Kanowna Belle is located in the Kalgoorlie Terrane (Boorara sub-domain) of the Eastern Goldfields Province.

Stratigraphically, the deposit sits in the Black Flag Group which overlies the lower volcanic sequences.

The Kanowna Belle deposit is hosted within a series of volcaniclastic sediments ranging in grain size from shale to conglomerates. These rocks are respectively separated into hangingwall and footwall sequences by a major 60° S-SE dipping zone of structural disruption and mineralisation.

The footwall sequence is dominated by the Golden Valley conglomerate, a mafic-dominated unit interbedded with the felsic-dominated Cemetery conglomerate. The hangingwall sequence comprises three mainvolcaniclastic units, these are the QED rudite, the Lowes sandstone and the Grave Dam grit, which is the dominant unit.
The sequence has been intruded by the Kanowna Belle porphyry, which is granodioritic in composition. At least 70% of the known gold mineralization is hosted by the Kanowna Belle porphyry, with the remaining mineralisation hosted by sedimentary units.

Gold in this mineralisation phase occurs mostly as fine grained (less than 10 microns (µm)) inclusions in pyrite or as very fine grained gold located in arsenic rich growth zones in pyrite. Free gold occurs in minor proportions, and typically occupies D2 extensional sites adjacent to pyrite crystals.

The Kanowna Belle gold deposit is mined by longhole stoping and underhand longhole bench stoping with paste fill methods. This mining method was selected to minimise the impact of mining induced stress on the underground operations through the use of geotechnical driven mining sequences and a fill system integral in the mining cycle.

The mining method used at Kanowna Belle underground is called longhole open stoping (LHOS). Mining of the LHOS commences with the development of drives (tunnels) on each level and the sides of these are supported by cement grouted roof bolts, mesh and shotcrete. These drives delineate the boundary of the stope. Each LHOS is 15-30m wide, up to 50m long and 120m high. Depending on size each stope may contain between 20,000 to 50,000 tonnes of ore.

The Kanowna Belle processing plant is a complex and versatile plant that includes separate circuits for processing free-milling and refractory gold ores. The plant has undergone incremental capacity increases since its initial construction and now has an annual throughput capacity of 1.88Mtpa. Processing at the current rate of ~1.82Mtpa of underground ore affords the processing plant the ability to substantially increase production should the need arise.

The crushing and grinding circuits are common for the free milling and refractory circuits.

The crushing circuit is a simple single stage circuit with a 240t capacity ROM bin feeding a Jaques double toggle 60x48 (185kw) crusher at a 420tph crushing capacity. The crushed ore, nominally minus 125mm reports to a 20,000t partially-covered coarse ore stockpile with a live capacity of about 1,000t.

This product is then reclaimed by an apron feeder and two vibrating feeders located under the stockpile and dis ........