Paroo station mine

The Paroo Station lead carbonate open pit mine is located 30 kilometres west of Wiluna in the mid-west region of Western Australia and 750 kilometres north west of Perth. The mine is operated by MACA mining contracting company that employs 48 mine workers to; drill, blast, load, haul as well as crush the mined ore before it is sent to the Freemantle port for export. MACA have a five year contract that began in March 2013 and runs until March 2018.

Most Paroo Station Mine Workers fly-in and fly-out to Work

Paroo Station Mine workers are employed on a fly-in-fly-out basis and while at work are accommodated at an on-site camp situated three kilometres from the mine site. The Paroo Station Mine, processing plant and accommodation camp are all located near the Wiluna-Meekatharra section of the Goldfields Highway. There is an all weather paved airstrip four kilometres south of Wiluna that has commercial flights to and from Perth.

Rosslyn Hill Mine Name Changed to Paroo Station Mine in 2012

The Paroo Station Mine was previously owned by Magellan Metals Pty Ltd. However, Magellan Metals changed its name to Rosslyn Hill Mining Pty Ltd on November 13, 2012, at the same time the name of the Rosslyn Hill mine was changed to Paroo Station Mine. It is the largest lead carbonate mine in the world.

Paroo Station Mine Owned by Rosslyn Hill Mining Pty Ltd

The Paroo Station mine is fully owned by Rosslyn Hill Mining Pty Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Canadian based mining company Ivernia. Ivernia bacame involved with Paroo Station as far back as 1999. Between 2003 and 2005 it was part of a joint venture arrangement with Sentient Global Resouces. This joint venture finished when Ivernia purchased Sentient's interest making Ivernia the sole owner of Paroo Station.

Late in 2012, Rosslyn Hill Mining entered an agreement with Enirgi Metal Group Pty Ltd to manage the restart of mining operations at the Paroo Station Mine. The agreement included the design of the organisational structure and responsibility of the day to day management of the mine following the planned restart. Enirgi Group is Ivernia's major shareholder.

Government Stop Order Forces Mine to Reassess Transport Safety Issues

In December, 2010, Rosslyn Hill received a stop order from the Western Australian government relating to unsafe transportation of lead concentrate through, to and within the Fremantle port. This resulted on the mine shutting down on January 5, 2011. The mine was placed on care and maintenance on April 7, 2011. On March 28, 2013 Rosslyn Hill announced it was re-opening the mine.

Mining methods used at the Paroo Station Mine follows the conventional open pit style of mining such as drilling and blasting. The mine consists of a series of open pits on Magellan Hill. Once blasted the ore is dug out with the use of excavators and loaded onto 85 tonne haulage trucks. The ore is processed on-site by means of crushing, grinding, sulphidization, froth flotation, dewatering and finally bagging.

The concentrate is bagged in internationally approved double lined two tonne bulk bags. The outside of each bag is vacuumed before it is loaded into a sealed shipping container. An independent inspector checks every bag before it is placed into the container.