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Australia
Bannockburn Mine (Thunderbox Operation)

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 Location:
64 km NW from Leonora, Western Australia, Australia

  Address:
Locked Bag 2
Leonora
Western Australia, Australia
6438
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Overview

StatusCare and Maintenance
Mine TypeOpen Pit
Commodities
  • Gold
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Processing
  • Gravity separation
  • Carbon re-activation kiln
  • Inline Pressure Jig
  • Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
  • Inline Leach Reactor (ILR)
  • Carbon in leach (CIL)
  • Carbon adsorption-desorption-recovery (ADR)
  • Elution
  • Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
  • Cyanide (reagent)
The Bannockburn mine was placed on care and maintenance in 1995 and by 1996 was back up and running under the management of Consolidated Gold Mines. Subsequent liquidation of the parent company to CGM, saw Arrow Resources continue on with mining until the reserves were exhausted in 1998.

The Bannockburn deposit has been mined using both open pit and underground methods in the past with ore processed through nearby processing facility. Since being acquired (2014) by Saracen a full scale feasibility study has been conducted with a view to bring the Bannockburn open pit in to operation.

The mine is currently on ‘care and maintenance’. All required Environmental studies have been completed and subsequent clearing permits and dewatering licences are in place. A Mining Proposal will be submitted at later stage in an appropriate manner for the operation to recommence.


Owners

Source: p. 361
CompanyInterestOwnership
Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd. 100 % Indirect
Northern Star Resources Ltd. 100 % Indirect
On February 12, 2021, Saracen Mineral Holdings completed
its merger with Northern Star Resources Ltd.

The tenements and land tenure status is 100% held by Saracen Metals Pty Ltd.

Deposit Type

  • Vein / narrow vein


Summary:

The Bannockburn deposit is located along the western margin within the central portion of the Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt. Locally the project area is dominated by an extensive sequence of tholeiitic, high-Mg and komatiitic basalts with intercalated sedimentary and intermediate volcaniclastic horizons. Dolerite and gabbro sills intrude the sequence. The deposit is complex with multiple controlling factors. The gross geometry of the deposit is controlled by the Bannockburn fault, a steeply dipping NNW trending fault that is continuous over at least 2.3km on the western margin of the orebody. The fault separates an ultramafic unit in the west from the Bannockburn host sequence in the east. It dips steeply east, rolling to vertical and steep west dipping in the northern part of the orebody. The Bannockburn fault is effectively the western boundary to the orebody with very little mineralisation penetrating the western side of the fault. The Central fault which hosts the Central orebody has a shallow northerly plunge and is the orebody on which the majority of the underground workings is focused. There are a series of steeply east dipping lodes in the hangingwall of the central lode; these are interpreted as either tensional veins of reverse faults with shearing present along the veins. Black graphic shale units present within the stratigraphy have acted as a localised control on the mineralisation. The black shale units have taken up some of the deformation with stratigraphy parallel shearing and mafic sequences between the shales have extended to form steep east dipping extension veins.

The Bannockburn gold deposit has a strike of 340° (NNW) and has a shallow plunge 5-10° to the NNW. The Bannockburn Shear dips steeply to the east, whilst the Central thrust varies from 30°dip to the west and east but is predominantly flat.


Mining Methods

  • Truck & Shovel / Loader


Summary:

The Bannockburn deposit is amenable to mining by both open pit and underground methods. The deposit has been mined by open pit and underground methods historically. There are reasonable grounds to assume that in the future this deposit will again be mined by conventional open pit load and haul operations.

Mining Method The mining method to be employed at Bannockburn deposit is conventional open pit mining with a hydraulic excavator, dump truck fleet, and drill and blast activity.

Bannockburn reserve pit is designed as a large pit and will be mined in several stages to improve the stripping ratio. The Reserve pit will be mined such that it meets the operation efficiency, safety and production rate.


Crushing and Grinding
Crusher / Mill TypeModelSizePowerQuantity
Jaw crusher 1
SAG mill 1
Ball mill 1

Summary:

Single stage crushing:
- SAG and ball mill grinding circuit.

Thunderbox mill to be expanded to 3.5Mtpa during FY22. The secondary crushing circuit will deliver a finer product size to the grinding circuit. Saracen has purchased two Sandvik crushers that will be utilised (currently in storage).


Processing

  • Gravity separation
  • Carbon re-activation kiln
  • Inline Pressure Jig
  • Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
  • Inline Leach Reactor (ILR)
  • Carbon in leach (CIL)
  • Carbon adsorption-desorption-recovery (ADR)
  • Elution
  • Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
  • Cyanide (reagent)

Source: Subscription required

Summary:

It is expected that any future mining of the Bannockburn deposit will be processed at the Thunderbox processing facility.

The Thunderbox mill employs a conventional crushing, grinding and CIL leaching process to extract the gold. The mill operated successfully between 2002 and 2007, processing in excess of 9Mt of ore. The conventional plant displayed excellent performance with gold recoveries between 93.4 to 96.6 % over the life of the mine. It has since been upgraded to include a gravity recovery circuit facilitating continued high recoveries with increased throughput rates. Ongoing supply of Thunderbox ore to the processing facility will continue to be sourced from a combination of open pit oxide and fresh rock from the underground operations.


Combined production numbers are reported under Thunderbox Operation


Reserves at June 30, 2020:
The Ore Reserve is estimated at cut-off grade of 0.50g/t.

CategoryTonnage CommodityGradeContained Metal
Proven & Probable 8,800 kt Gold 1.6 g/t 460 koz
Measured & Indicated 10,000 kt Gold 1.8 g/t 600 koz
Inferred 160 kt Gold 2 g/t 10 koz
Total Resource 10,000 kt Gold 1.9 g/t 610 koz


Heavy Mobile Equipment:

Mine Management:

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Dec 5, 2020
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Corporate Filings & Presentations:

DocumentYear
................................... Subscription required 2020
................................... Subscription required 2020
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2018
Annual Report 2017
Year-end Mineral Reserves 2017
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

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