The mount

Focus Minerals Limited closed The Mount underground gold mine near Widgiemoolth, in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia, in June 2013, blaming low world gold prices and the rising costs of mining adversely impacting on the feasibility of the operation.

The Mount Underground Gold Mine was not Operating to Expectations
Focus Minerals Limited had planned to keep The Mount gold mine open until 'completion' but of the four mines the company operated in the area, The Mount contributed a very small percentage of ore throughput being processed at its central Three Mile Processing Plant. It also stated at the time of suspension that if gold prices were to improve in the future The Mount mine could eventually re-open and resume production once again.

The Mount Mine is Located 80 Kilometres South of the Tindals Mining Centre at Coolgardie
The Mount gold mine is located about 80 kilometres south of Focus Minerals owned, Tindals Mining Centre, at Coolgardie, south west of the gold mining centre of Kalgoorlie. In 2010 Focus Minerals reported a gold inferred resource at The Mount, of 2.2 million tonnes of gold bearing ore grading at 5.5 grams a tonne which would produce 314,000 ounces of gold. The mine had already produced 7,200 tonnes of mineralised ore that graded at 9.2 grams of gold a tonne during a previous four month trial. The trial produced 2,150 ounces of gold which gave the company confidence it would return a minimum of 10,000 ounces of gold a year.

Ore Mined at the Mount is Processed at the Three Mile Hill Treatment Plant
The underground trial conducted at The Mount was based on the German lode although the mine consisted of about 15 parallel subvertical lodes that were opened in many different directions at depth. This gave hope of discovering additional high grade gold reserves as the mine was further developed. The distance between lodes averaged about 15 or 20 metres. At this time The Mount development was producing around 400 ounces a vertical metre, This gave the company confidence to increase production and expand operations to the 300 metre mark in order the access the total 300,000 ounce resource base. The Mount Mine was soon providing additional feedstock to Focus Minerals's 1.2 million tonne a year Three Mile Hill gold treatment plant, with it promising to be the base for establishing a second operating centre for Focus Minerals Limited. Plans for The Mount at that stage were for it to produce 10,000 ounces of gold in 2010, 20,000 ounces of gold in 2011 and thereafter 60,000 ounces annually.

The Mount Development Created Much Hope for the Future of Gold Mining in the Region
Early success at The Mount underground gold mining operation formed the basis for Focus Minerals formulating an objective to aggressively seek out new ore bodies to add to its already substantial gold reserve inventiry. This approach allowed the company to continue to seek out near term mining oportunities whenever they showed up. Therefore Focus Minerals Limited decided to further develop its Widgiemooltha gold mining operations that included The Mount underground mine in order to increase its overall gold production to 100,000 ounces a year from 2011 on.
The Tindals Mining Centre at Coolgardie was progressing well and the thought of a similar centre being developed at The Mount, near Widgiemooltha, would not only enhance its own gold production flexibility but open up new opportunities within the area.
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