Name: Cracow mine.
Location: The mine is located 500 km north-west of Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia.
Controlling Company: Evolution Mining.
Brief History: The Cracow region has a long history of gold mining, with 850 000 oz of gold produced from 1932 to 1992, predomi- nantly from openpit mining. In 2002, joint venture participants approved the development of the underground mine and the refurbishment and upgrading of the existing treatment plant. The current underground operation started production in 2004. In November 2011, Newcrest Mining completed the sale of its 70% interest in the Cracow gold mine – and exploration interests – and its 100% interest in the Mt Rawdon mine – and exploration interests – in Queensland, to Conquest Mining and Evolution Mining, through a merger between Catalpa Resources, which had previously acquired Sedimentary Holdings’ 30% interests in Cracow.
Brief Description: The Cracow mine has a stable production base, producing an estimated 100 000 oz/y since 2006 and has consistently replaced mined ounces with new reserves. The current forecast mine life is five years, although this is expected to be increased with ongoing exploration success.
Geology/Mineralisation: Gold mineralisation occurs in steeply dipping low sulphidation epithermal fissure quartz veins. High-grade gold mineralisation defined in the project resources occurs within five deposits – Royal Shoot, Crown Shoot, Sovereign Shoot, Klondyke North and Kilkenny Shoot – each developed at the intersection of major structures.
The Royal extends over a strike length of about 350 m, the Crown is about 300 m in strike length and the Sovereign has a strike length of 150 m. The orebodies average an estimated 5 m in width.
Reserves: Total ore reserves as at December 31, 2013, were 1.36-million tonnes grading 5.9 g/t gold for 260 000 oz gold.
Resources: Total measured, indicated and inferred resources as at December 31, 2013, were estimated at 3.43-million tonnes grading 6.6 g/t gold for 724 000 oz gold.
Products: Gold.
Mining Method: The mining method employed at Cracow is open-stope, down-hole sublevel benching with waste backfill.
Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Ore is free milling and is treated on site by conventional crush and grind/carbon-in-pulp processing to produce gold/silver dorè.
Mining equipment includes development and production drills, scaling and ancillary equipment, remote/teleremote control equipment, underground communications and reporting products/ systems.
Prospects: The high levels of underground lateral development have secured future operational flexibility and performance at the Cracow mine. This work has enabled the planned reduction of lateral development in the 2014 financial year as the mine moves from three development jumbos to two.
Meanwhile, in April 2013, Evolution announced its decision to transition to owner mining at its Cracow mine. Evolution implemented the change to owner mining on July 1, 2013.
Contact Person: VP investor relations and business development Aaron Colleran.
Contact Details:
Evolution Mining,
tel +61 2 9696 2900,
fax +61 2 9696 2901, and
website http://www.evolutionmining.com.au.