Friday, 19th January 2007 (2327 views)

A gold mine that was once one of the largest in the world may be re-opening soon.



Norton Gold Fields Limited in central Queensland may be back operating at the Mount Morgan mine soon after announcing plans to begin extracting gold from the oil tailings dams and mullock dumps there.



Situated just south-west of Rockhampton, the mine closed in 1980 after being deemed uneconomical, but now the firm wants to reopen it so it can provide the nearby town with 50 new jobs.



Tim Prowse, the chief executive of Norton Gold Fields, said: "There's a reserve there of around four million tonnes which can recover around 180,000 ounces of gold and there's a further resource of a further 300,000 ounces of gold that still needs to be further assessed."



He explained that part of the reason for the mine's demise was the dip which the gold price took in the 1990s and the rising costs of processing chemicals which occurred at the same time.



Norton has planned a multi-million pound investment to develop a re-treatment project on the site to treat about four million tailings.

 

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