Stormont

Although Tasmania's newest gold mine, Stormont, located at Moina, 40 kilometres south of Devonport in Tasmania, commenced mining in December, 2013, processing of the ore didn't get underway until January 2014. This delay was caused by no activity taking place at the mine during the Christmas, New Year break and a need to build up an ore stockpile at the Beaconsfield gold processing plant.

Ore Mined at the Stormont Mine is Processed at the Beaconsfield Gold

Treatment Plant

The gold bearing ore mined at the Stormont open pit gold mine is taken 130 kilometres by road transport to the Beaconsfield gold processing plant that is situated at the former Beaconsfield underground gold mine. Trucking of the ore to Beaconsfield began on January 2, 2014. Stripping of the waste rock, mining of the ore at the Stormont mine and processing of the ore at the Beaconsfield gold treatment plant is now well underway.

Stormont is a Joint Venture Between BCD Resources and Torque Mining

The Stormont mine is operated as a joint venture between BCD Resources NL and Torque Mining. BCD is the manager of the project and Torque Mining is heavily involved in geology and grade control. BCD also own and operate the processing plant at Beaconsfield. BCD Resources NL is an Australian ASX listed metal producer that is focused of evaluation and development of gold bearing prospects to feed its Beaconsfield plant.

Mining at Stormont is Well Underway

More than 6,000 tonnes of gold bearing ore had been mined from the Stormont deposit by early January 2014, with about 4,000 tonnes trucked to Beaconsfield. Over 2,000 tonnes of run-of-mine (ROM) ore was still on a pad at the mine site waiting for transportation to the processing plant. Around 26,000 tonnes of waste from the mine site has been moved to the mine waste dump. Some of the waste rock has required special handling as it needs to be encapsulated with limestone to prevent acid formation from occuring.

The Stormont mineralisation is a relative shallow, keel shaped, deposit commencing on the surface and extending to a depth of about 40 metres. A small open cut operation was established at the site during the 1930's but most of it had been abandoned and left undeveloped. The area around the mine site has been previously disturbed for mining purposes and has experienced much logging of timber in past years, more recently it has become a timber plantation managed by Forestry Tasmania, a Tasmanian government owned timber management organisation. The Stormont lease only covers seven hectares of the land surrounding the mine site.

Mining activity at the Stormont gold mine is undertaken in the conventional open pit manner with the use of excavators and articulated trucks. A total amount of 85,000 cubic metres of waste rock will be generated by the mining operation being carried out at the site as well as around 27,000 cubic metres of gold bearing ore. The operation is similar to that of a small quarry and is expected to last for around three to four months.

Rehabilitation of the site is being carried out as the mining progresses whenever possible. The clearing of vegetation is being kept to a minimum. The site has excellent access and easily serviced via sealed and unsealed graded roads and forestry tracks.