Cleo

The Cleo Mine was located 55 kilometres south of Laverton and 220 kilometres north east of Kalgoorlie in the Western Australian Eastern Goldfields. Gold was discovered at Cleo in 1993 by Shell Company of Australia which created the company 'Acacia Resources' to specifically commence mining the Cleo deposit in February 1997 under the name 'Sunrise Dam Gold Mine.' The gold extracted from Cleo/ Sunrise Dam Gold Mine was initially treated by means of a conventional gravity and leach gold processing plant.

The First Cleo Gold Bar was Poured in 1997
The Cleo Mine produced 198,000 ounces of gold in1999 and an upgrade that took place during the year increased gold ore output from a previous 1.3 million tonnes to two million tonnes a year. The first gold bar was poured from the Cleo Mine in 1997. The open pit mine has recently closed with the mine continuing as an underground mining operation that began 2003.

Exploration in Hand to extend the Underground Mine
The combined Sunshine Dam/Cleo mine produced 246,000 ounces of gold in 2011 at which time it had 22.39 million tonnes of mineral reserves grading at 2.12 grams of gold a tonne which equates to 1.53 million ounces. In 2012 near mine exploration began in order to grow the resource by 20 million tonnes before the end of 2013. This involved extending the known mineral resource that is currently at a depth of two kilometres.

Barminco are the Mining Contractors Operating the Sunrise Dam Gold Mine
Barminco are the contractors operating the Sunrise Dam Project on behalf of the mine's South African owners, AngloGold Ashanti. Barminco employ a fly-in-fly-out workforce of over 200 workers who are accommodated in camp accommodation when completing their rostered-on duties. The current contract, that began in 2003, expires in 2016. Barminco are producing 600,000 tonnes of gold bearing ore annually at the mine.

AngloGold Acquired Sunrise Dam Gold Mine by Acquiring Acacia Resources in February 2000
Mine owner, AngloGold Ashanti Limited, was formed in 2004 as a result of a merger comprising Ashanti Goldfields Corporation and AngloGold. The company, that has its headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, has 24 operations on four continents. In Australia, AngloGold Investments Australia Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of AngloGold, acquired Acacia Resources in December 1999. Arcacia Resources becoming wholly owned by AngloGold by early February 2000. At the time Acacia Resources owned the Sunrise Dam Gold Mine which then became the property of AngloGold which was to later become AngloGold Ashanti.

Cleo/Sunrise Dam Project Created in Remote Location
The area surrounding the mine is flat apart from a small iron rise called Sunrise Hill. The ground comprises sand dunes and salt pans. Because of its remoteness the mine owners had to construct their own all weather air strip, camp accommodation to cater for 150 employees and haulage roads, as well as install their own diesel powered generator plant. The gold treatment plant at the Sunrise Dam Gold Mine, that is also owned by AngloGold Ashanti, uses traditional carbon-in-leach technology and a gravity circuit that extracts course gold.
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