Homestead

When Norton Gold Fields Limited opened the Homestead underground gold mine in 2009 it was the first underground gold mine the company had in its Paddington portfolio. It has since proved to be Norton Gold Field's most prospective performer in the whole Mt Pleasant group of mines because, as the high grade ore is mined, it is continually being replaced with the discovery of new high grade mineralised deposits.

Giant Chinese Miner Zijin Acquires 89 Percent of Norton
China's premier gold producer, Zijin Mining Group Company, Norton's largest shareholder, was that impressed it increased its shareholding in the company to 89 percent in 2012. With such powerful shareholders, Norton is now perfectly placed to fully realise the Paddington operations full potential for the first time.

Homestead Underground Mine Achievements
The Homestead underground gold mine is a part of the Mount Pleasant Group of gold mines located 18 kilometres south west of the Paddington Mill and just 35 kilometres from Kalgoorlie. The Homestead deposit is the first of many potential underground mines the company is looking at developing in the area. The Homestead Mine produced 47,000 ounces of gold in its first year of production and ever since the mine opened it has always been able to replace resource depletion through resource extension drilling. Early Homestead achievements so far include the following:

• Development of the mine started with cutting of the portal on April 18, 2009
• The successful intersecting with the ore body in December 2009
• Completion of the decline and infrastructure in 2009
• Homestead mine production commencing in July 2010
• Exploration at the Homestead Mine has identified several new ore
• bodies such as the Phantom and VN03 veins.
• In 2011 164,000 tonnes of ore was mined grading at 6.82 grams per
• tonne (35,961 ounces)

Homestead Underground Mine Accessed by way of Twin Declines
Access to the Homestead underground mine is by means of a twin decline with a portal from the Quarters Pit. Mining operation takes the form of traditional bench stoping and the ore is taken to the surface by trucks along the decline. Long wall open stoping extraction was chosen owing to the deposit being steeply dipped and the existence of a competent wall rock.

Norton Buys Paddington off Barrick Gold
Norton Gold Fields acquired the Paddington mines from Barrick Gold in 2007 along with the 3.3 million tonne a year processing facility, various open pits and a long pipeline of known projects and sound exploration targets. The purchase made Norton an immediate key player in world class gold production. Its rebuilding of the Paddington complex made Norton one of Australia's largest gold producers with production exceeding 150,00 ounces a year from a workforce of 350 personnel.

Rich Tenements Give Promise of a Good Future
The Paddington tenements cover an area of 678 square kilometres, all inside the mineral rich Kalgoorlie gold province. It's gold inventory includes the following:

• Resource potential identified in 80 prospects
• Twenty-six listed projects that have Measured, Indicated and
• Inferred resources of 6.03 million ounces
• Nine projects with Proven and Probable Ore Reserves of 1.03
• million ounces

A further bonus is that most of the tenement are unexplored below 100 metres which gives the company a good exploration upside with potential to further increase its ore reserves and mineral resources.
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