Individual mining operations, including mining at Cochrane Hill, have focussed on quartz-vein hosted gold deposits within the Goldenville Formation, typically associated with the limbs and hinges of anticlines. This setting is often referred to as ‘Meguma style’ gold mineralization and a number of workers have drawn parallels with a similar style of gold mineralization in the Victorian Goldfields of eastern Australia (e.g. Christie et al, 1999) .

At Cochrane Hill, the highest gold grades are typically associated with bedding-parallel tabular quartz veins. However, the host rock material between quartz veins also carrie s significant gold grades. It is the quartz vein hosted gold mineralization augmented by dissem inated style mineralization that forms the basis of a geological model associated with the ongoing exploration and development of the Cochrane Hill Deposit.

Gold mineralisation within the Cochrane Hill Property has been recognised over a strike length of approximately 3.8km, along a single trend, several hundred metres south of the a nticlinal axis.

The Cochrane Hill Deposit is near the eastern end of this trend. It occurs as a tabular zone of parallel, planar quartz veins in a well bedded argillite and greywacke protolith, dipping steeply to the north at approximately 70°, parallel to bedding in the southern limb of the overturned Cochrane Hill Anticline. Gold mineralisation occurs over true widths of up to 60m to 70m, within which ........

Mining is based on conventional open pit methods suited for the project location and local site requirements. The mining fleet will include diesel powered down the hole (DTH) drills with 144 mm bit size for production drilling, diesel-powered RC drills for bench-scale grade control drilling, 5 m3 bucket size diesel hydraulic excavators and 7 m3 bucket sized wheel loaders for production loading, and 64 t payload rigid-frame haul trucks and 41 t articulated trucks for production hauling, plus ancillary and service equipment to support the mining operations. In-pit dewatering systems will be established for each pit. All surface water and precipitation in the pits will be handled by submersible pumps.

Two independent stand-alone open pit operations at Fifteen Mile Stream and Cochrane Hill will run concurrently with the Touquoy and Beaver Dam operations.

At Cochrane Hill, ore will be hauled to a crusher to be situated 1,200 m east of the pit, which will feed the process plant. Waste rock will be split into PAG and NPAG material and will be deposited into a WRSFs to be located 700 m north of the pit or will be used as rock fill in construction of the TMF that will be situated 1,300 m southeast of the pit.

The Cochrane Hill pit is split into south and north phases with the higher-grade south phase mined ahead of the north phase. A starter phase is also designed to provide waste rock construction materials to the starter tailings dam.

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