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Australia

Southern Cross Operation

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit & Underground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Gold
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
  • Longhole open stoping
SnapshotSouthern Cross operation is an operational project area comprising a number of underground and open-pit gold mines, and Marvel Loch Processing Plant.

Production data has not been available since 2018.
Related Asset

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Shandong Tianye Gold Mining Co Ltd 100 % Indirect
Barto Gold Mining Pty Ltd. owns and operates the Southern Cross Operations (SXO).

Barto Gold Mining Pty Ltd. is a subsidiary of Shandong Tianye Group Bid Co Pty Ltd.

Deposit type

  • Vein / narrow vein
  • Banded iron formation

Summary:

The Southern Cross deposit is located within one of the three granite-greenstone terranes, and is known as the Southern Cross Province. The geology of this region is dominated by the Marda-Diemals greenstone belt, which is divided into three layers including the lower greenstone belt which is comprised of mafic volcanics and BIFs, a felsic-intermediate volcanic layer and an upper sedimentary layer which dominated by calc-alkaline volcanics and clastic sedimentary rocks.

Gold mineralisation in the Southern Cross district typically occurs along the northwest/southeast trending Achaean Southern Cross Greenstone Belt. The Southern Cross Greenstone Belt is a highly deformed band which comprises tholeiitic and high-Mg basalts and komatiites together with BIF overlain by younger sequences of terrigenous sedimentary rocks.The Belt has been influenced by overlapping metamorphic, deformational and granitoid emplacement events.

The lode-gold deposits in this belt occur within the volcanic-dominated greenstones, with the most significant deposits being within the Fraser’s Corinthia shear zone. The major structures which are recognised for gold mineralisation are in the fold-hinge zones and the shear zones. Within the foldhinge zones, the most common host rock is BIF, while in the shear zones, the gold mineralisation is found primarily within the mafic and ultramafic volcanic rocks and micaceous schists.

Within these rocks, the ore is present as quartz rich and sulfide rich lodes. The quartz lodes are commonly developed as veins in tremolite hornblende biotite schists. The gold mineralisation is generally associated with sulfides such as pyrrhotite, pyrite, galena and sphalerite. The sulfide rich lode is developed within greenstones, which are commonly foliated schists consisting of biotite, quartz, plagioclase and carbonate with finely disseminated gold mineralisation occurring in association with sulfide within the quartz bands.

Gold mineralisation in the Southern Cross region is typically structurally controlled, and is primarily hosted by quartz veins which may be associated with interlayered high-Fe metabasalts, greenstone belts, and shear zones containing BIF and pelitic rocks. The dominant ore mineralogy consists of pyrrhotite, pyrite, arsenopyrite and other sulfarsenides (Knaak, et al., 1995). Gold mineralisation may also be associated with massive pyrrhotite and pyrite replacement in the BIF, which is associated with breccia zones and schist bands.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

CommodityUnits201720162015
Gold oz 27,598121,45658,887
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré.

Operational metrics

Metrics2022201720162015
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe2.4 Mt2.4 Mt
Tonnes processed  ....  Subscribe1,757,935 t993,360 t

Production Costs

CommodityUnits2017
C1 cash costs Gold AUD 958 / oz  

Operating Costs

Currency2016
Combined mining costs ($/t mined) AUD  ....  Subscribe

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Oct 8, 2024
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