Mcmahon

The initial McMahon decline at Kambalda in the eastern goldfields, near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, was developed by WMC Resources Limited. The decline was used to access and mine the McMahon orebody as well as several other ore bodies that were subsequently discovered. By mid 2007 around 1.7 million tonnes of ore had been mined from no less than seven different orebodies via the McMahon decline.

McMahon Nickel Deposit Owned by Mincor Resources NL
The McMahon nickel deposit is mined by Mincor Resources NL, a nickel miner listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). It operates two mining centres in the world class Kambalda Nickel District, having had a presence in the area since 2001. During 2007 Mincor undertook scoping studies and resource confirmation drilling as well as a later full scale feasibility study into mining the Ken Far North ore bodies as well as the McMahon Deeps. In November 2007 the company took the decision to develop these two orebodies which had revised the nickel resource held by Mincor to 373,656 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 4.1 percent nickel which represented a total of 15,170 tonnes of nickel metal. Half of this resource was placed into the nickel ore reserve.

Global Financial Crisis Halts Development of the McMahon Decline
When the full effect of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) hit the mining industry in late 2008 the price of nickel took a spectacular tumble resulting in Mincor suspending further development of the McMahon decline. However, the company decided to continue with mining reserves that had been accessed prior to the fall in nickel prices. Work on the McMahon decline was restarted again in 2010 to gain access to the high grade MN03 orebody. This deposit was reached in December 2011.The McMahon decline and associated orebodies are all owned and mined by Mincor Resources.

McMahon Nickel Reserve Depleting Fast
The McMahon nickel ore reserve has been depleting significantly in recent years and in an attempt to rectify the situation Mincor drilled a 30 metre drill drive into orebody MN03B hanging wall. It followed this with a rather comprehensive drilling program. This activity identified a reasonably sized mineralised ore zone which it named MN05. However, it was decided it only contained average grades that were too low to justify development, considering the current nickel prices. It did identify areas of good potential for further development in the Ken-McMahon trend up- plunge that was closer to the surface.

McMahon Deposit is Part of the Great Kambalda Nickel District
The McMahon nickel deposit is part of the highly rated Kambalda Nickel District, one of the great nickel provinces of the world. Since the discovery of nickel at Kambalda in 1968 the district has produced more than 47 million tonnes of ore containing over 1.4 million tonnes of nickel metal. The area has consistently produced over 35,000 tonnes of nickel metal a year, except for a period in the latter half of the 1990's when it was forced to partially close down.

Since 2001 Mincor has been playing a leading role in the revival of the Kambalda Nickel District and it is now the largest single nickel producer in the entire district. Mincor commenced nickel production from the Kambalda Nickel District with the Miitel Mine and since that time has grown its nickel reserve in the area six fold. It has achieved this result through aggressive exploration programs replacing mined out reserves as well as the occasional acquisition.
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