The board of gold major Newmont Goldcorp has approved the Tanami Expansion 2 project, in Australia, which will improve the mine’s cost profile and extend its operating life beyond 2040.
The expansion includes construction of a 1 460 m shaft, additional capacity in the processing plant, and supporting infrastructure to enable profitable recovery of ore at depth to 2 140 m below the surface.
Newmont Goldcorp did not provide much detail on the project, but said that it would do so in its long-term outlook in early December.
“Building on the success of the first expansion completed in 2017, Tanami Expansion 2 will provide a platform to further explore the area’s prolific mineral endowment and potentially extend the operation’s mine life beyond 2040. The Tanami district and Australia as a whole continue to offer significant value generating opportunities for our shareholders,” said CEO Tom Palmer.
The Tanami expansion project is anchored on the expansive Auron deposit, which was discovered in 2008, and is located stratigraphically beneath the original Callie orebody and, more recently, the follow-up discoveries of Federation and Liberator.
Since mining commenced in 1986, Tanami has produced more than ten-million ounces of gold and, in 2018, the operation achieved record production of 505 000 oz.
Earlier this year, Newmont Goldcorp completed the installation of two power stations, a 66 kV interconnected power line and a 450 km natural gas pipeline at Tanami at a capital cost of $245-million.