Mcleay

The Independence Group (IGO) was formally incorporated in 2000 as an exploration company searching for world class ore bodies within Australia. In 2001 it explored and pegged out an area that contains the world rated Tropicana gold project that is of such standing it is already being spoken about in the industry as a new Western Australian gold province. In 2002 AngloGold Ashanti became part of IGO.

The McLeay Gold Bearing ore Deposit is Part of the Long Nickel Mine
IGO acquired the Long Nickel Mine in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia, near the mining town of Kambalda, in 2002, through its fully owned subsidiary Lightening Nickel, from WMC Resources. The McLeay gold deposit is part of Long Nickel Mine. This was the company's first venture into nickel mining and it paid dividends as it has proven to be a reliable cash flow for the company ever since. The Long Nickel Mine was commissioned in October 2002 and the McLeay ore body discovered in 2005, this allowed the Long Mine to build a reserve base that would extend the life of the Long Nickel mine to at least 2017 if the production rate was retained at 9,000 tonnes of contained nickel a year.

McLeay Deposit Still Producing Gold
The McLeay gold bearing ore body is still being worked at the Long Nickel Mine. It consists of a swarm of porphyry dykes stopes at the southern extension of the existing orebody. A fact that creates considerable difficulty for drilling to be carried out. This has created a problem when seeking to undertake reliable testing in an effort to determine the prospective nature of the deposit stretches any further to the south. To overcome this problem it was decided to use the McLeay decline to extend the drilling beyond the porphyry swarm in order to test if the McLeay ore body extended further.

IGO Have Toll Agreement With BHP-Billiton Nickel West Pty Ltd to Take Long Nickel Mine ore
IGO have a toll agreement with BHP-Billiton Nickel West Pty Ltd to take all the gold bearing ore produced at the Long Nickel Mine, including that from the McLeay deposit, and process it through its Nickel West Kambalda Nickel Operations Concentrator, to produce nickel concentrate. BHP purchase the concentrate that is recovered according to the terms of the contract. This agreement is to continue until February 2019.

McLeay Deposit is Mined with Hand Held Mining Equipment
Mining methods used to recover gold from the McLeay deposit range from mechanised jumbo flatback stoping to hand held mining equipment that is primarily used when working narrow stopes that are not suitable for machines. Other areas of the Long Nickel Mine make use of long hole open stoping with either paste or mullock backfill. When necessary non- entry mechanised mining methods are utilised for safety reasons. Stoping sub-level spacing is designed to minimise geotechnical and dilution risk.

Two Lava Channels Make up the Long Nickel Mine Mineralisation
There are two distinct lava channels that are incorporated in the Long Nickel Mine tenure, these being; (1) the lower nickel channel that includes the Moran and Long orebodies and (2) the upper nickel channel that includes the McLeay, Victor South, Victor, Gibb South and Gibb orebodies.

Before IGO acquired the Long Nickel Mine tenements from WMC, it had become WMC's longest operating nickel mine, having been in existance for the previous 21 years. The mine has the second largest concentration of
nickel throughout the whole Kambalda nickel region.
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