The 15 Mile (previously Fifteen Mile Stream) Project consists of Egerton-Maclean, Plenty, Hudson and 149 Deposits.

Individual mining operations, including mining at Fifteen Mile Stream, 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 Fifteen Mile Stream, the highest gold grades are typically associated with beddingparallel tabular quartz veins. However, the host rock material between quartz veins also carries significant gold grades. It is the quartz vein hosted gold mineralization augmented by disseminated style mineralization that forms the basis of a geological model associated with the ongoing exploration and development of the Fifteen Mile Stream gold deposit.

Mineralization at Fifteen Mile Stream is focused in the hinge of a regional anticline and generally conforms to a saddle-reef style model where veins and related alteration occur in bedding-parallel structures resulting from folding. Fold related strain is focused within the softer meta-mudstone units thus mineralization is generally controlled by stratigraphy, with bedding-parallel quartz veins and related alteration mainly confined to meta-mudst ........

The 15 Mile Project will be mined with a conventional drill, blast and haul setup. There are four open pits: Egerton-Maclean, Plenty, Hudson and 149.

In summary:
• The peak mining rate is 8.7 million tonnes per year over a mine life of 11 years;
• A total of 18.5 million tonnes of ore will be mined at an average grade of 1.04 g/t, with a total of 52.1 million tonnes of waste mined, resulting in a stripping ratio of 2.8 tonnes waste per tonne of ore;
• The primary production equipment includes 4.5 m3 bucket production excavators and 64 tonne payload off highway mining trucks; and
• Stockpile rehandling is minimal with two small Run of Mine stockpiles for storing mill feed, with peak inventory of 0.5 million tonnes.

Changes to the previously intended mining sequence were undertaken to allow for smooth production profile across life of mine and use of exhausted open pits for backfill of selected waste to further reduce environmental disturbance.

- subscription is required.

- subscription is required.