Hillgrove

The Hillgrove Project that was recently acquired by Bracken Resources Pty Ltd, from Straits Resources Limited, is expected to be back in production again by January 2014. It is located 25 kilometres east of Armidale in New South Wales within the New England Region.

Hillgrove Project Will be a World Class Producer of Antimony
The Hillgrove Mine is a world class producer of gold and antimony but has not been worked since 2009. It will initially create work for 80 personnel with a workforce of 140 people being employed with the next three years. The mine will be subjected to modification and a series of upgrades before resuming production in 2014.

Mining at Hillgrove Began in the 1870's
The Hillgrove mineral field has been mined since the 1870's and it is renown for its considerable reserves of antimony, although Bracken Resources have stated it is primarily interested in it as a gold mine. However, the value of antimony mining to the operation has not been overlooked. Exploration drilling has determined a proven resource of more than six million tonnes at the Hillgrove Project and the company is confident further drilling will substantially increase their known reserves and resources of both gold and antimony, the antimony deposit is the largest in the world outside of China.

Existing Hillgrove Infrastructure to be Modified Before Production Resumes
Bracken Resources have purchased the Hillgrove Project with a strategy of modifying the existing infrastructure currently in existence at the mine, to enable it to produce two different concentrates. One, a gold and a high grade antimony concentrate and the other an arsenopyrite concentrate rich in gold. These concentrates will be obtained from a plant utilising the conventional crush, grind and flotation process.

Bracken Resources to Clean up Hillgrove Mine Site
The Hillgrove underground mine has had a chequered past as regards public relations in the Armidale area and has often been subjected to environmental concerns but the new owners state they have acknowledged these occurrences and are determined to clean up the site and have things done properly in the future.

Access to Hillgrove Mine via Decline from Baker Creek Gorge
Ore from the Hillgrove Project will be taken to the surface via a decline from Bakers Creek Gorge by truck and hauled to the processing plant for treatment. The two concentrates produced at the processing plant will be exported to customers in Asia where it will be further processed to recover the metal.

Mineralisation at Hillgrove Project
Mineralised ore at the Hillgrove Project is located within narrow sub- vertical structures. Gold mineralisation occurs as refractory and free gold with arsenopyrite and stibnite. Antimony mineralisation is located as stibnite which is present in narrow veins within a wider mineralisation of stibnite and arsenopyrite.
Annual ore production from the Hillgrove Mine, following re- commissioning in 2014, is expected to total 250,000 tonnes that will return 25,000 ounces of gold and 4,500 tonnes of stibnite in concentrate from which the average metal recovery is expected to be 80 percent gold and 85 percent stibnite.