Golden Grove mine

Golden Grove mine
Location
Golden Grove mine is located in Western Australia
Golden Grove mine
Golden Grove mine
Location in Western Australia
LocationYalgoo
StateWestern Australia
CountryAustralia
Coordinates28°44′41″S 116°56′38″E / 28.74472°S 116.94389°E / -28.74472; 116.94389
Production
ProductsCopper concentrate
Zinc concentrate
ProductionCopper: 18,100 tonnes
Gold: 14,000 ounces
Lead: 1,170 tonnes
Silver: 775,000 ounces
Zinc: 51,500 tonnes
Financial year2023[1]
History
Discovered1971[2]
Opened1990[2]
Owner
Company29Metals Limited
Websitewww.29metals.com/assets/golden-grove
Year of acquisition2021
Map

The Golden Grove mine is a copper, lead, silver, zinc and gold mine located 52 km south-southeast of Yalgoo, Western Australia. It is operated by 29Metals Limited after a 2021 divestment by EMR Capital.

History

The mine was originally owned by Australian Consolidated Minerals Pty Ltd[3] before passing into the ownership of Normandy Poseidon Ltd in November 1991. Normandy, now renamed Normandy Mining Ltd, was acquired by Newmont Australia Ltd in February 2002.[4]

Newmont passed on the mine to Oxiana Limited in June 2005 for A$265 million[5] and Oxiana merged with Zinifex to form OZ Minerals in mid-2008.[6] OZ Minerals had to sell Golden Grove in June 2009 to China Minmetals, like almost all its other mines, when the company was hit by severe financial difficulties.[7]

Golden Grove currently consists of two operations that are 3 km apart, the Gossan Hill underground mine and the Scuddles underground mine, which both produce zinc, copper, lead, silver and gold.[5] The Gossan Hill deposit was discovered in 1971, and the Scuddles deposit was discovered in 1979.[2]

In 2008, the mine's revenue was A$266.2 million and had a segment operating result of A$72.1 million.[8]

In June 2009, OZ Minerals announced that a trunnion bearing failure on its mill at Golden Grove had put the mill out of service for almost a month, shortly before the approval of the sale of the mine,[9] but operations resumed in July 2009.[10]

It was purchased by EMR Capital, a specialist resources private equity manager, who purchased the mine from MMG in February 2017. Minerals and Metals Group was formed after its parent company China Minmetals bought the mine from OZ Minerals in June 2009.[11] Golden Grove was part of a deal in which the Sepon, Century, Rosebery and Avebury Mines, the Dugald River, High Lake, and Izok Lake Projects, as well as some exploration assets were sold for US$1.354 billion by OZ Minerals to China Minmetals.[12]

The deal, initially including the Prominent Hill Mine, was blocked by the Australian Government, citing national security concerns. Wayne Swan, Treasurer of Australia, stated that Prominent Hill could not be included in the sale as it was within sensitive military area and the sale went only ahead after Prominent Hill was excluded.[13]

EMR Capital purchased the mine in 2017 for US$210 million after MMG had been looking for a buyer since 2016. EMR Capital had been founded by Owen Hegarty, who had led Oxiana when it acquired Golden Grove from Newmont in 2005.[14]

In June 2021, EMR Capital divested itself of Golden Grove and other assets, launching the Australian Securities Exchange-listed 29Metals Limited as the new owner of the mine.[15]

Production

Production figures for the mine:1[16][17][8][18][19][1]

Year Copper Gold Lead Silver Zinc
2001 22,249 t 5,356 oz 4,937 t 975,146 oz 77,569 t
2002 19,500 t 10,300 oz 4,937 t 899,500 oz 34,571 t
2003
2004
2005 21,808 t 25,272 oz 4,949 t 2,174,620 oz 70,508 t
2006 10,811 t 49,354 oz 11,458 t 3,005,611 oz 138,817 t
2007 15,404 t 48,807 oz 8,119 t 3,165,408 oz 131,954 t
2008 18,467 t 47,755 oz 13,300 t 3,157,837 oz 139,900 t
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021 16,015 t 35,850 oz 2,448 t 1,496,339 oz 47,756 t
2022 16,938 t 26,574 oz 2,764 t 1,321,000 oz 57,575 t
2023 18,100 t 14,000 oz 1,170 t 775,000 oz 51,500 t
  • 1 January to September 2002 only.

References

  1. ^ a b "2023 Appendix 4E and Annual Financial Report" (PDF). 29Metals Limited. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Robinson, Stuart; Belford, Susan (1991). "The Scuddles Massive Sulphide Discovery: An Exploration Case History". Exploration Geophysics. 22: 315. doi:10.1071/EG991315.
  3. ^ AUSTRALIAN CONSOLIDATED MINERALS LIMITED (ACM) delisted.com.au, accessed: 11 January 2010
  4. ^ NORMANDY MINING LIMITED (NDY) delisted.com.au, accessed: 11 January 2010
  5. ^ a b To Acquire Golden Grove Mine from Newmont Oxiana ASX announcement, published: 24 June 2005, accessed: 11 January 2010
  6. ^ Change of name to OZ Minerals approved Oxiana ASX announcement, published: 22 July 2008, accessed: 11 January 2010
  7. ^ MINEDEX website - Golden Grove search result Archived September 11, 2008, at the Wayback Machine accessed: 11 January 2010
  8. ^ a b Oxiana/OZ Minerals 2008 annual report Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine accessed: 11 January 2010
  9. ^ Mill outage at Golden Grove OZ Minerals ASX announcement, published: 17 June 2009, accessed: 11 January 2010
  10. ^ Golden Grove mill back online: Minmetals The Sydney Morning Herald, published: 7 July 2009, accessed: 11 January 2010
  11. ^ Completion of Transaction with Minmetals OZ Minerals ASX announcement, published: 17 June 2009, accessed: 11 January 2010
  12. ^ Minmetals Succeeds in OZ Minerals Deal Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine Minmetals Australia Pty Ltd website, published: 6 November 2008, accessed: 11 January 2010
  13. ^ Australia Blocks China’s Purchase of Mining Company The New York Times, published: 27 March 2009, accessed: 11 January 2010
  14. ^ Creagh, Ben (1 March 2017). "EMR Capital completes $US210m Golden Grove acquisition". Australian Mining. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  15. ^ Thompson, Sarah (6 June 2021). "EMR Capital signs off on 29Metals IPO at $2 a share, 4.8x EBITDA". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  16. ^ The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition, page 317
  17. ^ Oxiana 2007 annual report Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine accessed: 12 January 2010
  18. ^ "2021 Q4 Report" (PDF). 29Metals Limited. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  19. ^ "2022 Q4 Report" (PDF). 29Metals Limited. Retrieved 4 March 2023.

Bibliography

  • Louthean, Ross (ed.). The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition. Louthean Media Pty Ltd.