Mount wright

The Mount Wright underground gold mine in North East Queensland, located 65 kilometres east of Charters Towers and 95 kilometres south west of Townsville, is owned by Resolute Mining Limited through its subsidiary company, Carpentaria Gold Pty Ltd.

Mount Wright Underground Mine Uses Ravenswood Gold Processing Plant
The Mount Wright Mine is situated just 10 kilometres north west of the mined out Ravenswood gold mine. The Ravenswood gold treatment plant is used to process all the ore mined at Mount Wright as well as lower grade stockpiles from the Nolans and Sarsfield mines, until those stockpiles became exhausted. A reconfiguration of the processing plant took place upon the completion of the Sarsfield stock resulting in it now being optimised for processing 1.5 million tonnes a year of high grade underground gold bearing ore. This is being achieved by using single stage crushing, SAG and ball milling along with CIL (carbon-in-leach) processing with a gravity circuit that optimises recovery of free gold.

Improved Production and High Gold Grades Highlight Mount Wright Mine Contribution
The improved production level and high gold grades achieved from the Mount Wright mine in the 2012 financial year saw the Ravenswood processing plant produce 137,965 ounces of gold against 122,576 ounces the year before. Ore production from the Mount Wright Mine also increased to 1.46 million tonnes as against 0.93 million tonnes in 2011.

Processing Plant Reconfiguration Lifts Performance at Mount Wright Mine
Gold reserves at the Mount Wright underground mine in 2012 stood at 4.85 million tonnes grading at 2.68 grams of gold a tonne. This figure compares with 6 million tonnes grading at 2.56 grams a tonne in 2011. There were 0.30 million tonnes converted from resources to reserves during the year. The reconfiguration of the gold processing plant at Ravenswood, following the completion of the Sarsfield stockpile, improved the overall gold recovery rate at the plant to 92.8 percent, up from 90 percent the year before the reconfiguration. This was mainly attributable to to the improved leach kinetics and gravity circuit.

Resolute Mining Limited Places Faith in Mount Wright's Future
Resolute Mining Limited plans to continue treating Mount Wright ore at the Ravenswood gold processing plant along with some lower grade ore from other sources as it becomes available. It is also planning to reduce their cyanide consumption and use better sampling techniques in an effort to improve operational performances generally. A further part of operational improvement is that although the Mount Wright mines production levels will remain static, a new fresh air rise will be built along with a surface waste pass. These contracts have been awarded to mining contractor, Macmahon. Mining methods at the Mount Wright underground mine are now well established and the mine is delivering on both its financial and technical targets. The decline has been completed to its design depth and a program of diamond drilling has commenced to eventually extend the depth of the ore body. This is already being reported as showing positive results. There is also a feasibility study being undertaken by Resolute Mining Limited regarding the viability of re-opening the nearby Sarsfield open pit and the process of obtaining all the necessary regulatory approvals to this end are well advanced.
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