Heavy rain has impacted the operations of Australia’s gold mining sector, with cyclones throughout swathes of the nation blamed for a drop in manufacturing.
Production at Australian gold mines fell to 70 tonnes within the first quarter of 2024 in contrast with 77 tonnes within the December quarter 2023.
This was as a consequence of a collection of cyclones shifting inland and dumping large quantities of rain throughout Australia’s predominant gold producing areas.
Consultancy Surbiton Associates mentioned virtually two dozen mines in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory reported manufacturing issues as a consequence of rain and flooding.
“Wet weather makes haul roads dangerous and greasy. Wet ore ‘hangs up’ in ore bins, is difficult to crush and sticks to conveyor belts,” director Sandra Close mentioned.
“In this quarter, some open pits were flooded and mining ceased.
“At some underground mines, the place the workings are accessed by decline from close to the bottom of an present open pit. It was inconceivable to haul ore to the therapy vegetation.”
Fuel oil supply was disrupted at some mines while others reported power outages due to high rainfall damaging power grids causing electricity supplies to fail.
Operations reporting lower gold output included Tropicana, 330km east of Kalgoorlie which is down 59,000 ounces, and Tanami in the central NT which is down 46,000 ounces.
Production increased at Cadia in NSW, up 25,000 ounces compared with the previous quarter and Bellevue, WA, where production increased by almost 22,000 ounces.
However, most companies are maintaining production forecasts for calendar 2024, with losses aimed to be made up over the remainder of the year.
Australia’s largest gold producers for the primary quarter of 2024 have been Newmont’s Boddington, Cadia and Tanami tasks, the Northern Star Resources-owned Super Pit and Evolution Mining’s Cowal mine.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
