Tarmoola Gold Mine

Tarmoola
Location
Tarmoola Gold Mine
Location in Australia
Location Leonora
State Western Australia
Country Australia
Coordinates 28°40′S 121°10′E / 28.667°S 121.167°E / -28.667; 121.167Coordinates: 28°40′S 121°10′E / 28.667°S 121.167°E / -28.667; 121.167
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

Gold mines in the Kalgoorlie - Leonora region

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

Sources

References

  1. 1 2 St Barbara annual report 2005 accessed: 7 February 2010
  2. 1 2 St Barbara website - Leonora accessed: 8 February 2010
  3. ↑ St Barbara website - Southern Cross accessed: 3 September 2009
  4. ↑ St Barbara website - Operations overview accessed: 3 September 2009
  5. ↑ The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition, page 520
  6. ↑ Sons of Gwalia Limited at delisted.com.au accessed: 3 September 2009
  7. 1 2 St Barbara Mines Limited - Lodgement of Open Briefing published: 28 June 2005, accessed: 3 September 2009
  8. ↑ The West Australian, published 16 March 2005, accessed: 3 September 2009
  9. ↑ Klaus Eckhof - Project Geologist and Business Development Manager of Mount Edon www.goldinvest.de, published: 18 January 2007, accessed: 8 February 2010
  10. ↑ Mr Tony Brennan - Managing Director of Mount Edon Gold Mines Limited deltacapital.com.au, accessed: 8 February 2010
  11. 1 2 Joint Takeover Bid For Australian Mine The New York Times, published: 23 January 1997, accessed: 8 February 2010
  12. ↑ Tarmoola Joint Venture acclaimexploration.com.au, accessed: 8 February 2010
  13. ↑ Establishment of Pacific Mining Corporation Camelot ASX announcement, published: 13 March 1998, accessed: 8 February 2010
  14. ↑ PACMIN MINING CORPORATION LIMITED (PML) delisted.com.au, accessed: 8 February 2010
  15. ↑ Intention to Make Takeover Bid for PacMin Mining Corporation SGW ASX announcement, published: 23 August 2001, accessed: 8 February 2010
  16. 1 2 Sons of Gwalia annual report 2003 accessed: 12 January 2010
  17. ↑ MINEDEX website - Tarmoola search result accessed: 8 February 2010
  18. ↑ ASX to probe Sons of Gwalia collapse ABC Australia, published: 5 September 2004, accessed: 8 February 2010
  19. ↑ Gwalia sweats on review metalsplace.com, published: 8 August 2004, accessed: 8 February 2010
  20. ↑ Ernst &Young agrees to $125m Sons of Gwalia settlement The West Australian, published: 4 September 2009, accessed: 4 September 2009
  21. ↑ Sons of Gwalia's gold hedging had big holes The Sydney Morning Herald, published: 4 September 2004, accessed: 4 September 2009
  22. ↑ St Barbara offloads Tarmoola goldmine The Sydney Morning Herald, published: 9 November 2009, accessed: 8 February 2010
  23. ↑ St Barbara considers underground gold mine at Tarmoola The Australian, published: 14 April 2007, accessed: 8 February 2010
  24. 1 2 3 The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition, page 128
  25. ↑ Sons of Gwalia fourth quarter report 2004 accessed: 12 January 2010

External links

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