PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Gold Fields has appointed ASX-listed Macmahon Holdings to provide a hire fleet of large-scale opencut mining equipment and associated services at the St Ives mine, in Western Australia.
The fleet, which has been sourced from Macmahon’s idle equipment inventory, would be used to deliver additional capacity at the St Ives mine, the contracting company reported on Thursday.
The hire services were set to start in late November and would have an initial six-month term, which could be extended at Gold Field’s discretion for a further 18 months.
The St Ives mine currently consists of three underground mines and a 4.7-million-tonne-a-year carbon-in-leach plant. Gold Fields is spending about $42-million on exploration work at St Ives to extend the mine's life.
The current reserves were expected to be depleted by 2020.