maldon tenements by spending $5 million over the next three years. 7
Bacteria leaching of sulphide ore at Fosterville will boost Victorian gold production.
Initially, the joint venture will fund a 5,000 metre diamond drilling program after which the MPI-Pittston team can elect to either proceed with the work or withdraw, leaving Alliance in control. MPI-Pittston can earn a 40 per cent equity share in the tenements after spending the first $2.5 million and may earn the final 30 per cent by spending the final $2.5 million under the joint venture agreement. The deal includes an option to acquire the existing gold treatment plant at Maldon from Alliance for another $5 million although Alliance retains the plant in the interim. The plant will be used to process any available underground or surface ore from its own tenements or as a toll processor for other mining companies. Alliance managing director, Garry Salter, said the joint venture left Alliance free to pursue its exploration objectives at the Clunes goldfield near Ballarat where the company hopes to delineate major new gold reserves left by earlier mining efforts.
SPECIAL FEATURE
TOP SHOWS IN THE HIGH COUNTRY
I
nformation generated by the $18.5 million Victorian Initiative for Minerals and Petroleum (VIMP) has greatly assisted explorers and boosted exploration expenditure.
Mt Wellington area and likened the rocks to the famous volcanic regions on Tasmania’s wild west coast. That formation has produced famous mines such as the Hellyer lead and zinc mine, the Mt Lyell copper mine and the Que River multimetal project, all regarded as world class mineral deposits.
And now it has provided at least one junior exploration company with some of the most exciting exploration results seen in Victoria for many years.
The University of Tasmania’s senior lecturer in petrology, Tony Crawford, lecturer in geology Bruce Gemmel and lecturer in geophysics, John Bishop, have all keenly followed progress at the Mt Wellington tenements.
The results may well provide the basis for a substantial new gold and base metal project in Victoria’s rugged but beautiful eastern highlands. New Holland Mining NL has produced some stunning gold and base metal intersections from the early stages of its drilling program in the Mt Wellington area, 150 km north east of Melbourne. New technology, in the form of airborne magnetic surveys over the Mt Wellington area, gave New Holland the start it needed to find economic mineral deposits in Victoria. Drilling just before the onset of Winter, on one area named Hill 800 on the New Holland licences, returned gold grades of around 350 grams per tonne, equivalent to more than 11 ounces of gold per tonne of ore. The company is not yet prepared to declare a commercial discovery, but has recommended a $5 million exploration program to further test the area over the next two years. New Holland managing director, Alan Fraser, said it was the release of the VIMP data provided by the Victorian Government which gave his company the opportunity it had been seeking in Victoria. “I’d like to see the Victorian Government commended for the VIMP program,” Mr Fraser said. “ It’s proving to be of enormous benefit to us.” Sparked solely by what he saw in the data produced from the first airborne geophysical survey under the VIMP program, Fraser, and his chief geologist decided: “We’ve got to have that.” The area has proved to be as exciting as the aerial survey pictures indicated. To build on the data provided from the VIMP program, New Holland last summer conducted its own helicopter borne electromagnetic survey of specific target areas within its two Mt Wellington leases. These threw up another 40 high resolution
targets which the company is keen to survey and explore for minerals. But the area, which lies about 20 km east of Woods Point in Victoria’s wild eastern forest country, is difficult to access. The tenements range between 450 metres and 1100 metres in elevation and often are covered by deep snow for several months each year. Forestry tracks and roads have opened some access but the first road into the area was not built until 1959 and very few tracks remain open for long. “ I can’ t wait to get back in there,” Mr Fraser said when discussing the summer program now being finalised by the company and its joint venture partner, Greenchip Investments. New Holland owns 40 per cent of the Mt Wellington tenements and operates the exploration program while Greenchip owns the remaining 60 per cent of the equity in the exploration acreage. “ The area is wild country covered in ferns and leeches and is very hard to get around in. Basically the area is unexplored, ” Mr Fraser said. Between February and June this year New Holland spent $500,000 on drilling and survey work on four areas named Hill 800, Long Ridge, Prickle Spur and Mike’ s Bluff. In a 700 metre diamond drilling program, potentially commercial intersections of gold and copper were identified in an area containing the prospective Barkly River greenstone belt, a suite of Cambrian age volcanic rocks. The greenstone rocks in the Volcanic Hosted Massive Sulphides (VHMS) have also interested three consulting experts from the University of Tasmania who have studied the
9
The VIMP survey which sparked New Holland’s interest in the Mt Wellington area covers the old Woods Point and Walhalla goldfields and the unexplored area to the east. The survey produced under the VIMP program indicated three structures which appear to be different to the type of structures worked previously for gold. New Holland’s licences are marked by areas of high magnetic signatures with potassium levels which indicate the presence of volcanic rocks subsequently altered by hydrothermal activity. This is a standard indicator of a large epithermal system, common along the Pacific Rim and frequently containing large gold and copper deposits. Mr Fraser said recent work on the Long Ridge prospect area had returned exciting gold grades from drilling. The target was almost abandoned after initial work several years ago produced only anomalous gold grades. But further geological investigation revealed that the area tested was a weathered zone of a volcanic formation.
Above: New Holland directors (L-R) Alan Fraser, Rex Wilson and Stuart McGregor at the company’s exploration camp at Wren’s Flat near Mt Wellington. Top left: Gossanous float rock from Long Ridge grading 348 g/t in the fresh core. Left: Outcropping gossan at Hill 800 showed no previous exploration or mining when inspected by Alan Fraser. Far left: Diamond drilling on Hill 800 provided tremendous excitement.
SPECIAL FEATURE
TOP SHOWS IN THE HIGH COUNTRY
I
nformation generated by the $18.5 million Victorian Initiative for Minerals and Petroleum (VIMP) has greatly assisted explorers and boosted exploration expenditure.
Mt Wellington area and likened the rocks to the famous volcanic regions on Tasmania’s wild west coast. That formation has produced famous mines such as the Hellyer lead and zinc mine, the Mt Lyell copper mine and the Que River multimetal project, all regarded as world class mineral deposits.
And now it has provided at least one junior exploration company with some of the most exciting exploration results seen in Victoria for many years.
The University of Tasmania’s senior lecturer in petrology, Tony Crawford, lecturer in geology Bruce Gemmel and lecturer in geophysics, John Bishop, have all keenly followed progress at the Mt Wellington tenements.
The results may well provide the basis for a substantial new gold and base metal project in Victoria’s rugged but beautiful eastern highlands. New Holland Mining NL has produced some stunning gold and base metal intersections from the early stages of its drilling program in the Mt Wellington area, 150 km north east of Melbourne. New technology, in the form of airborne magnetic surveys over the Mt Wellington area, gave New Holland the start it needed to find economic mineral deposits in Victoria. Drilling just before the onset of Winter, on one area named Hill 800 on the New Holland licences, returned gold grades of around 350 grams per tonne, equivalent to more than 11 ounces of gold per tonne of ore. The company is not yet prepared to declare a commercial discovery, but has recommended a $5 million exploration program to further test the area over the next two years. New Holland managing director, Alan Fraser, said it was the release of the VIMP data provided by the Victorian Government which gave his company the opportunity it had been seeking in Victoria. “I’d like to see the Victorian Government commended for the VIMP program,” Mr Fraser said. “ It’s proving to be of enormous benefit to us.” Sparked solely by what he saw in the data produced from the first airborne geophysical survey under the VIMP program, Fraser, and his chief geologist decided: “We’ve got to have that.” The area has proved to be as exciting as the aerial survey pictures indicated. To build on the data provided from the VIMP program, New Holland last summer conducted its own helicopter borne electromagnetic survey of specific target areas within its two Mt Wellington leases. These threw up another 40 high resolution
targets which the company is keen to survey and explore for minerals. But the area, which lies about 20 km east of Woods Point in Victoria’s wild eastern forest country, is difficult to access. The tenements range between 450 metres and 1100 metres in elevation and often are covered by deep snow for several months each year. Forestry tracks and roads have opened some access but the first road into the area was not built until 1959 and very few tracks remain open for long. “ I can’ t wait to get back in there,” Mr Fraser said when discussing the summer program now being finalised by the company and its joint venture partner, Greenchip Investments. New Holland owns 40 per cent of the Mt Wellington tenements and operates the exploration program while Greenchip owns the remaining 60 per cent of the equity in the exploration acreage. “ The area is wild country covered in ferns and leeches and is very hard to get around in. Basically the area is unexplored, ” Mr Fraser said. Between February and June this year New Holland spent $500,000 on drilling and survey work on four areas named Hill 800, Long Ridge, Prickle Spur and Mike’ s Bluff. In a 700 metre diamond drilling program, potentially commercial intersections of gold and copper were identified in an area containing the prospective Barkly River greenstone belt, a suite of Cambrian age volcanic rocks. The greenstone rocks in the Volcanic Hosted Massive Sulphides (VHMS) have also interested three consulting experts from the University of Tasmania who have studied the
9
The VIMP survey which sparked New Holland’s interest in the Mt Wellington area covers the old Woods Point and Walhalla goldfields and the unexplored area to the east. The survey produced under the VIMP program indicated three structures which appear to be different to the type of structures worked previously for gold. New Holland’s licences are marked by areas of high magnetic signatures with potassium levels which indicate the presence of volcanic rocks subsequently altered by hydrothermal activity. This is a standard indicator of a large epithermal system, common along the Pacific Rim and frequently containing large gold and copper deposits. Mr Fraser said recent work on the Long Ridge prospect area had returned exciting gold grades from drilling. The target was almost abandoned after initial work several years ago produced only anomalous gold grades. But further geological investigation revealed that the area tested was a weathered zone of a volcanic formation.
Above: New Holland directors (L-R) Alan Fraser, Rex Wilson and Stuart McGregor at the company’s exploration camp at Wren’s Flat near Mt Wellington. Top left: Gossanous float rock from Long Ridge grading 348 g/t in the fresh core. Left: Outcropping gossan at Hill 800 showed no previous exploration or mining when inspected by Alan Fraser. Far left: Diamond drilling on Hill 800 provided tremendous excitement.
LICENCE REVIEW
LICENCE REVIEW
Mineral Licences EXPLORATION LICENCES GRANTED JULY/SEPTEMBER, 1997
EXPLORATION LICENCES GRANTED JULY/SEPTEMBER, 1997 continued
TITLE NO.
STATUS
EVENT
MAP
PRIMARY OWNER
EVENT DATE
EXPIRY DATE
TITLE NO.
STATUS
EVENT
MAP
PRIMARY OWNER
EVENT DATE
EXPIRY DATE
EL4177/0 EL4028/0 EL4046/0 EL4152/0 EL4115/0 EL4112/0 EL4099/0 EL4151/0 EL4172/0 EL4147/0 EL4150/0 EL4039/0 EL4100/0 EL4184/0 EL4138/0 EL4062/0 EL4078/0 EL4134/0 EL4135/0 EL4136/0 EL4083/0 EL4140/0 EL4126/0 EL4071/0 EL4124/0 EL4070/0 EL4121/0 EL4068/0 EL4120/0 EL4061/0 EL4123/0 EL4125/0 EL4060/0 EL4127/0 EL4122/0 EL4067/0 EL4077/0 EL4131/0 EL4119/0 EL4133/0 EL4066/0 EL4059/0 EL4107/0 EL4079/0 EL4065/0 EL4082/0 EL4137/0 EL4063/0 EL4139/0 EL4084/0 EL4141/0 EL4144/0 EL4086/0 EL4145/0 EL4143/0 EL4058/0 EL4064/0 EL4085/0 EL4142/0 EL4117/0
CURRE CANAM CURRE CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CURRE CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CURRE
GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT
CRESWICK CRESWICK HEATHCOTE WEDDERBURN CORANGAMITE BENAMBRA TALLANGATTA TALLANGATTA HEATHCOTE BOGONG BOGONG TALLANGATTA TALLANGATTA DUNOLLY BIRCHIP NYAH SUNSET HOPETOUN DONALD DONALD WENTWORTH DONALD NHILL OUYEN WALLOWA OUYEN KANIVA HOPETOUN KANIVA NYAH KANIVA NHILL WEIMBY NHILL KANIVA HOPETOUN DANYO WARRACKNABEAL WALLOWA NHILL BIRCHIP ROBINVALE DONALD MILDURA BIRCHIP SUNSET DONALD TYRRELL DONALD LINDSAY TYRRELL DONALD BELLBIRD DONALD BIRCHIP ROBINVALE BIRCHIP LINDSAY TYRRELL COLERAINE
HIGHLAKE RESOURCES NL ALLIANCE GOLD MINES NL NEW HOLLAND MINING NL WEHLA GOLD NL PACIFIC AGRICULTURE LIMITED DENEHURST LTD NORTHERN COPPER PTY LTD NORTHERN COPPER PTY LTD MCLENNAN, BRUCE NORTHERN COPPER PTY LTD NORTHERN COPPER PTY LTD NORTHERN COPPER PTY LTD NORTHERN COPPER PTY LTD CENTRAL VICTORIAN GOLD NL RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD AUSTRALIAN GOLD DEVELOPMENT NL
2/7/97 2/7/97 9/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 30/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 15/8/97
2/7/99 3/9/97 9/7/99 22/7/97 22/7/99 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/99 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/99 22/7/97 30/7/99 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/99 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/99 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/99 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/99 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 15/8/99
EL4092/0 EL4056/0 EL4191/0 EL4192/0 EL4193/0 EL4194/0 EL4195/0 EL4190/0 EL4179/0 EL4035/0 EL3918/0 EL4169/0 EL4196/0 EL3468/0 EL4174/0 EL4017/0 EL4156/0 EL4157/0 EL4158/0 EL4154/0 EL4159/0 EL4155/0 EL4160/0 EL4023/0 EL4187/0 EL4189/0 EL4197/0 EL4188/0 EL4208/0 EL4211/0 EL4153/0 EL4072 EL4075 EL4081 EL4128 EL4132 EL4130 EL4129
CURRE CURRE CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM SURR CANAM CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CANAM CURRE CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM
GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT
CHARLTON SWAN HILL CHARLTON LALBERT LALBERT LALBERT NYAH LALBERT CRESWICK BEAUFORT EDENHOPE ST ARNAUD ARARAT BALLARAT COLERAINE BALLARAT KERANG CHARLTON NYAH NYAH KERANG NYAH KERANG CRESWICK MATLOCK MATLOCK ALEXANDRA MATLOCK ECHUCA COHUNA BENDIGO UNDERBOOL DANYO MILDURA ALBACUTYA WARRACKNABEAL NHILL ALBUCUTYA
WARREN JAY HOLDINGS P/L WARREN JAY HOLDINGS P/L BASIN MINERALS NL BASIN MINERALS NL BASIN MINERALS NL BASIN MINERALS NL BASIN MINERALS NL BASIN MINERALS NL ALLIANCE GOLD MINES NL KINEX P/L DELTA GOLD EXPLORATION PTY LTD GAWLER GOLD AND MINERAL EXPLORAT PS & GF FORWOOD PTY LTD FLITEGOLD P/L AUSTRALIAN GOLD DEVELOPMENT NL GOLDEN HILLS MINING NL RZM P/L RZM P/L RZM P/L RZM P/L RZM P/L RZM P/L RZM P/L JASON MINING NL ALCASTON MINING NL ALCASTON MINING NL RANGE RIVER GOLD NL ALCASTON MINING NL GOLDEN TRIANGLE RESOURCES NL WMC RESOURCES LTD BENDIGO MINING NL RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD
20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 3/9/97 3/9/97 3/9/97 3/9/97 11/9/97 11/9/97 11/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 22/9/97 22/9/97 22/9/97 22/9/97 22/9/97 24/9/97 24/9/97 24/9/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97
20/8/99 20/8/99 20/8/99 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 17/9/97 24/9/97 30/6/99 3/9/99 3/9/99 3/9/99 11/9/99 11/9/99 11/9/99 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/99 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 22/9/99 16/6/99 16/6/99 22/9/99 16/6/99 24/9/99 24/9/99 24/9/98 31/7/97 31/7/99 31/7/99 31/7/97 31/9/97 31/7/97 31/7/97
12
EXPLORATION LICENCES SURRENDERED, CANCELLED OR EXPIRED JULY/SEPTEMBER, 1997 TITLE NO.
STATUS
MAP
PRIMARY OWNER
EVENT DATE
EXPIRY DATE
EL3735/0 EL3920/0 EL3921/0 EL3815/0 EL3960/0 EL3519/2 EL3754/0 EL3147/4 EL3869/0 EL3784/0 EL4190/0 EL3804/1 EL3615/2
SURR SURR SURR SURR SURR SURR SURR EXPIR SURR EXPIR SURR EXPIR EXPIR
HEATHCOTE BALMORAL GRAMPIANS HORSHAM DUNOLLY BENDOC GRAMPIANS ARARAT ST ARNAUD ARARAT LALBERT BAIRNSDALE MATLOCK
NEW HOLLAND MINING NL RIO TINTO EXPLORATION PTY LTD RIO TINTO EXPLORATION PTY LTD RIO TINTO EXPLORATION PTY LTD TALAGER PTY LTD HIGHLAKE RESOURCES NL RIO TINTO EXPLORATION PTY LTD RIO TINTO EXPLORATION PTY LTD INTERNATIONAL MINERAL RESOURCES NL STAWELL GOLD MINES P/L BASIN MINERALS NL PACIFIC MINERALS P/L ECHIDNA MINING NL
8/07/97 8/07/97 8/07/97 8/07/97 11/07/97 28/07/97 12/08/97 22/08/97 28/08/97 30/08/97 17/09/97 17/09/97 19/09/97
8/07/97 8/07/97 8/07/97 8/07/97 11/07/97 28/07/97 12/08/97 13/12/96 28/08/97 30/08/97 17/09/97 21/02/97 19/09/97
ABBREVIATIONS: EXP - EXPIRED; CAN/AM - CANCELLED/AMALGAMATED; CAN - CANCELLED; SURR - SURRENDERED.
13
LICENCE REVIEW
LICENCE REVIEW
Mineral Licences EXPLORATION LICENCES GRANTED JULY/SEPTEMBER, 1997
EXPLORATION LICENCES GRANTED JULY/SEPTEMBER, 1997 continued
TITLE NO.
STATUS
EVENT
MAP
PRIMARY OWNER
EVENT DATE
EXPIRY DATE
TITLE NO.
STATUS
EVENT
MAP
PRIMARY OWNER
EVENT DATE
EXPIRY DATE
EL4177/0 EL4028/0 EL4046/0 EL4152/0 EL4115/0 EL4112/0 EL4099/0 EL4151/0 EL4172/0 EL4147/0 EL4150/0 EL4039/0 EL4100/0 EL4184/0 EL4138/0 EL4062/0 EL4078/0 EL4134/0 EL4135/0 EL4136/0 EL4083/0 EL4140/0 EL4126/0 EL4071/0 EL4124/0 EL4070/0 EL4121/0 EL4068/0 EL4120/0 EL4061/0 EL4123/0 EL4125/0 EL4060/0 EL4127/0 EL4122/0 EL4067/0 EL4077/0 EL4131/0 EL4119/0 EL4133/0 EL4066/0 EL4059/0 EL4107/0 EL4079/0 EL4065/0 EL4082/0 EL4137/0 EL4063/0 EL4139/0 EL4084/0 EL4141/0 EL4144/0 EL4086/0 EL4145/0 EL4143/0 EL4058/0 EL4064/0 EL4085/0 EL4142/0 EL4117/0
CURRE CANAM CURRE CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CURRE CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CURRE
GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT
CRESWICK CRESWICK HEATHCOTE WEDDERBURN CORANGAMITE BENAMBRA TALLANGATTA TALLANGATTA HEATHCOTE BOGONG BOGONG TALLANGATTA TALLANGATTA DUNOLLY BIRCHIP NYAH SUNSET HOPETOUN DONALD DONALD WENTWORTH DONALD NHILL OUYEN WALLOWA OUYEN KANIVA HOPETOUN KANIVA NYAH KANIVA NHILL WEIMBY NHILL KANIVA HOPETOUN DANYO WARRACKNABEAL WALLOWA NHILL BIRCHIP ROBINVALE DONALD MILDURA BIRCHIP SUNSET DONALD TYRRELL DONALD LINDSAY TYRRELL DONALD BELLBIRD DONALD BIRCHIP ROBINVALE BIRCHIP LINDSAY TYRRELL COLERAINE
HIGHLAKE RESOURCES NL ALLIANCE GOLD MINES NL NEW HOLLAND MINING NL WEHLA GOLD NL PACIFIC AGRICULTURE LIMITED DENEHURST LTD NORTHERN COPPER PTY LTD NORTHERN COPPER PTY LTD MCLENNAN, BRUCE NORTHERN COPPER PTY LTD NORTHERN COPPER PTY LTD NORTHERN COPPER PTY LTD NORTHERN COPPER PTY LTD CENTRAL VICTORIAN GOLD NL RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD AUSTRALIAN GOLD DEVELOPMENT NL
2/7/97 2/7/97 9/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 30/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 15/8/97
2/7/99 3/9/97 9/7/99 22/7/97 22/7/99 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/99 22/7/97 22/7/97 22/7/99 22/7/97 30/7/99 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/99 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/99 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/99 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/99 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 15/8/99
EL4092/0 EL4056/0 EL4191/0 EL4192/0 EL4193/0 EL4194/0 EL4195/0 EL4190/0 EL4179/0 EL4035/0 EL3918/0 EL4169/0 EL4196/0 EL3468/0 EL4174/0 EL4017/0 EL4156/0 EL4157/0 EL4158/0 EL4154/0 EL4159/0 EL4155/0 EL4160/0 EL4023/0 EL4187/0 EL4189/0 EL4197/0 EL4188/0 EL4208/0 EL4211/0 EL4153/0 EL4072 EL4075 EL4081 EL4128 EL4132 EL4130 EL4129
CURRE CURRE CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM SURR CANAM CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CURRE CANAM CURRE CURRE CANAM CANAM CANAM CANAM
GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT GRANT
CHARLTON SWAN HILL CHARLTON LALBERT LALBERT LALBERT NYAH LALBERT CRESWICK BEAUFORT EDENHOPE ST ARNAUD ARARAT BALLARAT COLERAINE BALLARAT KERANG CHARLTON NYAH NYAH KERANG NYAH KERANG CRESWICK MATLOCK MATLOCK ALEXANDRA MATLOCK ECHUCA COHUNA BENDIGO UNDERBOOL DANYO MILDURA ALBACUTYA WARRACKNABEAL NHILL ALBUCUTYA
WARREN JAY HOLDINGS P/L WARREN JAY HOLDINGS P/L BASIN MINERALS NL BASIN MINERALS NL BASIN MINERALS NL BASIN MINERALS NL BASIN MINERALS NL BASIN MINERALS NL ALLIANCE GOLD MINES NL KINEX P/L DELTA GOLD EXPLORATION PTY LTD GAWLER GOLD AND MINERAL EXPLORAT PS & GF FORWOOD PTY LTD FLITEGOLD P/L AUSTRALIAN GOLD DEVELOPMENT NL GOLDEN HILLS MINING NL RZM P/L RZM P/L RZM P/L RZM P/L RZM P/L RZM P/L RZM P/L JASON MINING NL ALCASTON MINING NL ALCASTON MINING NL RANGE RIVER GOLD NL ALCASTON MINING NL GOLDEN TRIANGLE RESOURCES NL WMC RESOURCES LTD BENDIGO MINING NL RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD RGC MINERAL SANDS LTD
20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 3/9/97 3/9/97 3/9/97 3/9/97 11/9/97 11/9/97 11/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 22/9/97 22/9/97 22/9/97 22/9/97 22/9/97 24/9/97 24/9/97 24/9/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97 31/7/97
20/8/99 20/8/99 20/8/99 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 20/8/97 17/9/97 24/9/97 30/6/99 3/9/99 3/9/99 3/9/99 11/9/99 11/9/99 11/9/99 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/99 12/9/97 12/9/97 12/9/97 22/9/99 16/6/99 16/6/99 22/9/99 16/6/99 24/9/99 24/9/99 24/9/98 31/7/97 31/7/99 31/7/99 31/7/97 31/9/97 31/7/97 31/7/97
12
EXPLORATION LICENCES SURRENDERED, CANCELLED OR EXPIRED JULY/SEPTEMBER, 1997 TITLE NO.
STATUS
MAP
PRIMARY OWNER
EVENT DATE
EXPIRY DATE
EL3735/0 EL3920/0 EL3921/0 EL3815/0 EL3960/0 EL3519/2 EL3754/0 EL3147/4 EL3869/0 EL3784/0 EL4190/0 EL3804/1 EL3615/2
SURR SURR SURR SURR SURR SURR SURR EXPIR SURR EXPIR SURR EXPIR EXPIR
HEATHCOTE BALMORAL GRAMPIANS HORSHAM DUNOLLY BENDOC GRAMPIANS ARARAT ST ARNAUD ARARAT LALBERT BAIRNSDALE MATLOCK
NEW HOLLAND MINING NL RIO TINTO EXPLORATION PTY LTD RIO TINTO EXPLORATION PTY LTD RIO TINTO EXPLORATION PTY LTD TALAGER PTY LTD HIGHLAKE RESOURCES NL RIO TINTO EXPLORATION PTY LTD RIO TINTO EXPLORATION PTY LTD INTERNATIONAL MINERAL RESOURCES NL STAWELL GOLD MINES P/L BASIN MINERALS NL PACIFIC MINERALS P/L ECHIDNA MINING NL
8/07/97 8/07/97 8/07/97 8/07/97 11/07/97 28/07/97 12/08/97 22/08/97 28/08/97 30/08/97 17/09/97 17/09/97 19/09/97
8/07/97 8/07/97 8/07/97 8/07/97 11/07/97 28/07/97 12/08/97 13/12/96 28/08/97 30/08/97 17/09/97 21/02/97 19/09/97
ABBREVIATIONS: EXP - EXPIRED; CAN/AM - CANCELLED/AMALGAMATED; CAN - CANCELLED; SURR - SURRENDERED.
13
VICTORIAN RESOURCES
VICTORIAN RESOURCES
Victoria’s mineral, oil and gas resources
MILDURA
Victorian RZM &
23
MAJOR PETROLEUM RESOURCES
MINERAL RESOURCES AND PROJECTS
Gas Fields
MAJOR MINES/DEVELOPMENTS
Oil Fields
Gold Non Metallic Minerals Brown Coal MAJOR EXPLORATION PROJECTS
SWAN HILL
23 General area of major exploration project
19
ECHUCA
11
SHEPPARTON
WANGARATTA
A
WEDDERBURN BENDIGO ST
HORSHAM
10
ARNAUD
DUNOLLY
22
Stawell
MARYBOROUGH AVOCA
25
5
Sedim entary
Osterfield
Ballarat
CASTLEMAINE
7 Duketon
SEYMOUR
MANSFIELD BRIGHT OMEO
21
28
27
26
JAMIESON
29
14 17
Mount
William
4 16
NAGAMBIE
Aust.
32
8 BALLARAT
30 18
Allia
12 3 2 9
ARARAT
HAMILTON
33
Perseverance
HEATHCOTE
STAWELL
6
BENALLA Persev
Ranger Bendigo
Reef RIO
31
24
WOODS
2 01 15
Kaolin
13
POINT BAIRNSDALE
ORBOST
WERRIBEE
Yallour Hazelw
Alc
PORTLAND
MORWELL
GEELONG
Loy
COLAC WARRNAMBOOL
0
40
80
IN BAS D N A PSL GIP
Kilometres
OTWAY BASIN 14
15
EXPLORATION PROJECTS NO
COMPANY
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
Alcaston Alliance Alliance Ballarat Cons Centaur Rio Tinto Crest - Goldminco Duketon Gold Golden Heritage Golden Triangle Golden Triangle Highlake Res Highlake Res - Brady Highlake Res - Brady Intrepid Metex Mt Wellington North - CRA exp Osprey Gold Osprey Gold Perseverance M P3search - Hume RGC Exp St Barbara - Golden H Sedimentary Vic Gold - Mines & Res Zephyr Min Continent - Range Gawler Gold Goldminco Goldminco Goldminco Goldminco
VICTORIAN RESOURCES
VICTORIAN RESOURCES
Victoria’s mineral, oil and gas resources
MILDURA
Victorian RZM &
23
MAJOR PETROLEUM RESOURCES
MINERAL RESOURCES AND PROJECTS
Gas Fields
MAJOR MINES/DEVELOPMENTS
Oil Fields
Gold Non Metallic Minerals Brown Coal MAJOR EXPLORATION PROJECTS
SWAN HILL
23 General area of major exploration project
19
ECHUCA
11
SHEPPARTON
WANGARATTA
A
WEDDERBURN BENDIGO ST
HORSHAM
10
ARNAUD
DUNOLLY
22
Stawell
MARYBOROUGH AVOCA
25
5
Sedim entary
Osterfield
Ballarat
CASTLEMAINE
7 Duketon
SEYMOUR
MANSFIELD BRIGHT OMEO
21
28
27
26
JAMIESON
29
14 17
Mount
William
4 16
NAGAMBIE
Aust.
32
8 BALLARAT
30 18
Allia
12 3 2 9
ARARAT
HAMILTON
33
Perseverance
HEATHCOTE
STAWELL
6
BENALLA Persev
Ranger Bendigo
Reef RIO
31
24
WOODS
2 01 15
Kaolin
13
POINT BAIRNSDALE
ORBOST
WERRIBEE
Yallour Hazelw
Alc
PORTLAND
MORWELL
GEELONG
Loy
COLAC WARRNAMBOOL
0
40
80
IN BAS D N A PSL GIP
Kilometres
OTWAY BASIN 14
15
EXPLORATION PROJECTS NO
COMPANY
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
Alcaston Alliance Alliance Ballarat Cons Centaur Rio Tinto Crest - Goldminco Duketon Gold Golden Heritage Golden Triangle Golden Triangle Highlake Res Highlake Res - Brady Highlake Res - Brady Intrepid Metex Mt Wellington North - CRA exp Osprey Gold Osprey Gold Perseverance M P3search - Hume RGC Exp St Barbara - Golden H Sedimentary Vic Gold - Mines & Res Zephyr Min Continent - Range Gawler Gold Goldminco Goldminco Goldminco Goldminco
SPECIAL FEATURE
Underground solutions for peak problems V
ictoria has vast reserves of gas in the Bass Strait fields which have met the bulk of the state’s needs for almost 30 years.
Western Victoria is also fortunate to contain smaller, but no less important, natural gas reserves in the onshore and offshore portions of the Otway Basin. So, when the Gas Transmission Corp announced it wanted to create an underground gas storage facility near Port Campbell, distant from the giant Bass Strait fields, some understandable confusion arose.
been selected for their location and their geological suitability.
utilised in other periods when demand is lower.
Several other aspects of the fields, such as their location on the opposite side of Victoria to the main gas infrastructure of the Bass Strait fields, made the Port Campbell fields good candidates for a gas storage facility.
An underground gas storage system would allow additional gas to be pumped into the gas distribution system during periods of peak demand, easing the pressure on the Bass Strait facilities and allowing more cost-effective development of Victoria’s overall gas supply network.
Late last year a full feasibility study, conducted by Canadian based Westcoast Energy Inc, found that an underground gas storage facility based on the Port Campbell
The GTC proposal is designed to reduce Victoria’s present reliance on a single gas pipeline from the Bass Strait fields. The pipeline from the Longford gas processing plant near Sale, in Gippsland, carries virtually the entire state’s gas requirements, leaving the bulk of Victoria’s population vulnerable to gas supply problems if the pipeline operations were ever interrupted or if demand exceeded the pipeline’s ability to meet the market’s needs. The Longford-to-Melbourne gas pipeline already operates at close to its capacity in times of peak demand. As a consequence, in early 1996, GTC, formed from the remnants of the old Gas and Fuel Corporation, began investigating the underground gas storage proposal in detail.
fields was economically viable.
Some early planning for a similar facility had been done in 1988.
Underground gas storage is beneficial on a number of grounds, principally because of its potential to reduce gas charges to consumers.
The proposal involves the use of natural underground gas reservoirs to act as a storage facility for gas brought in by pipeline.
The volume of gas used by Victoria varies dramatically from summer to winter and also between certain periods of the day.
The stored gas is then available for use in peak demand periods, such as when the Gippsland pipeline system is overloaded.
During the worst of Victoria’s cold winter snaps, the volume of gas used for home heating rises sharply creating a peak in demand.
This system of gas storage is commonly used overseas with hundreds of depleted gas fields now in use as storage reservoirs in the United States, Canada and Europe. Four gas reservoirs in the Port Campbell area are proposed for use in the storage facility. The Iona, Wallaby Creek, North Paaratte and Grumby gas fields, which currently supply natural gas to parts of western Victoria, have
To be sure of meeting these winter peaks, the gas production and transportation facilities, both offshore in Bass Strait and in the pipeline system to bring the gas to market, have to be large enough to carry the load. The extra cost of building gas facilities to cope with peak loads is passed on to consumers. But this means the entire system is under16
The same principle is applied to water supplies where water is stored in dams during winter when there is ample supply so it can be used in summer when demand is at its highest. Security of supply is another major factor in considering an underground storage facility. At present, during times of extreme gas demand, the GTC operates a 12,000 tonne liquefied natural gas storage facility at its works in Dandenong. The LNG facility is designed solely to ease the load on the pipeline from Longford during peak demand period but can only supply about 25 per cent of the state’s peak load requirement for three days. During these times, some of the state’s biggest gas consumers have agreements in place which allow their gas supply to be reduced to ensure Victoria’s households retain an adequate gas supply. An underground gas storage facility, such as that proposed at Port Campbell, could supply one third of Victoria’s peak demand for a period of two months, dramatically improving the state’s security of gas supply. At present gas supply to the western Victorian towns of Warrnambool, Hamilton, Portland and Cobden is provided from the Port Campbell fields through a pipeline network separate from the pipeline network which supplies and distributes gas from Bass Strait.
Above: Peak demand is presently boosted by using limited Liquefied Natural Gas stored at GTC’s Dandenong plant. Right: A new gas trunkline from Colac to Geelong will be required to link the underground gas storage facility with the main Victorian gas distribution system.
SPECIAL FEATURE
Underground solutions for peak problems V
ictoria has vast reserves of gas in the Bass Strait fields which have met the bulk of the state’s needs for almost 30 years.
Western Victoria is also fortunate to contain smaller, but no less important, natural gas reserves in the onshore and offshore portions of the Otway Basin. So, when the Gas Transmission Corp announced it wanted to create an underground gas storage facility near Port Campbell, distant from the giant Bass Strait fields, some understandable confusion arose.
been selected for their location and their geological suitability.
utilised in other periods when demand is lower.
Several other aspects of the fields, such as their location on the opposite side of Victoria to the main gas infrastructure of the Bass Strait fields, made the Port Campbell fields good candidates for a gas storage facility.
An underground gas storage system would allow additional gas to be pumped into the gas distribution system during periods of peak demand, easing the pressure on the Bass Strait facilities and allowing more cost-effective development of Victoria’s overall gas supply network.
Late last year a full feasibility study, conducted by Canadian based Westcoast Energy Inc, found that an underground gas storage facility based on the Port Campbell
The GTC proposal is designed to reduce Victoria’s present reliance on a single gas pipeline from the Bass Strait fields. The pipeline from the Longford gas processing plant near Sale, in Gippsland, carries virtually the entire state’s gas requirements, leaving the bulk of Victoria’s population vulnerable to gas supply problems if the pipeline operations were ever interrupted or if demand exceeded the pipeline’s ability to meet the market’s needs. The Longford-to-Melbourne gas pipeline already operates at close to its capacity in times of peak demand. As a consequence, in early 1996, GTC, formed from the remnants of the old Gas and Fuel Corporation, began investigating the underground gas storage proposal in detail.
fields was economically viable.
Some early planning for a similar facility had been done in 1988.
Underground gas storage is beneficial on a number of grounds, principally because of its potential to reduce gas charges to consumers.
The proposal involves the use of natural underground gas reservoirs to act as a storage facility for gas brought in by pipeline.
The volume of gas used by Victoria varies dramatically from summer to winter and also between certain periods of the day.
The stored gas is then available for use in peak demand periods, such as when the Gippsland pipeline system is overloaded.
During the worst of Victoria’s cold winter snaps, the volume of gas used for home heating rises sharply creating a peak in demand.
This system of gas storage is commonly used overseas with hundreds of depleted gas fields now in use as storage reservoirs in the United States, Canada and Europe. Four gas reservoirs in the Port Campbell area are proposed for use in the storage facility. The Iona, Wallaby Creek, North Paaratte and Grumby gas fields, which currently supply natural gas to parts of western Victoria, have
To be sure of meeting these winter peaks, the gas production and transportation facilities, both offshore in Bass Strait and in the pipeline system to bring the gas to market, have to be large enough to carry the load. The extra cost of building gas facilities to cope with peak loads is passed on to consumers. But this means the entire system is under16
The same principle is applied to water supplies where water is stored in dams during winter when there is ample supply so it can be used in summer when demand is at its highest. Security of supply is another major factor in considering an underground storage facility. At present, during times of extreme gas demand, the GTC operates a 12,000 tonne liquefied natural gas storage facility at its works in Dandenong. The LNG facility is designed solely to ease the load on the pipeline from Longford during peak demand period but can only supply about 25 per cent of the state’s peak load requirement for three days. During these times, some of the state’s biggest gas consumers have agreements in place which allow their gas supply to be reduced to ensure Victoria’s households retain an adequate gas supply. An underground gas storage facility, such as that proposed at Port Campbell, could supply one third of Victoria’s peak demand for a period of two months, dramatically improving the state’s security of gas supply. At present gas supply to the western Victorian towns of Warrnambool, Hamilton, Portland and Cobden is provided from the Port Campbell fields through a pipeline network separate from the pipeline network which supplies and distributes gas from Bass Strait.
Above: Peak demand is presently boosted by using limited Liquefied Natural Gas stored at GTC’s Dandenong plant. Right: A new gas trunkline from Colac to Geelong will be required to link the underground gas storage facility with the main Victorian gas distribution system.
SPECIAL FEATURE
SPECIAL FEATURE
Security of supply to consumers in western Victoria could be improved by new pipeline developments.
trapped underneath an impervious layer, usually fine grained shale.
Under the GTC proposal a new pipeline linking the western Victorian system with the main Bass Strait system would be built between Port Campbell and Geelong.
When natural gas reservoirs are tapped for modern uses, the water level beneath rises, maintaining pressure on the remaining gas, allowing almost the entire gas volume to be produced.
This would improve security of supply to all gas consumers by creating two sources of supply.
The sandstone formation is not affected by the removal of the gas or by its subsequent replacement.
Gas to be stored at the Port Campbell fields could be piped in from the Bass Strait fields during periods of low demand, such as in the summer months when the need for heating is low.
If gas is pumped back down into the reservoir, the water is forced downwards again, helping to maintain pressure on the gas and allowing the underground reservoir to be used over and over for gas storage and production purposes.
Water underneath the gas keeps the gas in place beneath the sealing layer overhead.
Gas may also be stored from other fields discovered recently in western Victoria, or from interstate once adequate pipelines are established under national gas industry deregulation proposals. A side benefit of the construction of a new gas pipeline link between Port Campbell and Geelong would be to provide the town of Colac with natural gas to replace the tempered natural gas now being provided. Other communities along the pipeline route could also be supplied.
SAFETY Underground gas storage is one of the safest forms of gas storage because it uses existing, natural gas reservoirs.
At the Port Campbell fields, the Waarre sandstone formation, which lies 1,000 metres below the surface, is an ideal structure for gas storage with a strong shale seal, known as the Belfast Formation, overlying the reservoir.
Gas is trapped beneath the surface of the ground in sandstone layers which are porous and contain tiny cavities between each grain.
The Port Campbell fields have displayed many favorable characteristics during their 15 years of production.
The gas, which is generated from decomposing organic matter under the sandstone layers, rises into the porous layers, until it becomes
The existing production wells are able to produce strong gas flow rates, which means the reservoir will release sufficient gas in large volumes when peak production is required. The reservoir is also at the ideal depth, providing favorable gas pressure to allow the gas to be easily and safely handled. Gas storage in depleted underground reservoirs is already commonly used in Australia.
gas compression & metering station gas field
gas field
gas field ground level
overlying rock formations
In the Cooper Basin areas of South Australia and Queensland, ethane and methane are stored in dozens of depleted fields and LPG is stored in the Barracouta field in Bass Strait. Planning is also underway for an underground storage facility in the Perth Basin near Perth. At the surface, a small gas processing plant is all that will be seen of the entire system.
Pipeline for gas going into and out of storage
Natural gas is processed to remove unwanted elements such as water before being injected into the reservoir. The gas volume is measured at metering stations, as it goes into the reservoir and again as it comes out.
Water bearing Sandstone
A final decision on the underground gas storage facility at Port Campbell is expected later this year.
Belfast Formation - Shale seal over gas bearing sandstone Waarre Formation - Gas bearing sandstone
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T: The Iona, Wallaby Creek, North Parratte and Grumby fields may all be used for gas storage. The location of the gas compression and metering station has not been determined.
18
Gas Transmission Corporation Toll Free Number 1800 244 639
New boost from ‘eye in the sky’
V
ictoria’s $18.5 million Initiative for Minerals and Petroleum has proved to be one of the most successful programs to stimulate mineral exploration activity in Victoria’s history.
Since the program started just over three years ago exploration in Victoria has grown fourfold and Victoria’s gold resource base has expanded dramatically. New discoveries have lifted Victoria’s known gold inventory from 2.4 million ounces in just 18 projects five years ago to 6.3 million ounces in 28 separate project areas. The number of exploration licences has increased dramatically, principally in areas in which VIMP data has been released, mostly in Eastern Victoria and the Murray Basin in the north west of the State. A total of 393 licences now cover 124,000 km2 or 63% of the available area of the State. The latest aerial surveys for the successful VIMP program allow explorers to strip away the trees and vegetation exposing the underlying minerals, providing a major boost to geologists’ efforts to locate new mineral resources.
Over the three years of the VIMP program more than 50 VIMP reports have been produced, together with nine Geological Survey reports. With the release of the Wangaratta and the Yea surveys from November 14, more than 70% of the state will have been covered by closespaced, state-of-the-art airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys. There will also be detailed gravity coverage for more than 40% of the state, new generation 1:50,000 scale geological maps for 30 percent of the more important outcrop areas of the state and fully operational GIS data sets for 20 percent of the State. In addition there have been important reviews of the petroleum potential for the Gippsland, Otway and Murray Basins. The geotechnical data released through the VIMP program has been extremely well received by the exploration industry and already some new finds have been wholly or partly attributed to the VIMP data. Renison Goldfields has used the Murray Basin aeromagnetic survey as a tool in the discovery
The 9th VIMP data release will be held at 2pm, Friday, November 14 at Minerals and Petroleum Victoria, 115 Victoria Pde, Fitzroy. Data will include surveys of the Yea 1:100,000 and Wangaratta 1:250,000 map areas, and seven new VIMP reports. Contact Bob Delgarno, VIMP Co-ordinator on (03) 9412 5683.
of heavy mineral sand deposits in the Ouyen area and New Holland Mining N.L. has used VIMP airborne surveys and geological mapping to locate new targets in the Mt Wellington district. (see story page 8) Exploration expenditure has increased fourfold during the three years of the VIMP program. A record $52.3 million was spent during 1996/97. The VIMP program was extended recently with the Victorian Government allocating another $2 million for 1997/8. Very clearly the VIMP concept is working well.
SPECIAL FEATURE
SPECIAL FEATURE
Security of supply to consumers in western Victoria could be improved by new pipeline developments.
trapped underneath an impervious layer, usually fine grained shale.
Under the GTC proposal a new pipeline linking the western Victorian system with the main Bass Strait system would be built between Port Campbell and Geelong.
When natural gas reservoirs are tapped for modern uses, the water level beneath rises, maintaining pressure on the remaining gas, allowing almost the entire gas volume to be produced.
This would improve security of supply to all gas consumers by creating two sources of supply.
The sandstone formation is not affected by the removal of the gas or by its subsequent replacement.
Gas to be stored at the Port Campbell fields could be piped in from the Bass Strait fields during periods of low demand, such as in the summer months when the need for heating is low.
If gas is pumped back down into the reservoir, the water is forced downwards again, helping to maintain pressure on the gas and allowing the underground reservoir to be used over and over for gas storage and production purposes.
Water underneath the gas keeps the gas in place beneath the sealing layer overhead.
Gas may also be stored from other fields discovered recently in western Victoria, or from interstate once adequate pipelines are established under national gas industry deregulation proposals. A side benefit of the construction of a new gas pipeline link between Port Campbell and Geelong would be to provide the town of Colac with natural gas to replace the tempered natural gas now being provided. Other communities along the pipeline route could also be supplied.
SAFETY Underground gas storage is one of the safest forms of gas storage because it uses existing, natural gas reservoirs.
At the Port Campbell fields, the Waarre sandstone formation, which lies 1,000 metres below the surface, is an ideal structure for gas storage with a strong shale seal, known as the Belfast Formation, overlying the reservoir.
Gas is trapped beneath the surface of the ground in sandstone layers which are porous and contain tiny cavities between each grain.
The Port Campbell fields have displayed many favorable characteristics during their 15 years of production.
The gas, which is generated from decomposing organic matter under the sandstone layers, rises into the porous layers, until it becomes
The existing production wells are able to produce strong gas flow rates, which means the reservoir will release sufficient gas in large volumes when peak production is required. The reservoir is also at the ideal depth, providing favorable gas pressure to allow the gas to be easily and safely handled. Gas storage in depleted underground reservoirs is already commonly used in Australia.
gas compression & metering station gas field
gas field
gas field ground level
overlying rock formations
In the Cooper Basin areas of South Australia and Queensland, ethane and methane are stored in dozens of depleted fields and LPG is stored in the Barracouta field in Bass Strait. Planning is also underway for an underground storage facility in the Perth Basin near Perth. At the surface, a small gas processing plant is all that will be seen of the entire system.
Pipeline for gas going into and out of storage
Natural gas is processed to remove unwanted elements such as water before being injected into the reservoir. The gas volume is measured at metering stations, as it goes into the reservoir and again as it comes out.
Water bearing Sandstone
A final decision on the underground gas storage facility at Port Campbell is expected later this year.
Belfast Formation - Shale seal over gas bearing sandstone Waarre Formation - Gas bearing sandstone
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T: The Iona, Wallaby Creek, North Parratte and Grumby fields may all be used for gas storage. The location of the gas compression and metering station has not been determined.
18
Gas Transmission Corporation Toll Free Number 1800 244 639
New boost from ‘eye in the sky’
V
ictoria’s $18.5 million Initiative for Minerals and Petroleum has proved to be one of the most successful programs to stimulate mineral exploration activity in Victoria’s history.
Since the program started just over three years ago exploration in Victoria has grown fourfold and Victoria’s gold resource base has expanded dramatically. New discoveries have lifted Victoria’s known gold inventory from 2.4 million ounces in just 18 projects five years ago to 6.3 million ounces in 28 separate project areas. The number of exploration licences has increased dramatically, principally in areas in which VIMP data has been released, mostly in Eastern Victoria and the Murray Basin in the north west of the State. A total of 393 licences now cover 124,000 km2 or 63% of the available area of the State. The latest aerial surveys for the successful VIMP program allow explorers to strip away the trees and vegetation exposing the underlying minerals, providing a major boost to geologists’ efforts to locate new mineral resources.
Over the three years of the VIMP program more than 50 VIMP reports have been produced, together with nine Geological Survey reports. With the release of the Wangaratta and the Yea surveys from November 14, more than 70% of the state will have been covered by closespaced, state-of-the-art airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys. There will also be detailed gravity coverage for more than 40% of the state, new generation 1:50,000 scale geological maps for 30 percent of the more important outcrop areas of the state and fully operational GIS data sets for 20 percent of the State. In addition there have been important reviews of the petroleum potential for the Gippsland, Otway and Murray Basins. The geotechnical data released through the VIMP program has been extremely well received by the exploration industry and already some new finds have been wholly or partly attributed to the VIMP data. Renison Goldfields has used the Murray Basin aeromagnetic survey as a tool in the discovery
The 9th VIMP data release will be held at 2pm, Friday, November 14 at Minerals and Petroleum Victoria, 115 Victoria Pde, Fitzroy. Data will include surveys of the Yea 1:100,000 and Wangaratta 1:250,000 map areas, and seven new VIMP reports. Contact Bob Delgarno, VIMP Co-ordinator on (03) 9412 5683.
of heavy mineral sand deposits in the Ouyen area and New Holland Mining N.L. has used VIMP airborne surveys and geological mapping to locate new targets in the Mt Wellington district. (see story page 8) Exploration expenditure has increased fourfold during the three years of the VIMP program. A record $52.3 million was spent during 1996/97. The VIMP program was extended recently with the Victorian Government allocating another $2 million for 1997/8. Very clearly the VIMP concept is working well.
VIMP NEWS
VIMP NEWS
Tom Dickson, Manager of the Geological Survey Victoria, reviews the data contained in the latest VIMP release. The survey work turned up some surprising results, including a number of large marijuana plantations in some of Victoria’s remote and inaccessible areas.
T
he latest VIMP data release includes material from most parts of Victoria and will give a further boost to Victorian exploration.
The latest data, the ninth release since the VIMP program was launched in 1994, will be on show from November 14. It includes the remaining package of airborne geophysical data from the Yea 1:100,000 and the Wangaratta 1:250,000 map sheet areas. The Yea survey and the southern half of Wangaratta were flown by helicopter for the Geological Survey Victoria by Geo Instruments Pty Ltd. The northern section of the Wangaratta sheet was flown by fixed-wing aircraft in conjunction with AGSO as part of the
National Geoscience mapping accord. Both areas are currently held under exemption and will be released for exploration licence application next February. The Wangaratta sheet covers the northern end of three major structural zones - the Omeo Zone in the north-east corner, the Tabberabbera Zone over the central portion of the map and the Melbourne Zone in the south-west. A large area of upper Devonian acid volcanics and the red-bed sediments of the Mansfield Basin occur in the south.
Rutherglen, Buckland River, Wandiligong, Freeburgh, Myrtleford and Yackandandah. Eighty-three tonnes of alluvial gold and 28 tonnes of primary reef gold have been won from the map sheet area. The detail in both the magnetic and radiometric images is superb and one area of major interest will be the much clearer definition of the Mt Wellington Greenstone Belt. There are even suggestions in the data of several additional fault splays with associated greenstones to the north of Dookie. The tremendous detail shown in the riverine plains along the Ovens, Goulburn and Murray Rivers will be of considerable interest to the agricultural community, as well as miners and sand, gravel and clay producers.
Major faults separate the zones and these are clearly visible on both the magnetic and radiometric images.
Gold production from the Yea area is limited, but the survey covers potentially very important areas along the western margin of the Melbourne Zone.
The Wangaratta Sheet covers important goldfield areas at Beechworth, Chiltern,
The structural and stratigraphic detail in the radiometric image is striking.
the WORLD is yours
You’ll find a world of information on Victorian mining, geology and petroleum in the Department of Natural Resources’ Minerals and Petroleum Library. Although focussed to serve members of the mining industry, the Library is open to the public from 8.30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
special collections include: • Expired tenement reports on microfiche (and hard copy) • 5000+ Geological Survey of Victoria Unpublished Reports • Departmental publications (old Mines Department records and reports dating from 1851) • Victorian published geological maps, both current and historical • Underground mine plans on microfiche • 1600+ B&W historical Victorian mining photographs • Field notebooks dating from 1864
other collections include: • Annual reports and prospectuses of mining companies • Australian and international mining and petroleum books, journals, conference proceedings and directories Library staff can assist with research and help clients search the various indexes such as the Victorian Mining Bibliography, Unpublished Report index, Mine Plan index, Field Notebook index and AESIS. Quiet study areas and microfiche readers are available. So too are photocopying and microfiche printing facilities.
The MPV Library is located on the 5th floor, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, 115 Victoria Parade, Melbourne. Phone: (03) 9412 7007. Fax: (03) 9412 7011. E-mail: [email protected]
20
Numerous folds can be clearly seen and, as the known gold mineralisation in the area occurs in shears associated with folding, this will be of major assistance to future exploration.
Report No. 52 - Test drilling on the southern margin of the Murray Basin.
A huge amount of additional data is to be released along with the airborne surveys.
The gravity data gives a much better look at the third dimension and will be invaluable to any explorer searching under shallow cover along the margins of the Murray Basin.
These include a geochemical data base for Wangaratta and a re-release of geochemistry for the Tallangatta and Bairnsdale quarter million sheets which now includes open file data from within the Benambra mine lease. Detailed gravity data for Ouyen, Swan Hill, Horsham, St Arnaud and part of the Melbourne quarter million sheets will also be provided. The data release will include geological mapping for the Craigie 1:100,000 map sheet in eastern Victoria and the Grampians special map area in the west.
VIMP Report 52 on the test drilling of selected magnetic features in the Horsham-Dimboola area also provides vital information on the basement rocks of this area.
There are also eight new VIMP reports.
The Grampians special map provides a comprehensive interpretation of what is a surprisingly complex geology for this part of western Victoria.
Report No. 45 - Mineral exploration history of the Heathcote-Nagambie 1:100,000 map area.
The ranges are piled up on a series of flat lying faults with the basal fault lying very close to the base of the sandstone ranges.
Report No. 46 - The Geology and prospectivity of the Wangaratta 1:250,000 map sheet area.
Packages are in MapInfo format and are available on CD ROM or exabyte tape.
Report No. 47 - Geological interpretation of geophysical features Bendoc 1:100,000 sheet.
This means that the highly prospective greenstone belts, which are identical in age, composition and alteration to the famous Mt Read volcanics of western Tasmania, lie at shallow depth below the sandstone cover.
Report No. 48 - Geological interpretation of geophysical features Cann, Mallacoota and Victorian part of Eden 1:100,000 sheets.
Areas where the sandstone cover is thin, as in the Black Range, will now become prime exploration areas.
Report No. 49 - Mineral exploration history of the Wangaratta 1:250,000 map area.
The geological map of the Craigie area presented several problems to geologist Carol Simpson. The area is largely inaccessible, with dense tree cover and mountainous terrain.
VIMP Report 45 summarises the information provided in company exploration reports for the Heathcote and Nagambie 1:100,000 map areas which cover twelve goldfields including Rushworth, Costerfield, White Hills, Heathcote, Nagambie and Bailieston.
Geological Survey Reports 111 (Craigie) and 107 (Grampians) accompany the geological maps.
Report No. 50 - An appraisal of airborne geophysical data from the Yea survey, Victoria.
Despite the difficulties however, she located Report No. 51 - The geology and “large bluffs, hundreds of metres long and up prospectivity of the Castlemaine, Woodend, to 50 metres high, consisting of Ordovician Yea and part of Bacchus Marsh 1:100,000 rocks with abundant cross-cutting quartz veins map sheets. in Tennyson and Sunday Creek and quartz stockworks with oxidised sulphides at Mt Canterbury WANGARATTA TOTAL MAGNETIC INTENSITY IMAGE and Wraxham”. A full GIS data base for the Wangaratta 1:250,000 map area will also be released in November. Themes include geology, mineral occurrences, geochemistry, magnetic, radiometric and digital terrain model images, current and expired EL’s, current ML’s, roads, towns, land access, national parks and map boundaries. 21
Above: Aerial surveys using helicopter borne remote sensing instruments have revolutionised exploration in Victoria.
A similar data set without the geochemistry is available for the Castlemaine, Woodend, Yea and Bacchus Marsh area.
Summaries are provided of work done by previous explorers, including geochemical sampling, with tabulations of methods and results and a list of all exploration drilling giving significant assay results. Currently operating mines are the Perseverance Corporation Ltd’s Fosterville, and Bailieston gold operations and Australian Gold Development NL’s gold antimony pit operation at Costerfield. Open pit gold mines at Nagambie Hill 158 and Heathcote were recently suspended, but there remains significant potential for gold and gold-antimony mineralisation in this region.
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
Tom Dickson Manager Geological Survey of Victoria Telephone (03) 9412 7801
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
ENVIRONMENT FEATURE
Valley gets new $200 M mine
Minesite rehabilitation success
Y
I
allourn Energy will spend $200 million developing a brown coal mine at Maryvale in the LaTrobe Valley, Victoria’s first new coal mine in almost two decades.
Yallourn Energy is one of three privatised electricity generators in Victoria which each operate major brown coal mines on the vast reserves in Victoria’s Gippsland region.
Being built to supply the Yallourn W power station, the Maryvale mine will form the company’s major coal supply, producing 18 million tonnes a year until 2030.
It produces 9,500 Gigawatts of electricity a year, about a quarter of Victoria’s total power requirement.
It will replace both Yallourn Energy’s East Field mine which has sufficient reserves to last until 2004 and the almost depleted Township Field mine. The mine development will require a substantial diversion of the Morwell River, with 3.9 km of the existing river bed and 2.2 km of the present diversion channel moved to create a new waterway 6.1 km long. The diversion is likely to be directed along the natural valley of the Morwell West drain. The river diversion option is preferred to an alternative plan to carry coal across the river as it makes an extra 40 per cent more coal available for mining. The diversion option along the natural west drain also provides a better opportunity to enhance the ecology of the river. The coal reserves under the existing river also contain the lowest moisture content coal which will dramatically lower CO2 emissions.
Below: The new Maryvale mine will use similar bucketwheel coal cutters to those already in use in the Latrobe Valley.
Development of the Maryvale mine represents one of the first major capital investments on new power infrastructure since the sale of Victoria’s electricity industry. The existing Yallourn brown coal mine produces 17 million tonnes a year for the power station, with another 1.5 million tonnes sold to Energy Brix for the production of dried brown coal briquettes and clears about 3 million cubic metres of overburden a year. Ed Wallis, chief executive of PowerGen PLC, one of the major shareholders in Yallourn Energy, said the Maryvale project was a major vote of confidence in the national electricity market. Speaking at the launch of the new mine project, Mr Wallis added: “Since the acquisition of Yallourn Energy in April 1996, we have completed a comprehensive mine plan and developed a mining concept and strategy to ensure the long-term viability of Yallourn Energy as the least cost generator of electricity in Victoria. “We are now at the stage of entering detailed design of the project.” He added that Yallourn Energy was dependent on coal from Maryvale field in order to continue generating.
The Minister for Agriculture and Resources, Pat McNamara, said the State Government welcomed the project and looked forward to “a very valuable contribution to the Victorian economy for many years to come.” Yallourn Energy is owned by the UK-based electricity utility company, PowerGen with 49.9 per cent, AMP 26 per cent, Itochu Corp 10.4 per cent, Axiom Funds management 8 per cent and Hastings Funds Management 5.7 per cent. The Maryvale mine will operate on similar lines to the existing brown coal mines in the LaTrobe valley using bucket wheel cutters to cut the coal from the massive seams which lie close to the surface. The coal will then be transported on conveyors from the mine to the power station. Planning design work for the new mine will take about two and a half years. The actual construction project will take another four years, with the first coal expected to be cut in 2004. Maryvale will then supply 70 per cent of Yallourn Energy’s total requirements until 2030. The construction process will include development of the coal conveying plant, relocation of fire protection systems, high voltage power supplies to drive the coal cutters, communication links and other services. The construction is expected to occupy 1,100 man years of work to complete. Operation of the Yallourn W power station based on brown coal has been highly successful, with the plant one of Victoria’s lowest cost power generators. Efforts to reduce dust emissions last year produced the lowest level recorded since measurements were first taken a decade ago.
International environmental and engineering firm, Geo-Eng, was contracted to restore the 33-hectare Moliagul site, spreading the work over two seasons. Geo-Eng senior environmental geologist, Mike Cecil, said the mining company which had worked the area had produced gold by excavating surface alluvial material to a depth of four to five metres in long strips across the site. The gold was extracted using a variety of gravity separation techniques and the resultant tailings deposited in three separate dams, adjacent to Burnt Creek. “When Geo-Eng arrived on site there were heaps of fist size gravel, piles of fine sand and tailings dams to be dealt with,” Mr Cecil said. “We started with large mined strips of land and three tailings dams in a heavily eroded
Aerial view of the site, looking south. This was taken in the early stages of the cleanup.
state and we finished with gentle undulations over the area which won’t be eroded. “One of the first tasks was to reinforce the wall of the tailings dam closest to the creek to prevent a collapse and resulting damage to the creek system. “ Ten years from now (once the vegetation has re-grown) prospectors in Moliagul’s iron bark forest may not even suspect that a shallow alluvial mine once operated there.” The work carried out by Geo-Eng first stabilised the wall of the tailings dams and covered the fine sediments inside with some of the mine site rubble. Topsoil was spread over the stabilised dams and deep ripped to allow water penetration to assist the regrowth of natural vegetation, while the undulations built into the reworked topography allow natural drainage without erosion.
“At the end of the first season we breached the various dams in such as way that we could control the drainage and keep water off them in the wet months. “This made the final rehabilitation during the second season a lot more straightforward, although the ground was still boggy in places. “Built in flexibility in the project design and a close working relationship with the subcontractors contributed significantly to the success of the project.” Using Geo-Eng computer facilities and the Mincom CAD geological system, accurate calculations of the volumes of earth and areas provided easier design of the work schedule. The rehabilitated area will be exempt from further licence applications and used as a test site to monitor the re-establishment of native floral species.
But the mining operations are the focus of major environmental programs.
A local company, M&R Seeds, was contracted to re-seed 20 hectares of the site with local species in a way which closely approximates the surrounding natural box-ironbark forest.
The clean-up of the Moliagul site proves comprehensively that mining and the ultimate restoration of its impacts should be no barrier to the industry’s development in Victoria.
Last year, 115 hectares of mined land were rehabilitated to pasture use, while thousands of local trees and shrubs were planted to create wildlife corridors.
Mr Cecil said the total site had now been reseeded. “The most difficult part of the rehabilitation project was the tailings dams,” he added.
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
The power plant has cut its water consumption by 15 per cent while waste water treatment has been improved and the level of salt discharged has dropped by 50 per cent, five years ahead of schedule, improving the quality of water returned to local rivers.
22
n one of the most successful minesite rehabilitation programs conducted in Victoria, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has now completed a major clean-up and re-seeding at the Moliagul site, near Dunolly, leaving nature to work its wonders over the area.
Doug Sceney Dept Natural Resources and Environment
Above Left: Tailings Dam 1 prior to rehabilitation. Note the water lying on the surface. The consistency of the slimes was like toothpaste and unable to support a machine. Left: Removing the derelict machinery by bulldozer and excavator.
23
Telephone (03) 9412 7972 or Mike Cecil Manager Mining and Extractive Industries - Geo-Eng Telephone (03) 9558 8333
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
ENVIRONMENT FEATURE
Valley gets new $200 M mine
Minesite rehabilitation success
Y
I
allourn Energy will spend $200 million developing a brown coal mine at Maryvale in the LaTrobe Valley, Victoria’s first new coal mine in almost two decades.
Yallourn Energy is one of three privatised electricity generators in Victoria which each operate major brown coal mines on the vast reserves in Victoria’s Gippsland region.
Being built to supply the Yallourn W power station, the Maryvale mine will form the company’s major coal supply, producing 18 million tonnes a year until 2030.
It produces 9,500 Gigawatts of electricity a year, about a quarter of Victoria’s total power requirement.
It will replace both Yallourn Energy’s East Field mine which has sufficient reserves to last until 2004 and the almost depleted Township Field mine. The mine development will require a substantial diversion of the Morwell River, with 3.9 km of the existing river bed and 2.2 km of the present diversion channel moved to create a new waterway 6.1 km long. The diversion is likely to be directed along the natural valley of the Morwell West drain. The river diversion option is preferred to an alternative plan to carry coal across the river as it makes an extra 40 per cent more coal available for mining. The diversion option along the natural west drain also provides a better opportunity to enhance the ecology of the river. The coal reserves under the existing river also contain the lowest moisture content coal which will dramatically lower CO2 emissions.
Below: The new Maryvale mine will use similar bucketwheel coal cutters to those already in use in the Latrobe Valley.
Development of the Maryvale mine represents one of the first major capital investments on new power infrastructure since the sale of Victoria’s electricity industry. The existing Yallourn brown coal mine produces 17 million tonnes a year for the power station, with another 1.5 million tonnes sold to Energy Brix for the production of dried brown coal briquettes and clears about 3 million cubic metres of overburden a year. Ed Wallis, chief executive of PowerGen PLC, one of the major shareholders in Yallourn Energy, said the Maryvale project was a major vote of confidence in the national electricity market. Speaking at the launch of the new mine project, Mr Wallis added: “Since the acquisition of Yallourn Energy in April 1996, we have completed a comprehensive mine plan and developed a mining concept and strategy to ensure the long-term viability of Yallourn Energy as the least cost generator of electricity in Victoria. “We are now at the stage of entering detailed design of the project.” He added that Yallourn Energy was dependent on coal from Maryvale field in order to continue generating.
The Minister for Agriculture and Resources, Pat McNamara, said the State Government welcomed the project and looked forward to “a very valuable contribution to the Victorian economy for many years to come.” Yallourn Energy is owned by the UK-based electricity utility company, PowerGen with 49.9 per cent, AMP 26 per cent, Itochu Corp 10.4 per cent, Axiom Funds management 8 per cent and Hastings Funds Management 5.7 per cent. The Maryvale mine will operate on similar lines to the existing brown coal mines in the LaTrobe valley using bucket wheel cutters to cut the coal from the massive seams which lie close to the surface. The coal will then be transported on conveyors from the mine to the power station. Planning design work for the new mine will take about two and a half years. The actual construction project will take another four years, with the first coal expected to be cut in 2004. Maryvale will then supply 70 per cent of Yallourn Energy’s total requirements until 2030. The construction process will include development of the coal conveying plant, relocation of fire protection systems, high voltage power supplies to drive the coal cutters, communication links and other services. The construction is expected to occupy 1,100 man years of work to complete. Operation of the Yallourn W power station based on brown coal has been highly successful, with the plant one of Victoria’s lowest cost power generators. Efforts to reduce dust emissions last year produced the lowest level recorded since measurements were first taken a decade ago.
International environmental and engineering firm, Geo-Eng, was contracted to restore the 33-hectare Moliagul site, spreading the work over two seasons. Geo-Eng senior environmental geologist, Mike Cecil, said the mining company which had worked the area had produced gold by excavating surface alluvial material to a depth of four to five metres in long strips across the site. The gold was extracted using a variety of gravity separation techniques and the resultant tailings deposited in three separate dams, adjacent to Burnt Creek. “When Geo-Eng arrived on site there were heaps of fist size gravel, piles of fine sand and tailings dams to be dealt with,” Mr Cecil said. “We started with large mined strips of land and three tailings dams in a heavily eroded
Aerial view of the site, looking south. This was taken in the early stages of the cleanup.
state and we finished with gentle undulations over the area which won’t be eroded. “One of the first tasks was to reinforce the wall of the tailings dam closest to the creek to prevent a collapse and resulting damage to the creek system. “ Ten years from now (once the vegetation has re-grown) prospectors in Moliagul’s iron bark forest may not even suspect that a shallow alluvial mine once operated there.” The work carried out by Geo-Eng first stabilised the wall of the tailings dams and covered the fine sediments inside with some of the mine site rubble. Topsoil was spread over the stabilised dams and deep ripped to allow water penetration to assist the regrowth of natural vegetation, while the undulations built into the reworked topography allow natural drainage without erosion.
“At the end of the first season we breached the various dams in such as way that we could control the drainage and keep water off them in the wet months. “This made the final rehabilitation during the second season a lot more straightforward, although the ground was still boggy in places. “Built in flexibility in the project design and a close working relationship with the subcontractors contributed significantly to the success of the project.” Using Geo-Eng computer facilities and the Mincom CAD geological system, accurate calculations of the volumes of earth and areas provided easier design of the work schedule. The rehabilitated area will be exempt from further licence applications and used as a test site to monitor the re-establishment of native floral species.
But the mining operations are the focus of major environmental programs.
A local company, M&R Seeds, was contracted to re-seed 20 hectares of the site with local species in a way which closely approximates the surrounding natural box-ironbark forest.
The clean-up of the Moliagul site proves comprehensively that mining and the ultimate restoration of its impacts should be no barrier to the industry’s development in Victoria.
Last year, 115 hectares of mined land were rehabilitated to pasture use, while thousands of local trees and shrubs were planted to create wildlife corridors.
Mr Cecil said the total site had now been reseeded. “The most difficult part of the rehabilitation project was the tailings dams,” he added.
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
The power plant has cut its water consumption by 15 per cent while waste water treatment has been improved and the level of salt discharged has dropped by 50 per cent, five years ahead of schedule, improving the quality of water returned to local rivers.
22
n one of the most successful minesite rehabilitation programs conducted in Victoria, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has now completed a major clean-up and re-seeding at the Moliagul site, near Dunolly, leaving nature to work its wonders over the area.
Doug Sceney Dept Natural Resources and Environment
Above Left: Tailings Dam 1 prior to rehabilitation. Note the water lying on the surface. The consistency of the slimes was like toothpaste and unable to support a machine. Left: Removing the derelict machinery by bulldozer and excavator.
23
Telephone (03) 9412 7972 or Mike Cecil Manager Mining and Extractive Industries - Geo-Eng Telephone (03) 9558 8333
RESEARCH
Adam seeks to be first In a three-year research program at Melbourne’s RMIT University, research metallurgist, Adam Teague, may be closer to unlocking the riddle of recovering gold from high sulphide content ores. Using high sulphide content ore from the Central orebody at the Stawell gold mine in Victoria’s western district, Mr Teague has identified a way of reducing the oxidation of the finely crushed ore to allow greater liberation of gold without the need for traditional roasting, commonly used around the world. In laboratory trials, the RMIT student, working on his PhD in metallurgy, has produced results which indicate a substantial improvement in the flotation stage of the gold recovery process. But as yet the results have not been transferred into field trials and can provide no certainty about improving overall gold recovery rates from the Stawell mine. Gold recovery from the Central orebody at Stawell typically runs at between 50 per cent and 70 per cent of the gold content of the ore. An improved gold recovery without roasting would represent a major breakthrough for Stawell and many other gold mines extracting sulphide ore. Mr Teague recently presented his research to an international mining conference in Chile. Here is an edited version of his paper.
The Behaviour of Gold Bearing Minerals During Froth Flotation as determined by Diagnostic Leaching - by Adam J Teague, Sam Swaminathan and J S J Van Deventer. • Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, 124 LaTrobe Street Melbourne Vic 3000 Australia. • Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville Vic 3052 Australia.
ABSTRACT This paper aims to explain the recovery of gold by flotation as a function of the floatability of liberated and precipitated gold and gold occluded in base metals sulphides, pyrrhotite, pyrite, and arsenopyrite. In contrast with many other studies, the current research determines the flotation recovery of each mineral as an integral part of the ore. A further feature of this study is the fact that a significant fraction of the gold is associated with pyrrhotite, so that flotation strategies are aimed at maximising the recovery of pyrrhotite, which is in contrast with the practice in many similar flotation processes. Quantitative XRD and diagnostic leaching are used to determine the distribution of gold between the host minerals as well as the flotation recovery of each mineral. Optimal sulphide recovery is attained by
activation with copper sulphate, conditioning with potassium amyl xanthate and nitrogen, and flotation with air. The greatest recoveries of free gold occurred when aeration with oxygen was used. The recovery of gold bearing sulphides, free gold and refractory gold will be discussed for each test where oxygen and nitrogen addition to the pulp was used.
INTRODUCTION Previous studies on the flotation of pyrite, pyrrhotite and arsenopyrite have focussed on sulphide behaviour and not the possible relationships between gold recovery and individual sulphide recovery. Also, past research has not covered the effects of free gold being present in the pulp with the gold bearing sulphides. When free gold has been studied, it has been as an individual species or as a component in artificial mixtures. This research aims to provide new information in this area. In many gold ores around the world most of the valuables are associated with pyrite and arsenopyrite, while pyrrhotite typically holds less gold and is usually disregarded. In this particular study, however, the refractory gold ore used not only has a high pyrrhotite content but also a high fraction of gold values associated with it, making it very important to recover this mineral. Pre-aeration effects on pyrrhotite before copper sulphate addition using oxygen and nitrogen have received little or no attention from the research community. Chang et al. published data which indicated that any exposure of pyrrhotite to oxygen before copper sulphate addition would depress the mineral. Chang et al. also found that nitrogen pre-aeration gave the greatest pyrrhotite recoveries compared to air and oxygen, but failed to make any major conclusions from this phenomenon. Improving the recovery of gold from Stawell gold mine’s sulphide ore could dramatically improve production and give the operators greater protection from the vagaries of the world gold price.
Rao and Finch investigated the effect of using nitrogen instead of air during flotation where the tests were designed to depress pyrrhotite recovery and hence improve nickel grades.
The pulp was agitated at a rate of 1400 r.p.m. for a period of 10 minutes so that the pH and redox potential stabilised before any reagents were added.
However, little work has been done on pyrrhotite-rich, refractory, gold ores where the aim is to maximise pyrrhotite recovery.
Pre-aeration tests involved adding oxygen or nitrogen directly into the impeller for 10 minutes before copper sulphate was added.
Therefore, the aims of this work are to investigate the flotation behaviour of refractory pyrrhotite using oxygen and nitrogen and to examine how its flotation patterns influence the recovery of free gold, refractory gold and pyrite.
For the tests where no pre-aeration was used, copper sulphate was added to the pulp and conditioned for five minutes, then either oxygen or nitrogen was added to the pulp with P.A.X. for five minutes before frother addition and flotation with air.
Batch flotation tests were performed on the Central ore type from Stawell.
After the conditioning period (which was unique for each test), bulk concentrates were taken over a 15 minute period where scraping was performed every 20 seconds.
Pre-aeration with nitrogen and oxygen was compared to no pre-aeration. Other tests were completed where there was no pre-aeration, but nitrogen and oxygen were added with potassium amyl xanthate (P.A.X.) to see if these gases had any effect on promoting dixanthogen formation and hence pyrrhotite and pyrite recoveries. It has been noted in past research that dixanthogen formation is required for optimum recovery of these minerals. The results are presented in terms of individual mineral recoveries in comparison to total gold recovery. Diagnostic leaching is used to determine the recovery of gold in each host mineral in the concentrates.
E X P E R I M E N TA L Flotation Tests The refractory gold ore used in this study was taken from Stawell in Victoria. Batch flotation tests were carried out in a 3-litre Denver Agitair cell. Carefully prepared ore samples of 1,900 grams each were dry-milled individually to where 80 per cent by weight passed 106 microns and were transferred directly to the flotation cell where the slurry was made up to 45 per cent solids by mass using de-ionised water. The reagents and amounts used were: activator-copper sulphate (100g/t), collectorpotassium amyl xanthate (P.A.X.) (25 g/t), and frother-PPG 400 (60g/t). Flow rates of air, oxygen and nitrogen were kept at a constant rate of 2 L/min. A natural pH was used which varied from 7.5 to 8.1 throughout the tests, and redox potential was also monitored using a combination electrode.
Feed, tailings and concentrate samples were assayed for gold, and Siroquant XRD was used to determine individual mineral recoveries. Diagnostic Leaching Diagnostic leaching was performed on the feed and bulk concentrates generated from the above tests. The samples were leached for 24 hours using NaCN. This was followed by two subsequent acid digestion/NaCN leach stages to destroy the important gold bearing sulphides and leach any gold liberated from them. The stages chosen in this work reflect the relative amounts of individual sulphides in the feed material. Following the initial NaCN leach to dissolve any free gold, the pyrrhotite fraction was digested using hydrochloric acid at a high temperature (50-80OC). It was also at this stage where the greatest mass loss occurred. The pyrite/arsenopyrite fraction was then destroyed using nitric acid. The silicates left in the final residue were treated with aqua regia to dissolve any remaining gold values. The aqua regia residue was fire assayed and was found to contain no gold. This result indicated that the aqua regia was strong enough to produce complete liberation of any remaining gold not previously leached. All solutions were assayed for gold using atomic absorption spectroscopy and gold extractions were back calculated using solution volumes and solid masses. 25
RMIT metallurgy student, Adam Teague, hopes his work will lead to field trials.
CONCLUSIONS Pre-aeration with oxygen before copper sulphate addition severely depresses the pyrrhotite but appears to have no effect on pyrite. Pyrrhotite recovery decreased with increasing levels of oxygen being present in the pulp prior to copper sulphate addition. Hence preaeration with nitrogen led to the greatest pyrrhotite recovery. Oxygen pre-aeration lowers the overall gold recovery because of its effect on depressing the pyrrhotite, but the proportion of free gold in the concentrate is much greater compared to that associated with the sulphides. The greatest sulphide recoveries were achieved when nitrogen was added with potassium amyl xanthate which suggests that dixanthogen production is not necessary for optimum sulphur recovery. However, diagnostic leaching confirmed that nitrogen has a depressing effect on the free gold. Diagnostic leaching showed that significant proportions of gold were locked within refractory pyrrhotite and pyrite. This corresponds with quantitative XRD results which described how the varying recovery of pyrrhotite and pyrite with various aeration techniques had an effect on the total recovery of gold. F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
Adam Teague Dept of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering RMIT University - 124 LaTrobe Street Melbourne
RESEARCH
Adam seeks to be first In a three-year research program at Melbourne’s RMIT University, research metallurgist, Adam Teague, may be closer to unlocking the riddle of recovering gold from high sulphide content ores. Using high sulphide content ore from the Central orebody at the Stawell gold mine in Victoria’s western district, Mr Teague has identified a way of reducing the oxidation of the finely crushed ore to allow greater liberation of gold without the need for traditional roasting, commonly used around the world. In laboratory trials, the RMIT student, working on his PhD in metallurgy, has produced results which indicate a substantial improvement in the flotation stage of the gold recovery process. But as yet the results have not been transferred into field trials and can provide no certainty about improving overall gold recovery rates from the Stawell mine. Gold recovery from the Central orebody at Stawell typically runs at between 50 per cent and 70 per cent of the gold content of the ore. An improved gold recovery without roasting would represent a major breakthrough for Stawell and many other gold mines extracting sulphide ore. Mr Teague recently presented his research to an international mining conference in Chile. Here is an edited version of his paper.
The Behaviour of Gold Bearing Minerals During Froth Flotation as determined by Diagnostic Leaching - by Adam J Teague, Sam Swaminathan and J S J Van Deventer. • Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, 124 LaTrobe Street Melbourne Vic 3000 Australia. • Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville Vic 3052 Australia.
ABSTRACT This paper aims to explain the recovery of gold by flotation as a function of the floatability of liberated and precipitated gold and gold occluded in base metals sulphides, pyrrhotite, pyrite, and arsenopyrite. In contrast with many other studies, the current research determines the flotation recovery of each mineral as an integral part of the ore. A further feature of this study is the fact that a significant fraction of the gold is associated with pyrrhotite, so that flotation strategies are aimed at maximising the recovery of pyrrhotite, which is in contrast with the practice in many similar flotation processes. Quantitative XRD and diagnostic leaching are used to determine the distribution of gold between the host minerals as well as the flotation recovery of each mineral. Optimal sulphide recovery is attained by
activation with copper sulphate, conditioning with potassium amyl xanthate and nitrogen, and flotation with air. The greatest recoveries of free gold occurred when aeration with oxygen was used. The recovery of gold bearing sulphides, free gold and refractory gold will be discussed for each test where oxygen and nitrogen addition to the pulp was used.
INTRODUCTION Previous studies on the flotation of pyrite, pyrrhotite and arsenopyrite have focussed on sulphide behaviour and not the possible relationships between gold recovery and individual sulphide recovery. Also, past research has not covered the effects of free gold being present in the pulp with the gold bearing sulphides. When free gold has been studied, it has been as an individual species or as a component in artificial mixtures. This research aims to provide new information in this area. In many gold ores around the world most of the valuables are associated with pyrite and arsenopyrite, while pyrrhotite typically holds less gold and is usually disregarded. In this particular study, however, the refractory gold ore used not only has a high pyrrhotite content but also a high fraction of gold values associated with it, making it very important to recover this mineral. Pre-aeration effects on pyrrhotite before copper sulphate addition using oxygen and nitrogen have received little or no attention from the research community. Chang et al. published data which indicated that any exposure of pyrrhotite to oxygen before copper sulphate addition would depress the mineral. Chang et al. also found that nitrogen pre-aeration gave the greatest pyrrhotite recoveries compared to air and oxygen, but failed to make any major conclusions from this phenomenon. Improving the recovery of gold from Stawell gold mine’s sulphide ore could dramatically improve production and give the operators greater protection from the vagaries of the world gold price.
Rao and Finch investigated the effect of using nitrogen instead of air during flotation where the tests were designed to depress pyrrhotite recovery and hence improve nickel grades.
The pulp was agitated at a rate of 1400 r.p.m. for a period of 10 minutes so that the pH and redox potential stabilised before any reagents were added.
However, little work has been done on pyrrhotite-rich, refractory, gold ores where the aim is to maximise pyrrhotite recovery.
Pre-aeration tests involved adding oxygen or nitrogen directly into the impeller for 10 minutes before copper sulphate was added.
Therefore, the aims of this work are to investigate the flotation behaviour of refractory pyrrhotite using oxygen and nitrogen and to examine how its flotation patterns influence the recovery of free gold, refractory gold and pyrite.
For the tests where no pre-aeration was used, copper sulphate was added to the pulp and conditioned for five minutes, then either oxygen or nitrogen was added to the pulp with P.A.X. for five minutes before frother addition and flotation with air.
Batch flotation tests were performed on the Central ore type from Stawell.
After the conditioning period (which was unique for each test), bulk concentrates were taken over a 15 minute period where scraping was performed every 20 seconds.
Pre-aeration with nitrogen and oxygen was compared to no pre-aeration. Other tests were completed where there was no pre-aeration, but nitrogen and oxygen were added with potassium amyl xanthate (P.A.X.) to see if these gases had any effect on promoting dixanthogen formation and hence pyrrhotite and pyrite recoveries. It has been noted in past research that dixanthogen formation is required for optimum recovery of these minerals. The results are presented in terms of individual mineral recoveries in comparison to total gold recovery. Diagnostic leaching is used to determine the recovery of gold in each host mineral in the concentrates.
E X P E R I M E N TA L Flotation Tests The refractory gold ore used in this study was taken from Stawell in Victoria. Batch flotation tests were carried out in a 3-litre Denver Agitair cell. Carefully prepared ore samples of 1,900 grams each were dry-milled individually to where 80 per cent by weight passed 106 microns and were transferred directly to the flotation cell where the slurry was made up to 45 per cent solids by mass using de-ionised water. The reagents and amounts used were: activator-copper sulphate (100g/t), collectorpotassium amyl xanthate (P.A.X.) (25 g/t), and frother-PPG 400 (60g/t). Flow rates of air, oxygen and nitrogen were kept at a constant rate of 2 L/min. A natural pH was used which varied from 7.5 to 8.1 throughout the tests, and redox potential was also monitored using a combination electrode.
Feed, tailings and concentrate samples were assayed for gold, and Siroquant XRD was used to determine individual mineral recoveries. Diagnostic Leaching Diagnostic leaching was performed on the feed and bulk concentrates generated from the above tests. The samples were leached for 24 hours using NaCN. This was followed by two subsequent acid digestion/NaCN leach stages to destroy the important gold bearing sulphides and leach any gold liberated from them. The stages chosen in this work reflect the relative amounts of individual sulphides in the feed material. Following the initial NaCN leach to dissolve any free gold, the pyrrhotite fraction was digested using hydrochloric acid at a high temperature (50-80OC). It was also at this stage where the greatest mass loss occurred. The pyrite/arsenopyrite fraction was then destroyed using nitric acid. The silicates left in the final residue were treated with aqua regia to dissolve any remaining gold values. The aqua regia residue was fire assayed and was found to contain no gold. This result indicated that the aqua regia was strong enough to produce complete liberation of any remaining gold not previously leached. All solutions were assayed for gold using atomic absorption spectroscopy and gold extractions were back calculated using solution volumes and solid masses. 25
RMIT metallurgy student, Adam Teague, hopes his work will lead to field trials.
CONCLUSIONS Pre-aeration with oxygen before copper sulphate addition severely depresses the pyrrhotite but appears to have no effect on pyrite. Pyrrhotite recovery decreased with increasing levels of oxygen being present in the pulp prior to copper sulphate addition. Hence preaeration with nitrogen led to the greatest pyrrhotite recovery. Oxygen pre-aeration lowers the overall gold recovery because of its effect on depressing the pyrrhotite, but the proportion of free gold in the concentrate is much greater compared to that associated with the sulphides. The greatest sulphide recoveries were achieved when nitrogen was added with potassium amyl xanthate which suggests that dixanthogen production is not necessary for optimum sulphur recovery. However, diagnostic leaching confirmed that nitrogen has a depressing effect on the free gold. Diagnostic leaching showed that significant proportions of gold were locked within refractory pyrrhotite and pyrite. This corresponds with quantitative XRD results which described how the varying recovery of pyrrhotite and pyrite with various aeration techniques had an effect on the total recovery of gold. F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
Adam Teague Dept of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering RMIT University - 124 LaTrobe Street Melbourne
SPECIAL FEATURE
GEOLOGY
Perseverance pays dividends D
rilling to extend the gold resource at Perseverance Corporation Limited’s Fosterville gold mine in central Victoria is proving highly successful with the potential emerging for major increases in the sulphide gold mineralisation. New work by the company is starting to reveal the secrets of the geological controls in the Fosterville area, opening the possibility for the location of major repetitions of the existing orebodies. The work has excited Perseverance managing director John Kelly, who said drilling of the Fosterville sulphides was now concentrating on higher grade areas at both Central North and Central Ellesmere locations. “To complete the geological picture of the new ore discoveries, the drill hole spacings are now being reduced from 25 metres to 12.5 metres in this area,” Mr Kelly said. The drilling has encountered a number of high grade intersections, including 10 metres at 11.73 Au g/t from 104 metres, 7 metres at 11.66 Au g/t from 122 metres, 14 metres at 7.85 Au g/t from 80 metres, and 18 metres at 5.84 Au g/t from 100 metres. Mr Kelly said the infill drilling work aimed to increase the grade in the Central North & Central Ellesmere deposits, which lay in the central part of the mining lease on the Fosterville Fault.
“If the drilling is successful it will have a significant effect on the profitability of the two currently designed pits.” Mr Kelly added that the next phase of drilling would concentrate on extending the Central North mineralisation, both to the north and at depth. The new drilling to the north would test areas unsuccessfully drilled very early in the sulphide project. New structural interpretations of the local geology indicated that this early drilling was off-target. “A family of secondary faults seen in the Central North deposit have apparently shifted the mineralised horizon down dip and to the east, so the new drilling will target repetitions of this structural environment that can currently be interpreted from the old drilling in this area,” Mr Kelly said. Senior resource geologist at Fosterville, Neb Zurkic, said some of the model developed earlier, where secondary displacing faults down throw the Fosterville Fault, still held true. But, he added that the displacing faults may be coincident with lithological units and were splay faults off the carbonaceous shale.
Below: Open pit mining of gold resources at Fosterville is set to be expanded.
“The incidence of the shale unit is increasing in importance,” Mr Zurkic said. “This explains the varying widths of mineralisation which bulges when porous sandstones are present, the lack of displacement on the carbon unit and the knife-edge hanging wall and the diffuse foot wall.
Below right: Mined ore is stacked before processing.
“The most obvious occurrence of this is at Central North where the plunge of the
apparently crosscutting faults and favourable sandstone package is distinctly northwards. “The area between Central Ellesmere and Central North is beginning to display this same characteristic, except it is plunging to the south.” Mr Zurkic said the regional depiction of the Fosterville Fault in long section showed that at both Central North and Central Ellesmere there were doubly plunging high grades. This double plunging nature seen in the central area of the fault suggested the existence of a domal structure. “Structural mapping shows that the bedding/cleavage relationship supports this grade plunge and both bedding/cleavage relationships and variography show plunges between 10 and 35 degrees,” he added.
TABLE NO 1 HOLE NO.
LOCATION
ELEVATION
AZIMUTH
DIP
LENGTH
CEN 059 CEN 060 CEN 056 CEN 052 CEN 053 CEN 048 CEN 049 CEL 090 CEL 028
9,000N 1,730E 9,000N 1,710E 8,975N 1,740E 8,950N 1,730E 8,950N 1,710E 8,925N 1,740E 8,925N 1,720E 8,290N 1,910E 7,645N 1,790E
160 160 160 160 160 159 159 159 164
090˚ 090˚ 090˚ 090˚ 090˚ 090˚ 090˚ 270˚ 090˚
60˚ 60˚ 60˚ 60˚ 60˚ 60˚ 60˚ 50˚ 60˚
129 m 159 m 117 m 117 m 159 m 111m 135 m 110 m 126 m
CEL 025 CEL 026
7,625N 1,790E 7,625N 1,77E
164 166
090˚ 090˚
60˚ 60˚
124 m 156 m 130 m Including 150 m
Mr Zurkic said the structural conditions at Central North and Central Ellesmere also existed at Daley’s Hill, where early indications revealed a doubly plunging structure and hence another domal structure.
CEL 023
7,600N 1,780E
165
090˚
60˚
CEL 024
7,600N 1,768E
166
090˚
60˚
This increase in structural information follows a number of visits to the site by consulting structural geologist Dr Steve King of ERAMAPTEK.
HOLE NO.
Mr Kelly said: “At Harrington’s Hill, all indications, including an historical mining drive, are that there is a steep plunge southwards under the hill where a limited number of shallow drill holes are hinting at better grades. “Analysing fault thicknesses above 0.3 g/t Au, which could in effect be sandstone lithologies,
SIGNIFICANT INTERSECTION 10m @ 11.73 Au g/t (104 - 114m) 4m @ 7.78 Au g/t (124 - 128m) 6m @ 7.76 Au g/t (94 - 100m) 6m @ 8.98 Au g/t (98 - 104m) 7m @ 11.66 Au g/t (122 - 129m) 8m @ 3.01 Au g/t (88 - 96m) 8m @ 5.24 Au g/t (112 - 120m) 14m @ 7.85 Au g/t (80 - 94m) 2m @ 4.98 Au g/t (72 - 74m) 32m @ 2.71 Au g/t (78 - 110m) 26m @ 2.46 Au g/t (78 - 104m) 12m @ 3.81 Au g/t (108 - 120m) 4m @ 1.20 Au g/t (140 - 144m) 18m @ 5.84 Au g/t (100 - 118m) 2m @ 36.90 Au g/t (102 - 104m) 12m @ 5.59 Au g/t (114 - 126m)
TABLE NO 2 FAR 011 FAR 009 ODW 082
LOCATION
ELEVATION
AZIMUTH
DIP
LENGTH
SIGNIFICANT INTERSECTION
151 152 155
090˚ 090˚ 090˚
60˚ 60˚ 70˚
135 m 147 m 98 m
12m @ 1.94 Au g/t ( 86 - 98m) 16m @ 1.55 Au g/t (82 - 98m) 12m @ 2.80 Au g/t ( 64 - 76m)
12,340N 3,550E 12,360N 3,525E 11,640N 2,990E
Below: Grade control in low grade open pit operations is critical according to Fosterville mine manager, Neville Bergin.
these plunges become visually enhanced.” Mr Kelly said preliminary pit optimisation work had indicated that the Central North pit could be deepened by as much as another 30 metres if the drilling continued to confirm the results encountered so far. “This drilling will be aimed at adding resource ounces that can quickly be converted to reserves to improve the longevity of the mine life,” he added. “Successful drilling in these areas will also add to the profitability of the sulphide project and to the mine life.” He said assays had been received from 23 holes drilled. The significant intersections available are shown in table 1. “Deep drilling to depths of 250 - 300 metres below Central North north, between Central North and Central Ellesmere and directly below Harrington’s Hill, should potentially add highgrade underground resources,” Mr Kelly said. 27
He added that a small program of drilling was carried out at the Farley’s and O’Dwyer’s prospects which lie in the northern portion of the mining lease adjacent to and on the O’Dwyer’s Fault, the second major structural feature at Fosterville. “The results of this drilling are encouraging as it continues to demonstrate that significant sulphide mineralisation exists away from the central zone of the Fosterville Fault,” Mr Kelly added. The better results from this drilling are shown in table No. 2. Mr Kelly said drilling was continuing, with three drill rigs currently working on site.
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
John Kelly (Managing Director) Perseverance Corporation Ltd Telephone (03) 9602 3006
SPECIAL FEATURE
GEOLOGY
Perseverance pays dividends D
rilling to extend the gold resource at Perseverance Corporation Limited’s Fosterville gold mine in central Victoria is proving highly successful with the potential emerging for major increases in the sulphide gold mineralisation. New work by the company is starting to reveal the secrets of the geological controls in the Fosterville area, opening the possibility for the location of major repetitions of the existing orebodies. The work has excited Perseverance managing director John Kelly, who said drilling of the Fosterville sulphides was now concentrating on higher grade areas at both Central North and Central Ellesmere locations. “To complete the geological picture of the new ore discoveries, the drill hole spacings are now being reduced from 25 metres to 12.5 metres in this area,” Mr Kelly said. The drilling has encountered a number of high grade intersections, including 10 metres at 11.73 Au g/t from 104 metres, 7 metres at 11.66 Au g/t from 122 metres, 14 metres at 7.85 Au g/t from 80 metres, and 18 metres at 5.84 Au g/t from 100 metres. Mr Kelly said the infill drilling work aimed to increase the grade in the Central North & Central Ellesmere deposits, which lay in the central part of the mining lease on the Fosterville Fault.
“If the drilling is successful it will have a significant effect on the profitability of the two currently designed pits.” Mr Kelly added that the next phase of drilling would concentrate on extending the Central North mineralisation, both to the north and at depth. The new drilling to the north would test areas unsuccessfully drilled very early in the sulphide project. New structural interpretations of the local geology indicated that this early drilling was off-target. “A family of secondary faults seen in the Central North deposit have apparently shifted the mineralised horizon down dip and to the east, so the new drilling will target repetitions of this structural environment that can currently be interpreted from the old drilling in this area,” Mr Kelly said. Senior resource geologist at Fosterville, Neb Zurkic, said some of the model developed earlier, where secondary displacing faults down throw the Fosterville Fault, still held true. But, he added that the displacing faults may be coincident with lithological units and were splay faults off the carbonaceous shale.
Below: Open pit mining of gold resources at Fosterville is set to be expanded.
“The incidence of the shale unit is increasing in importance,” Mr Zurkic said. “This explains the varying widths of mineralisation which bulges when porous sandstones are present, the lack of displacement on the carbon unit and the knife-edge hanging wall and the diffuse foot wall.
Below right: Mined ore is stacked before processing.
“The most obvious occurrence of this is at Central North where the plunge of the
apparently crosscutting faults and favourable sandstone package is distinctly northwards. “The area between Central Ellesmere and Central North is beginning to display this same characteristic, except it is plunging to the south.” Mr Zurkic said the regional depiction of the Fosterville Fault in long section showed that at both Central North and Central Ellesmere there were doubly plunging high grades. This double plunging nature seen in the central area of the fault suggested the existence of a domal structure. “Structural mapping shows that the bedding/cleavage relationship supports this grade plunge and both bedding/cleavage relationships and variography show plunges between 10 and 35 degrees,” he added.
TABLE NO 1 HOLE NO.
LOCATION
ELEVATION
AZIMUTH
DIP
LENGTH
CEN 059 CEN 060 CEN 056 CEN 052 CEN 053 CEN 048 CEN 049 CEL 090 CEL 028
9,000N 1,730E 9,000N 1,710E 8,975N 1,740E 8,950N 1,730E 8,950N 1,710E 8,925N 1,740E 8,925N 1,720E 8,290N 1,910E 7,645N 1,790E
160 160 160 160 160 159 159 159 164
090˚ 090˚ 090˚ 090˚ 090˚ 090˚ 090˚ 270˚ 090˚
60˚ 60˚ 60˚ 60˚ 60˚ 60˚ 60˚ 50˚ 60˚
129 m 159 m 117 m 117 m 159 m 111m 135 m 110 m 126 m
CEL 025 CEL 026
7,625N 1,790E 7,625N 1,77E
164 166
090˚ 090˚
60˚ 60˚
124 m 156 m 130 m Including 150 m
Mr Zurkic said the structural conditions at Central North and Central Ellesmere also existed at Daley’s Hill, where early indications revealed a doubly plunging structure and hence another domal structure.
CEL 023
7,600N 1,780E
165
090˚
60˚
CEL 024
7,600N 1,768E
166
090˚
60˚
This increase in structural information follows a number of visits to the site by consulting structural geologist Dr Steve King of ERAMAPTEK.
HOLE NO.
Mr Kelly said: “At Harrington’s Hill, all indications, including an historical mining drive, are that there is a steep plunge southwards under the hill where a limited number of shallow drill holes are hinting at better grades. “Analysing fault thicknesses above 0.3 g/t Au, which could in effect be sandstone lithologies,
SIGNIFICANT INTERSECTION 10m @ 11.73 Au g/t (104 - 114m) 4m @ 7.78 Au g/t (124 - 128m) 6m @ 7.76 Au g/t (94 - 100m) 6m @ 8.98 Au g/t (98 - 104m) 7m @ 11.66 Au g/t (122 - 129m) 8m @ 3.01 Au g/t (88 - 96m) 8m @ 5.24 Au g/t (112 - 120m) 14m @ 7.85 Au g/t (80 - 94m) 2m @ 4.98 Au g/t (72 - 74m) 32m @ 2.71 Au g/t (78 - 110m) 26m @ 2.46 Au g/t (78 - 104m) 12m @ 3.81 Au g/t (108 - 120m) 4m @ 1.20 Au g/t (140 - 144m) 18m @ 5.84 Au g/t (100 - 118m) 2m @ 36.90 Au g/t (102 - 104m) 12m @ 5.59 Au g/t (114 - 126m)
TABLE NO 2 FAR 011 FAR 009 ODW 082
LOCATION
ELEVATION
AZIMUTH
DIP
LENGTH
SIGNIFICANT INTERSECTION
151 152 155
090˚ 090˚ 090˚
60˚ 60˚ 70˚
135 m 147 m 98 m
12m @ 1.94 Au g/t ( 86 - 98m) 16m @ 1.55 Au g/t (82 - 98m) 12m @ 2.80 Au g/t ( 64 - 76m)
12,340N 3,550E 12,360N 3,525E 11,640N 2,990E
Below: Grade control in low grade open pit operations is critical according to Fosterville mine manager, Neville Bergin.
these plunges become visually enhanced.” Mr Kelly said preliminary pit optimisation work had indicated that the Central North pit could be deepened by as much as another 30 metres if the drilling continued to confirm the results encountered so far. “This drilling will be aimed at adding resource ounces that can quickly be converted to reserves to improve the longevity of the mine life,” he added. “Successful drilling in these areas will also add to the profitability of the sulphide project and to the mine life.” He said assays had been received from 23 holes drilled. The significant intersections available are shown in table 1. “Deep drilling to depths of 250 - 300 metres below Central North north, between Central North and Central Ellesmere and directly below Harrington’s Hill, should potentially add highgrade underground resources,” Mr Kelly said. 27
He added that a small program of drilling was carried out at the Farley’s and O’Dwyer’s prospects which lie in the northern portion of the mining lease adjacent to and on the O’Dwyer’s Fault, the second major structural feature at Fosterville. “The results of this drilling are encouraging as it continues to demonstrate that significant sulphide mineralisation exists away from the central zone of the Fosterville Fault,” Mr Kelly added. The better results from this drilling are shown in table No. 2. Mr Kelly said drilling was continuing, with three drill rigs currently working on site.
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
John Kelly (Managing Director) Perseverance Corporation Ltd Telephone (03) 9602 3006
SPECIAL FEATURE
New RFA for Central Highlands
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ubmissions are being sought on draft proposals for a new Regional Forest Agreement to cover Victoria’s Central Highlands.
The draft proposals are set out in the ‘Central Highlands Regional Forest Agreement Directions Report’ released recently. The report covers the area east and north of Melbourne bounded by Seymour, Jamieson and Moe. It includes a comprehensive review of the area’s mineral potential and a review of past and present exploration and mining activities. The report will form the second of five Commonwealth-State Regional Forests Agreements (RFA’s) which are being established to cover the future management of Victorian forests. Each RFA will last for twenty years and aims to establish a ‘Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative’ (CAR) forest reserve system. This is designed to ensure conservation and protection of environmental and heritage values, sustainable forest management and development of forest-based industries. Agreement has already been reached on the RFA for the East Gippsland area. The new report proposes a CAR reserve system for the Central Highlands area comprising: • existing parks, which are not available for exploration and mining, • other conservation reserves. some of which are restricted crown land under the Mineral Resources Development Act, and • State forest, zoned for protection of significant conservation values, which is designated as unrestricted crown land. Based on the East Gippsland RFA experience, the likelihood is that there will be little impact on the availability of forest areas for exploration and mining. The final RFA for the area is expected to be completed within the next few months. It will follow a similar format to the East Gippsland RFA, which maintains the important principle that Victorian law (primarily the Mineral Resources Develop-
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NOTE: The Central Highlands Regional Forest Agreement Directions Report is available from: DNRE Information Centre, 8 Nicholson St, East Melbourne, Tel (03) 9637 8080, and DNRE Offices at Alexandra, Woori Yallock, Benalla and Traralgon.
ment Act) continues to govern access for exploration and mining. The East Gippsland RFA also specifies that: • mining proposals in the CAR reserve system require an environment effects statement. • exploration, involving bulk sampling and road construction, requires an exploration impact statement as provided for under the Mineral Resources Development Act. Public comment and submissions on the Central Highlands Direction Report close on November 21, and can be made to the: Commonwealth and Victorian RFA Steering Committee c/- Commonwealth Forests Taskforce Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet 3-5 National Circuit Barton ACT 2600. A third RFA, covering Victoria’s north-east region and covering the area to the east of the Hume Freeway and north of the Great Dividing Range to the NSW border, will follow shortly. Scientific data is being collected as a basis for the agreement, which is expected to be concluded by mid-1998.
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T:
Ian Miles (Manager Regional Forest Agreements) Department National Resources and Environment Telephone (03) 9637 8405
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