PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Newcrest Mining has restarted mining at the Cadia East operation, in New South Wales, following a limited breakthrough of tailings material earlier this month.
Newcrest progressively suspended all mining operations at the Cadia mine on March 10, to allow site management to focus on the evaluation of the event and on remediation plans.
Mining will initially be undertaken from Panel Cave 1, and then progressively restart from Panel Cave 2. Mined ore will be stockpiled at surface until processing restarts.
Newcrest said on Tuesday that processing remains suspended, adding that work was being undertaken on multiple recovery scenarios, including alternative tailings locations such as the old Cadia Hill openpit.
The ASX-listed miner is also working with the regulators on permitting the Cadia Hill openpit tailings option, and has started procurement of some of the necessary equipment to allow this possibility to be used if approved.
A prohibition notice issued on depositing tailings in the northern tailings facility remains in place.
When Newcrest announced that it had suspended mining at Cadia, the company warned that the event would have an adverse impact on the company’s financial results. Cadia contributed 32% to the group’s total revenue for the half-year ended December.