PERTH (miningweekly.com) - The Queensland government has formally granted the mining lease for gold miner Evolution Mining’s Mount Carlton gold/silver/copper project.

The mining lease has been granted for a period of 25 years.

“The granting of the mining lease is a crucial milestone for any mining project and we are delighted to have been granted the Mount Carlton mining lease,” said Evolution chairperson Jake Klein.

The detailed engineering and procurement for the Mount Carlton project was now nearing completion with all major equipment ordered before fabrication started. Construction tenders were also well advanced with bulk earthworks, permanent accommodation camp, prefabricated buildings, concrete civil works and steel fabrication packages all awarded.

The initial construction activities that would now start would include the finalisation of access roads, the installment of permanent accommodation facilities, the construction of small water control dams, plant site earth works and the mobilization of concrete civil contractors.

The Mount Carlton project, which hosts a measured, indicated and inferred resource of 1.2-million ounces of gold, 19.1-million ounces of silver and 64 4000 t of copper was planned to start in the second half of 2012.

The mine would run at a capacity of 800 000 t/y, for a life-of-mine of 12 years.

“Once in production, Mount Carlton is expected to contribute strong earnings growth to Evolution through its low-cost production,” said Klein.

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