Ballarat

The Ballarat underground gold mine is located 115 kilometres north west of Melbourne. Both the mine and its associated gold treatment plant were recommissioned in 2011 with the first gold pour taking place under its new management in September the same year. Production at the Ballarat mine was significantly increased in 2012 and by mid year the advancement with underground development was such that it included a number of working areas that were progressively trending in a northerly direction.

Ballarat Underground Gold Mine Acquired by LionGold in 2012
Castlemaine Gold (CGT) purchased the Ballarat underground gold mine and all of its associated infrastructure from Lihir Gold in 2010. Lihir Gold had purchased the mine in 2007. Castlemaine Gold was subsequently acquired by LionGold Corporation in August 2012. LionGold remain the mine's current owner through its fully owned subsidiary Castlemaine Goldfields.

Ballarat Mine to Produce 50,000 Ounces of Gold a Year
Since LionGold have acquired ownership of the Ballarat Gold mine it has remained on target to increase the mine's gold production rate to between 40,000 and 50,000 ounces a year in the 2014 financial year. In 2013 the Ballarat gold mine achieved 2.9 kilometres of underground development, carried out 26.3 kilometres of diamond drilling and mined 170,663 tonnes of ore that produced 6.6 grams of gold a tonne.

Tailings Storage Expanded at Ballarat Gold Mine
During 2013 the company also began work on the expansion of the mine's tailings storage facility and introduced a third haulage truck to further compliment its underground fleet, along with a third loader. The company also undertook an engineering study to find a way to increase its gold recovery in the treatment plant's flotation circuit.

Ballarat Mine Success Encourages Further Regional Development
The success of the Ballarat mine has given LionGold the confidence to develop a wider regional gold exploration program that will generate a pipeline of gold mining projects to eventually feed into the Ballarat gold processing plant. Castlemaine Goldfields has a total of five significant tenements in an area of 152 square kilometres that takes in the historic central Victoria gold belt.

The Ballarat gold field is the second largest historical gold production region in Victoria and it has now become Castlemaine Goldfields cornerstone project. The Ballarat tenement itself comprises two parallel gold lines of reef that are divided by cross faults into four separate northern compartments, namely the ; Victoria, Britannia, llanberris and Golden point.

Ballarat Mine Facilities use the Latest Technology
The facilities at the Ballarat underground mine includes the 600,000 tonne a year gold processing mill that has gravity and leach circuits along with a water treatment plant that encorporates the latest technology in the industry, such as reverse osmosis, a stores inventory and an assay laboratory. The company is also keeping to a high standard as regard land management and rehabilitation, ensuring a good working relationship with Parks Victoria and an active fire reduction program.

Ballarat Mine Deep Under the City of Ballarat
The Ballarat underground gold mining operation is taking place directly
beneath the city of Ballarat. The decline that leads to the the mine workings is five metres high and five metres wide and stretches a distance of more than five kilometres from the portal entry.
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