Costerfield mh zone

The Costerfield gold mining project 10 kilometres from Heathcote in Central Victoria is located 100 kilometres north of Melbourne in Victoria. The project includes the Augusta mine, previously known as the Costerfield mh zone, the Brunswick gold processing plant, the Cuffley lode deposit and all the mining infrastructure. The mine itself is situated on privately owned land, however, the Brunswick gold treatment facility is on Crown land.

The Costerfield mh Zone is now the Augusta Mine
The Costerfield mh zone, now known as the Augusta Mine, is part of a gold mining tenement covering 7.5,000 hectares in total, with 1.2 hectares covering the main mining activity and the balance in two exploration licences. The mine is operational throughout the year.

Canadian Company Mandalay Resources Acquired Costerfield From Western Coal
Canadian mining exploration company, Mandalay Resources, acquired the Costerfield project in late 2009 from Western Coal, through its wholly owned subsidiary AGD Operations. AGD also operates the gold and antimony mine and immediately re-commenced mining at the Costerfield mine. By the end of 2010 it was producing more than 5,000 tonnes of gold bearing ore a month. This production level was repeated again the following year and processing rose to 10,639 tonnes during the fourth quarter of 2012.Whilst the mining operation went about depleting the known reserves at the mine, ongoing exploration more than catered for the loss, as in 2011 the Cuffley lode was discovered and a Preliminary Economic Analysis was established, to be completed in 2013, This report will accurately identify the project's current high grade inferred resources. The acquisition of the Costerfield Mine by Mandalay Resources was important in the sense that it grew the company from a primarily exploration company to mid-tier producer.

Changed Mining Methods Double Production Output
The underground mining method used at the Costerfield Project's Augusta Mine is carried out using cemented rock fill and blast hole stoping technology. This change in mining methodology has been the main reason of the almost doubling of throughput between the last quarter of 2011 and the fourth quarter of 2012. AGD Operations are reprocessing the tailings left behind by earlier mining at the site as well as developing the underground mine itself. Mining of the upper levels of the Augusta mine involves the mining of remnant ore pillars that were left when mining was abandoned before 2009.

Costerfield Potential First Recognised in the 1960's
The Costerfield mining operation at the Augusta Mine produces high grade antimony and gold with potential for significant production expansion, particularly the newly developed Cuffley lode and future discoveries of new veins in the tenement area. The first veins of gold were discovered at the Costerfield mine site area in the 1960's . Antimony and gold being produced during two periods, from 1860 to 1883 and from 1904 to 1925. Since that time exploration has been ongoing although there was another production period from 1934 to 1980. Exploration increased significantly from 1980 that resulted in the Brunswick Processing Plant being built in 1995. This allowed the re-treating of tailings as well as ore from an open pit mine created at the Brunswick deposit. The Augusta deposit was discovered during the period from 1975 to 1981 with a successful feasibility study proving the viability of the Augusta underground mine being established on the site in 2006.

Mandalay Resources itself began exploration in 2010 at the Costerfield site using just one rig, although, by the end of 2011, it had three rigs operating. This program resulted in the locating of resources that has extended the west and north lodes in the Augusta Mine and extending the Cuffley lode discovery of earlier in the year. In the first three months of 2013 the Costerfield gold mining operation produced 6,203 ounces of gold. This is comparable to 3,690 ounces produced in the same three months of 2012.
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