Norseman Gold Mine

The Central Norseman gold mine is located at Norseman, Western Australia. Norseman lies at the southern end of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt, in the Eastern Goldfields Province of the Yilgarn Block, Western Australia.[1]

Central Norseman gold mine
Location
Central Norseman
Location in Western Australia
LocationNorseman
StateWestern Australia
CountryAustralia
Coordinates32°11′44″S 121°47′41″E
Production
Production23,637oz
Financial year2014–15
History
Discovered1894
Opened1936
Closed2014
Owner
CompanyNorseman Gold Plc (50%) Pantoro Limited (50%)
Year of acquisition2007

The mine is owned by an unincorporated 50/50 joint venture between Norseman Gold Plc and Pantoro Limited and operated by Pantoro. Until its closure in 2014 it was Australia’s longest continuously running gold mining operation, producing approximately six million ounces from its opening in 1935.[2][3]

History

Gold was first discovered in the district in 1892 at Dundas, 22 km south of present-day Norseman. This was followed on 11 August 1894 by a gold discovery at Dundas Hills at the site of the future town of Norseman by Lawrence Sinclair, his brother George Sinclair and Jack Alsopp who were following up specks of alluvial gold found in a small gully.[4] The discovery claim was initially named the Dundas Reward, and renamed The Norseman, after Sinclair's horse Hardy Norseman.[5] The Sinclair family came to Western Australia in December 1863 from the Shetland Isles.[1][6]

In 1935, a new era of mining began for the town, when Western Mining Corporation arrived in the region and invested in its infrastructure.[6]

Operated by Central Norseman Gold Corporation Ltd, a subsidiary of Western Mining, the mine became effectively owned by Croesus Mining NL in February 2002, when Croesus purchased WMC's 50.5% share of the company for A$75 million.[7][8] Croesus Mining went into administration in June 2006,[9][10] after gold production levels at Norseman fell short of hedging commitments.[11]

The mine was operated by Central Norseman Gold until April 2007, when it passed into the ownership of Davos Gold Pty Ltd, now Norseman Gold, who purchased it for a sum in excess of A$60 million.[8] Central Norseman gold mine had been in administration for eleven months at the time of the sale.[12]

The mine was an underground mining operation, first from the Phoenix Shaft on the Mararoa Reef, then on the Crown Reef from the Regent Shaft on the north end of the Mararoa and further north at the North Royal Mine and finally with two declines being mined, Bullen and Harlequin.[1] A third decline, the OK, commenced production in 2010.[13]

Gold mining operations at closure in 2014 included the Bullen and Harlequin mines and the Phoenix Mill.[14]

Production and resources

In 2014 the Norseman Gold plc reported a measured and indicated resource of 11.4 million tonnes grading 3.1 g/t gold, totalling 1.13 million ounces. No reserves were reported.[14]

Treatment

The gold processing plant at Phoenix, a mine abandoned in 1953, 20 kilometres (12 mi) south the North Royal Open Pit and 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the closed down Regent Shaft, uses conventional milling and carbon-in-leach technology to recover gold. Process water is obtained from a bore-field for the mining operations. Power is supplied by a third party on-site 10 MW power station that also supplies power to the Norseman township.[15] The capacity of the processing facility is approximately 720,000 tonnes per annum.[16]

Mine safety

Recently, three workers were killed in a six-year span at Central Norseman. On 5 August 2010, an underground miner at the mine was found dead at a new escape rise.[17][18] There was a further fatality at the Harlequin underground mine after a rockfall on 15 February 2014,[19] and another on 26 July 2016 when a boilermaker was crushed while working at the mine plant.[20][2]

References
  1. The Norseman Project Archived 2010-01-17 at the Wayback Machine Norseman Gold website, accessed: 30 December 2009
  2. Lucas, Jarrod (26 July 2019). "Gold miner fined $150,000 over death of worker, the third fatality in six-year span at Central Norseman mine". ABC Goldfields. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  3. Chiat, Josh (20 December 2018). "Central Norseman gold mine sale stalls". West Australian. Perth, WA. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  4. "The Norseman Find". The W.A. Record. Perth, WA. 8 November 1894. p. 4. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  5. "News from Dundas". The Inquirer and Commercial News. Perth, WA. 24 August 1894. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  6. History Shire of Dundas website, accessed: 30 December 2009
  7. CENTRAL NORSEMAN GOLD CORPORATION LIMITED (CNG) delisted.com.au, accessed: 30 December 2009
  8. Rush on for WA gold assets The Age, published: 6 November 2006, accessed: 30 December 2009
  9. CROESUS MINING NL (CRS) delisted.com.au, accessed: 30 December 2009
  10. Gold miner Croesus goes into liquidation miningtopnews.com, published: 27 June 2006, accessed: 30 December 2009
  11. Croesus Mining reviews acquisitions The Sydney Morning Herald, published: 28 January 2009, accessed: 30 December 2009
  12. Norseman Gold annual report 2007 accessed: 30 December 2009
  13. Bullen Mine, Norseman, Dundas Shire, Western Australia, Australia http://www.mindat.org/loc-218496.html
  14. "Statement of mineral resources 2014" (PDF). ASX. West Perth, WA: Norseman Gold plc. 24 December 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  15. "Norseman Gold mine - 10 MW". Contract Power Group. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  16. Norseman | Tulla Resources | MiningLink http://mininglink.com.au/site/norseman
  17. Fatal Accident Report 05/08/2010 Archived 2011-03-03 at the Wayback Machine WA mining fatalities database, accessed: 21 February 2011
  18. Fatality at the Norseman Project Norseman Gold Plc ASX announcement, published: 6 August 2010, accessed: 21 February 2011
  19. Death at Norseman gold mine
  20. "Safety performance in the Western Australian mineral industry 2016-17 - accident and injury statistics" (PDF). Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. East Perth, WA: Government of Western Australia. 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2019.

See also
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