Mine Details
Angas
http://www.terramin.com.au
zinc, lead, gold, silver, , Adelaide Suburbs, DiDo
Phone:
Address:
Callington Rd, Strathalbyn, SA, 5255
State: Callington Rd, Strathalbyn, SA, 5255
Email:
The Angas zinc mine at Strathalbyn, 60 kilometres from Adelaide on South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula, is fully owned by Terramin Australia Limited. It is a more recent mine in that production only began there in July 2008. At the time of starting operations at the Angus mine probable reserves were expected to be over two million tonnes at over 10 percent lead and zinc. Sufficient to give the mine a seven year productive life. As often occurs however further exploration since that time gives a strong indication that is can be safely assumed that this prediction will be extended.
A mine in the suburbs
Although the Angas mine is only 60 kilometres from the capital city of Adelaide it is located in a historical mining area where Terramin holds more than 1000 square kilometres of tenements. The Angas mine itself, that is capable of producing 400,000 tonnes of ore a year, trucks its zinc concentrate 70 kilometres to Port Adelaide from where it is shipped to Asia. The silver, gold, copper and lead concentrate is trucked 280 kilometres to the Nyrstar Port Pirie lead smelter for ongoing processing.
Forty Tonne trucks bring the ore almost three kilometres to the surface
The Angas underground zinc mine is accessed by a portal at the bottom of the original box cut, a five metre diameter decline that takes you on a ramp dropping at one metre every seven metres to a distance of 2.8 kilometres from the portal. The ore is mined by means of bench stoping along with progressive filling. The rock in the vertical stopes is drilled and blasted and then back filled to give stability. The Angas mine levels have been set at 20 vertical metres from each other to a depth of around 400 metres. Most stope production is managed by utilising tele-remote loading methods. The mined ore is taken to the surface in 40 tonne articulated dump trucks where it is stockpiled to await processing.
Surface Processing at the Angas Mine
Once on the surface the ore is first crushed to 100 millimetres in diameter before being taken to a grinding mill where it is further ground down to enable it to pass through 103 microns. It then undergoes conventional floatation using water and various chemicals which separate the zinc concentrate from the other concentrate containing silver, gold, copper and lead.
Both concentrates are then filtered, dried and stored on site in protective sheds to await transportation in covered B-Double trucks to their respective destinations. The left over residue from the floatation plant is thickened to 70 percent solid and pumped into a tailings storage from which the water is extracted and reused to repeat the process with other ore being bought into the plant.
Terramin have a five year off-take agreement with Nyrstar to take all their lead concentrate during that period and a life of mine agreement with J.P. Morgan Metals and Concentrates LLC to take all their zinc production.
The Fleurieu Peninsula is a Highly Mineralised Area
The Fleurieu Peninsula, where the Angas mine is situated, is a rich mineralised area with many small zinc and lead mines still working. Mining first began there in the 1840's making it the first region in Australia to create a base metal mining belt. One kilometre north of the Angas mine is the Strathalbyn mine that was discovered in 1848. The largest historical workings in the area took place at the Wheal Ellen mine that began production in the 1850's. The Wheal Ellen mine was located eight kilometres north of the Angas mine.
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