PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Gold miner Norton Gold Fields would spend some A$38-million on an owner mining fleet to assist in its transition to an owner-operator model at its Paddington operations, in Western Australia.
Norton said on Wednesday that funding would be sourced from the previously announced A$105-million credit facility, which was secured through the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, in November last year.
“The approval of the owner-operator structure represents an important step in our strategy to increase production,” said Norton MD and CEO Dianmin Chen.
“The new equipment fleet will increase productivity through improved fleet mechanical availability and will also improve our operation cost profile,” Chen added.
The Paddington operation, which covers some 678 km2, has a proven and probable reserve of 1.03-million ounces, which is sourced from nine projects. The operation has a total measured, indicated and inferred resource of six-million ounces, sourced from some 26 projects.