Development of the Scuddles mine started in 1988 with a decline and shaft sink; production commenced two years later. The Gossan Hill decline was started in 1994 and production commenced in 1998. A number of open pits have been mined in the past for copper and gold ores, but no open pit mining is currently being undertaken.
Scuddles is accessed via a 630m shaft and a 1 in 7 gradient decline to a depth of 1,105m with deep drilling having identified ore grade mineralisation to depths of around 1,950m; Gossan Hill to the south is accessed by decline only, to a current depth of around 1,370m at Hougoumont and 1,437m at Xantho. The decline branches off to provide access to the two major current producing orebodies, Xantho and Hougoumont; deep drilling has identified ore grade mineralisation to depths of around 2,180m.
Gossan Hill is currently the primary source of ore, which is hauled to the surface via the decline, stockpiled at the Gossan Hill ROM, crushed and conveyed around 3km by surface conveyor to the processing plant adjacent to the Scuddles shaft; ore from Scuddles is crushed underground and hoisted to the surface by skips operating in the main shaft.
Production in the last two years came from a total of eight ore zones mined at Gossan Hill and Scuddles. The major ore producer over the last two years has been Hougoumont, with 30-40% of production coming from this ore zone. Xantho has been the next most significant ore source contributing ........
