Marvel loch

The Marvel Loch gold mine located between Kalgoorlie and Perth, 30 kilometres from Southern Cross, in Western Australia, has been purchased from St Barbara Limited by Chinese company China Hanking Holdings.

Marvel Loch Mine is part of the Mineral Rich Yilgarn Goldfields
The mine, that is only a 40 minute flight from Perth, is sited within the famed Yilgarn Goldfields, which is the western extension of the mineral rich Eastern Goldfields, that is centred on the gold mining city of Kalgoorlie.

Marvel Loch Mine Placed on Care and Maintenance by St Barbara
The Marvel Loch gold mine, which was placed on care and maintenance by St Barbara at the end of 2012, is currently being prepared for mining to be resumed at the site by its new owners, Hanking Gold, who have revealed a preliminary study has shown the mine has a potential gold production of 200,000 ounces annually for the next 10 years. The JORC ( Joint Ore Reserves Committee) has announced a measured, indicated and inferred gold resource at the Marvel Loch Mine as being 2.4 million ounces with an average grading of 3.6 grams of gold a tonne.

Hanking Gold see a Future in the Marvel Loch Mine
Hanking Gold also acquired 932 square kilometres of mining tenements when it purchased the Marvel Loch Mine, as well as the office buildings, mine workers camp accommodation, mining equipment and the gold processing plant. Before being placed on care and maintenance, the gold processing plant that uses a gravity and carbon in pulp (CIP) technique, was treating 2.4 million tonnes of gold bearing ore a year.

Gold mineralisation at the Marvel Loch Mine extends over a distance of 1.3 kilometres and goes to a depth of more than 700 metres. The mine had been worked as both an open cut and underground operation although mining has now ceased at the open cut operation. The gold processing plant that has been in operation for the last 15 years has been averaging a production capacity of 2.2 million tonnes of ore a year.

Decline Incident Slows Production in 2011
Production during the September quarter in 2011 was interrupted when the the Exhibition decline at the Marvel Loch Mine subsided due to a mining void. Work was suspended for 14 days while rehabilitation was carried out. However, much of the production loss was averted by processing low grade stockpiles from satellite ore sources.

Hanking Gold to Invest Heavily in Marvel Lock Operation
Hanking Gold have stated they are willing to invest a further $50 million at the Marvel Loch underground operation with the aim of lifting production to 200,000 ounces of gold annually. Hanking Gold have said they believe satellite deposits that have already been identified will be sufficient to feed the mill for a further ten years at the production rate they are aspiring to achieve.

China Hanking Holdings Limited is principally a producer of iron ore concentrate in north east China where it undertakes iron ore mining and processing. It sells its iron ore concentrates to Chinese steel mills and iron smelting companies in the Liaoning Province in China. China Hanking Holdings Limited has four mines in the Liaoning Province, Benxi and Fushun. At the end of December 2011 its iron ore reserves stood at over 200 million tonnes.
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