Tarmoola Gold Mine
Location | |
---|---|
Tarmoola Gold Mine | |
Location | Leonora |
State | Western Australia |
Country | Australia |
Coordinates | 28°40′S 121°10′E / 28.667°S 121.167°ECoordinates: 28°40′S 121°10′E / 28.667°S 121.167°E |
Production | |
Production | inactive |
Financial year | 2008-09 |
History | |
Opened | 1990 |
Closed | 2004 |
Owner | |
Company | St Barbara Limited |
Website | St Barbara website |
Year of acquisition | March 2005 |
The Tarmoola Gold Mine is a gold mine located 29 km north-west of Leonora, Western Australia. The mine has been placed in care and maintenance since September 2004, when a pit wall failure forced its closure.[1]
It is owned by St Barbara Limited.[2] Apart from Tarmoola, St Barbara also operates the Marvel Loch Gold Mine and the Gwalia Gold Mine.[3][4]
All three mines were previously owned by the now-defunct mining company Sons of Gwalia Limited.[5] Sons of Gwalia went into administration on 30 August 2004 and the company's gold mining operations were sold to St Barbara in March 2005 for A$38 Million, having been valued by the Sons of Gwalia directors at A$120 Million. While Marvel Loch was operational before and after the sale, the Gwalia mine was already placed in care and maintenance at the time of the transaction. A fourth mine, the Carosue Dam Gold Mine, ceased operation in June 2005 and has since been sold by St Barbara.[6][7][8]
History
The mine, opened in May 1990,[9] was discovered and developed by Mount Edon Mines until April 1997,[10] when it was taken over by jointly by Camelot Resources and the Teck Corporation through Reachwest Pty Ltd for A$158 million.[11]
Camelot Resources was renamed Pacmin Mining in June 1998[12] and took control of all assets of the two companies in Australia.[13] Pacmin was then taken over by Sons of Gwalia in October 2001 for A$210 million,[14][15] the mine thereby becoming part of the company's Leonora operations, together with the Gwalia mine. This merger also secured the Carosue Dam mine for Sons of Gwalia.[16][17]
In February 2004, a pit wall failure caused disruptions to the mine, leading to its eventual closure in September 2004.[1]
In retrospect, the purchase of Pacmin and Tarmoola was seen as very expensive, especially in the light of gold reserve write downs and operational difficulties at the mine.[18][19]
Sons of Gwalia went into administration on 30 August 2004, following a financial collapse, with debts exceeding $800 million after suffering from falling gold reserves and hedging losses.[20] Sons of Gwalia was Australia's third-largest gold producer and also controlled more than half the world's production of tantalum.[21]
St Barbara purchased the mine from insolvent Sons of Gwalia in March 2005 but has not reopened the mine since.[7] The company placed the mine on the market in 2007, seeing little value in operating the mine because of high costs of production. St Barbara estimated that it would cost A$700 per ounce to mine at Tarmoola, at an average grade of 1.1 g/t.[22] However, the sale of Tarmoola did not eventuate.[23]
St Barbara has been reviewing the option of underground mining at Tarmoola in 2009 and processing the ore at Gwalia.[2]
Production
Production of the mine:
Year | Production | Grade | Cost per ounce |
1995-96 [11] | 58,369 ounces | ||
2000 [24] | 230,357 ounces | 2.27 g/t | A$287 |
2001 [24] | 194,540 ounces | 1.80 g/t | A$379 |
2002 1 [24] | 150,484 ounces | 1.41 g/t | A$375 |
2002-03 2 [16] | 237,036 ounces | A$470 | |
2003-04 2 [25] | 165,802 ounces | A$476 | |
2004-05 | |||
2005–present | inactive |
- 1 2002 results for January to November only.
- 2 Combined result for the Leonora operations, consisting of Gwalia and Tarmoola. The Gwalia mine closed in December 2003.
Sources
- The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition, Louthean Media Pty Ltd, Editor: Ross Louthean
- Western Australian Mineral and Petroleum Statistics Digest 2008 Page 34: Principal Mineral and Petroleum Producers - Gold
References
- 1 2 St Barbara annual report 2005 accessed: 7 February 2010
- 1 2 St Barbara website - Leonora accessed: 8 February 2010
- ↑ St Barbara website - Southern Cross accessed: 3 September 2009
- ↑ St Barbara website - Operations overview accessed: 3 September 2009
- ↑ The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition, page 520
- ↑ Sons of Gwalia Limited at delisted.com.au accessed: 3 September 2009
- 1 2 St Barbara Mines Limited - Lodgement of Open Briefing published: 28 June 2005, accessed: 3 September 2009
- ↑ The West Australian, published 16 March 2005, accessed: 3 September 2009
- ↑ Klaus Eckhof - Project Geologist and Business Development Manager of Mount Edon www.goldinvest.de, published: 18 January 2007, accessed: 8 February 2010
- ↑ Mr Tony Brennan - Managing Director of Mount Edon Gold Mines Limited deltacapital.com.au, accessed: 8 February 2010
- 1 2 Joint Takeover Bid For Australian Mine The New York Times, published: 23 January 1997, accessed: 8 February 2010
- ↑ Tarmoola Joint Venture acclaimexploration.com.au, accessed: 8 February 2010
- ↑ Establishment of Pacific Mining Corporation Camelot ASX announcement, published: 13 March 1998, accessed: 8 February 2010
- ↑ PACMIN MINING CORPORATION LIMITED (PML) delisted.com.au, accessed: 8 February 2010
- ↑ Intention to Make Takeover Bid for PacMin Mining Corporation SGW ASX announcement, published: 23 August 2001, accessed: 8 February 2010
- 1 2 Sons of Gwalia annual report 2003 accessed: 12 January 2010
- ↑ MINEDEX website - Tarmoola search result accessed: 8 February 2010
- ↑ ASX to probe Sons of Gwalia collapse ABC Australia, published: 5 September 2004, accessed: 8 February 2010
- ↑ Gwalia sweats on review metalsplace.com, published: 8 August 2004, accessed: 8 February 2010
- ↑ Ernst &Young agrees to $125m Sons of Gwalia settlement The West Australian, published: 4 September 2009, accessed: 4 September 2009
- ↑ Sons of Gwalia's gold hedging had big holes The Sydney Morning Herald, published: 4 September 2004, accessed: 4 September 2009
- ↑ St Barbara offloads Tarmoola goldmine The Sydney Morning Herald, published: 9 November 2009, accessed: 8 February 2010
- ↑ St Barbara considers underground gold mine at Tarmoola The Australian, published: 14 April 2007, accessed: 8 February 2010
- 1 2 3 The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition, page 128
- ↑ Sons of Gwalia fourth quarter report 2004 accessed: 12 January 2010
External links
- St Barbara website - Leonora operations
- MINEDEX website
- How sons of Lalor built, then sank, Sons of Gwalia The Sydney Morning Herald - Article on the collapse of Sons of Gwalia