Mammoth

The Mammoth copper mine in North West Queensland, a part of the Aditya Birla Group's Mt Gordon operation, has fully recovered from being placed on care and maintenance when world copper prices plunged in 2009 and is once again a big contributor to Australia's copper production.

Barminco Mining Contractors Operate the Mammoth Mine

The Mammoth underground mine that is located 120 kilometres from Mt Isa, is operated by mining contractor Barminco as a fly-in-fly-out operation. Workers live in camp accommodation when working their restored days on, arriving for work at the company's own 1.2 kilometre airstrip. The nearest major centre is Mt Isa that can be reached by car via 80 kilometres of unsealed and 40 kilometres of sealed road.

Over one Million Tonnes of ore Produced Annually at the Mammoth Mine

The mine processes 1.2 million tonnes of ore a year that produces 20,000 tonnes of copper concentrate. The Mammoth underground mine reaches a depth of about 750 metres and is worked with the use of large late model diesel and electro-hydraulic mining equipment. Access is obtained via a decline.

Longhole Stoping used at the Mammoth Mine

Before blasting takes place underground at the Mammoth Mine, the ore body has to be drilled with the use of electro-hydraulic rigs. The resulting broken ore is loaded by load-haul-dump machinery into trucks capable of carrying 60 tonnes at a time via the decline, to the surface. At the surface the ore is either placed onto a stockpile, or placed on the ROM (run-of- mill) pad while awaiting feeding into the grinding and crushing circuit. Mining at the Mammoth Mine is achieved with the use of longhole open stoping. The stope sizes being, on average, 25 meters high, 30 metres long and 15 metres wide. Pillars are left standing between the stopes.

Mammoth Copper Concentrate Smelted in India

Copper concentrate is produced on site at the mines own processing plant by means of a sulphide flotation circuit. This takes place with the ore from the ROM stockpile being fed into the crushing and grinding circuit to create a crushed ore stockpile. The slurry the grinding of the crushed ore produces is then fed into the flotation circuit, a process that includes scavenger and rougher cells. A high intensity conditioner within an open circuit configuration produces a concentrate that is further upgraded by passing through two flotation cleaning stages before it finally undergoes de-watering in a filter press. It is then ready to be transported by truck to Cloncurry from where it is transferred to railway wagons that take it to the port at Townsville for shipment to India where it is smelted at the Hindalco Copper's Dahej smelters.

Power Generated From Natural Gas Powered Power Station

The electric power needed to run the Mt Gordon operation is generated at the Mica Creek natural gas power station. This supply provides 10MW of power. The Mammoth Mine has its own back-up diesel power generators able to produce 1.5 MW for use in emergency situations.

Aditya Birla Minerals acquired the Mammoth copper mine is 2003 from Western Metals along with considerable copper exploration tenements in the same vicinity. It is the intention of the company to increase exploration at the site to enable it to further extend the life of the mine beyond currently known reserves.