Telfer

Gold and copper mining at the Telfer mine site in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia, originally began with an exploration and resource drilling operation carried out by Newmont Australia Limited, in the early to mid 1970's. As a result a mining joint venture took place there between BHP Gold and Newmont until 1990, when the two companies merged to form the one company Newcrest Mining Limited. However, the mine closed in 2000 when the known reserves of mineralised ore became depleted.

Successful Feasibility Study Gives Confidence to Re-open the Telfer Mining Operation
A feasibility study undertaken by Newcrest in 2002 confirmed a company strategy to recommence mining at Telfer by both underground and open cut methods. Construction began once again the following year to have the mine ready to start open pit production in 2004 and underground production in 2006.

Telfer Mine is in a Remote Location in the East Pilbara Region of Western Australia
The Telfer mining operation today is a gold and copper mine located in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia, that is worked by fly-in-fly-out personnel, as it is remotely located 400 kilometres south east of Port Hedland and 1,300 kilometres by air from Perth. The mine consists of two open pits, the Main and the West Dome and an underground operation. For the 12 months to the end of June 2012 the Telfer Mine produced 31,236 tonnes of copper and 540,115 ounces of gold. In fact more than four million ounces of gold has been produced at the Telfer Mine since mining re-commenced there in 2004.

Telfer is a Hard Rock Mining Operation
Open pit mining at Telfer is a hard rock operation that is undertaken via the usual drilling, blasting and haulage method. Underground mining is carried out by using the sub-level cave mining method with selective use of high grade reefs.

Concentrator at the Telfer Mine is a Complex Operation
The concentrator plant at the Telfer Mine is designed as a dual train comminution circuit along with flotation and cyanide circuits, it is regarded as a rather complex operation that is demanded because of the differing ore bodies being processed as the one time. The gold/copper concentrate that results is filtered to create a de-watered concentrate. This is taken to Port Hedland by truck where it is exported to the companies customers in East Asia for smelting.

Local Indigenous People Benefiting From the Telfer Operation
The Telfer Mine is providing considerable employment and training opportunities for indigenous people who reside in the vicinity as up to 400 have already undergone training programs with many gaining employment on the Telfer project while others have gone on to find work with other mining companies.

Gold and Copper Reserves Constantly Being Added to
Gold and copper reserves in and near the West and Main Dome open pits along with the high grade underground gold and copper ore bodies are continuously being added to as a result of successful ongoing exploration activities. Particularly good results are being reported at the O'Callaghans tungsten base metal ore body.

Newcrest Mining Limited is one of the world's leading gold producing organisations in regards to market capitalisation and reserves held. It has mining operations in four countries around the world with a total global workforce of 19,000.
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