Boddington Gold Mine

Boddington Gold Mine
Boddington Gold Mine
Boddington Gold Mine Location in Australia 32°44′15.99″S 116°21′34.76″E / 32.737775°S 116.3596556°E / -32.737775; 116.3596556Coordinates: 32°44′15.99″S 116°21′34.76″E / 32.737775°S 116.3596556°E / -32.737775; 116.3596556
Location	Boddington
State	Western Australia
Country	Australia
Owner
Company	Newmont Mining
Website	Newmont website
ASX	NEM
Production
Financial year	2008-09
Ounces of Gold	none
History
Opened	Original plant: 1987; Expansion Project: July 2009
Closed	Original plant: 2001
v · d · e

The Boddington Gold Mine is a gold and copper mine located 17 km northwest of Boddington, Western Australia.

Officially reopened on 3 February 2010, the mine is expected to become Australia's largest gold mine once it reaches full production.^[1]

History

A large open-cut mining operation, it commenced in 1987 and ceased mining on 30 November 2001 after the known oxide ore resource had been processed.^[2]

Partly owned by Normandy Mining (44.44%), Acacia Resources (33.33%) and Newcrest Mining (22.23%), the Normandy share was acquired by Newmont when it took over the company in 2002, while AngloGold took over Acacia.

In 2005, Newcrest sold its interest in the Boddington mine for A$225 million, also to Newmont Mining.^[3]

A bedrock resource of almost 20 million ounces was identified and expansion of the facility to allow mining and processing of basement rock was approved in 2002. Construction on the expansion project began in May 2006. When it achieves full nameplate throughput, it will become Australia's largest gold mine.^[4]

On 29 January 2009, Newmont announced that it had raised $1.5 billion to acquire AngloGold's ownership position of 33% in the mine and thus became sole owner. Now fully owned by Newmont Mining, the mine reopened in 2009 after a major expansion project that increased the throughput to become Australia's largest gold mine.

The official startup was on 23 July 2009.^[5] The mine is estimated to have a 20 year life and will produce more than 1,000,000 ounces of gold per year.^[6] The official opening of the mine was on 3 February 2010, conducted by Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett.^[1]

The mine is within the Saddleback Greenstone Belt, an Archaean structure in the southwestern Yilgarn Craton.^[7]

Production

Year	Production	Grade	Cost per ounce
1999 [2]	231,695 ounces	0.89 g/t	A$ 332
2000 [2]	228,859 ounces	0.89 g/t	A$ 371
2001 [2]	227,171 ounces	0.97 g/t	A$ 376
Jan - Sep 2002 [2]	4,235 ounces
2003–2009	inactive
2010

See also

• List of active gold mines in Western Australia

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Barnett to open Boddington Gold Mine ABC News, published: 3 February 2010, accessed: 9 February 2010
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} The Australian Mines Handbook - 2003-04 Edition page: 71
3. ^ History of NCM Newcrest website, accessed: 27 January 2010
4. ^ "Boddington Gold Mine, Perth, Australia.". mining-technology.com. http://www.mining-technology.com/projects/boddington. Retrieved 10 August 2009. 
5. ^ "Western Australia's Boddington Project Commences". Newmont Mining Corporation. http://www.newmont.com/asia-pacific/boddington-australia. Retrieved 10 August 2009. 
6. ^ "Newmont's million ounce monster". Mining News. 26 November 2009. http://www.miningnews.net/storyview.asp?storyid=1039254. Retrieved 18 December 2009. 
7. ^ Boddington, Western Australia Newmont website, accessed: 20 December 2009

External links

• Newmont website