Mt carlton

The Mt Carlton open pit gold silver and copper mine in North Queensland is located 150 kilometres south of Townsville and wholly owned by Evolution Mining. It is sited on traditional land owned by the Birriah People.

Mt Carlton Mine to Employ 135 Permanent Workers
The Mt Carlton ore body was discovered in 2006 and by February 2010 a
definitive feasibility study into the project was completed. By December, 2010, the then owner, Conquest, approved the mine development. Evolution Mining acquired the project in 2011 when Conquest Mining and Catalpa Resources merged. This merger resulted in the acquisition of Newcrest mining's Mt Rawdon and Cracow gold mines and by December 2012 Mt Carlton mine construction was completed with commissioning beginning. The first concentrate was produced in March 2013 with the official opening taking place in April. Commercial production began at the Mt Carlton mine in July 2013. The Mt Carlton mine is expected to employ 135 permanent workers when† in full production.

Mt Carlton Mine to Produce 55,000 Ounces of gold Annually
The Mt Carlton mine is the fifth mine owned by Evolution Mining and it is expected to be the company's lowest cost operation by the end of the 2013/14 financial year. Once the mine gets into full production its annual gold production is expected to be around 55,000 ounces.

Mt Carlton has a 12 Year Life of Mine
The life of mine for the Mt Carlton open cut operation is estimated to be in the order of 12 years based on current reserves and production levels. However, ongoing exploration is expected to give the mine a significantly longer lifetime.

Mt Carlton Processing Plant Reaches Full Capacity
The processing plant at the Mt Carlton mine is the conventional processing type that utilises, crushing, grinding and bulk sulphate flotation to produce a polymetallic concentrate. The processing plant is presently reaching full capacity. First figures show it had processed 10,000 tonnes of ore grading at 217 grams a tonne of silver. Average silver recovery to concentrate so far has been around 67.6 percent. The first concentrate production began in the March quarter 2013 with 12,138 ounces of gold being produced. A total of 689 dry tonnes of concentrate has been produced and taken to Townsville by truck to be exported to the Humon Smelting Company in China where it will be smelted.

Mt Carlton Mine Starting With two Open Pits
Mining at the Mt Carlton mine is being carried out in two pits that use the traditional drilling, blasting, loading and haulage methods. The equipment used at the Mt Carlton mine is contracted under a day hire arrangement and operated by Evolution Mining employees. The mining is carried out by utilising five metre benches in 2.5 metre flitches. These initial pits will be mined for the next nine years. Low grade ore is to be stockpiled and processed at a later date after the high grade ore is depleted following the completion of the open pit mining operation.

Evolution Mining One of Australia's top Five Gold Producers
Evolution Mining is currently producing around 393,000 ounces of gold annually, a production level that places it amoung Australia's top five gold producers. The company has a resource of about 7.7 million ounces of gold equivalent and ore reserves of 3.6 million ounces of gold equivalent. It is forecasting group gold production of between 400,000 and 450,000 ounces of gold for the 2014 financial year.
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