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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Lawlers Gold Mine
The Lawlers Gold Mine is a gold mine located 23 km south west of Leinster, Western Australia, owned by Gold Fields. Gold Fields purchased the mine in late 2013 and combined it with its nearby Agnew Gold Mine. The process plant of the mine was subsequently sold and dismantled while no mining was carried out at Lawlers.

It was formerly operated by Barrick Gold and part of its Yilgarn South operation, which consisted of Lawlers, the Darlot-Centenary Gold Mine and the Granny Smith Gold Mine. The mine is located in the Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt.

History

Gold mines in the Mid West region

Gold was first discovered in the region in 1892 and the town side of Lawlers, named after Patrick Lawler who found the first gold in a nearby creek, was established. Of the original town of Lawlers, only the old police station is still standing.

The site, was originally owned by Plutonic Resources, a major Australian gold mining and exploration company. Homestake Mining Company purchased Plutonic in April 1998 for more than $1.0 billion, and, in turn, Homestake was acquired by Barrick Gold at the end of 2001.

Ore at Lawlers is mined in an underground operation.

In June 2009, Lawlers has been certified as fully compliant with the International Cyanide Management Code.

In October 2013, Barrick finalised the sale of their Australian Yilgarn South mines, consisting of the Lawlers, Granny Smith and Darlot mines, to Goldfields. Barrick sold the mines as it considered them high-cost and required cash to compensate for the rising cost of its Pascua-Lama gold project. The three mines accounted for six percent of Barrick's annual gold output at the time. Goldfields purchased the mines for US$300 million, half of which had to be paid in cash while the other half could be issued in shares.

Gold Fields subsequently merged the operations with the nearby Agnew Gold Mine, closing the Lawlers processing plant and processing the ore mined at Lawlers at the Agnew plant. The plant was placed in care and maintenance and purchased by Kin Mining for A$2.5 million in June 2017. Kin relocated the movable assets of the plant 160km north to the Cardinia Gold Mine it was in the process of developing. Subsequently, ownership of the site and remaining plant components was returned to Gold Fields in 2020.

From its opening in 1894 to its closure in 2013, the mine had produced 2.27 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 4.1 grams of gold per tonne.

Production

Annual production of the mine:

Lawlers

Production of the mine as a stand-alone operation:

Year Production Grade Cost per ounce
2000 101,200 ounces 4.94 g/t US$215
2001 104,000 ounces 4.45 g/t US$407
2002 113,291 ounces US$179
2003 99,223 ounces US$249
2004 110,374 ounces US$246
2005 131,000 ounces 0.154 oz/t US$324
2006 110,000 ounces 0.129 oz/t US$494
2007 115,000 ounces 0.138 oz/t US$515

Yilgarn South

Production figures for the Yilgarn South operation, consisting of Darlot, Granny Smith and Lawlers:

Year Production Grade Cost per ounce
2007 410,000 ounces 0.117 US$486
2008 325,000 ounces 0.125 US$749
2009 352,000 ounces US$685
2010
2011
2012
2013

References

  1. ^ "Gold Fields Australia Site Visit: Agnew/Lawlers Gold Mine" (PDF). www.goldfields.com. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  2. ^ Australia Pacific Archived 2010-01-04 at the Wayback Machine Barrick website, accessed: 1 January 2010
  3. ^ GHOST TOWNS OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA gold-net.com.au, by Jim Foster, accessed: 3 January 2010
  4. ^ PLUTONIC RESOURCES LIMITED (PLU) delisted.com.au, accessed: 1 January 2010
  5. ^ Atlantic Gold NL website Archived 2009-12-12 at the Wayback Machine accessed: 1 January 2009
  6. ^ Homestake Mining Company - History accessed: 1 January 2009
  7. ^ MINEDEX website Archived 2008-09-11 at the Wayback Machine Darlot search result, accessed: 1 January 2010
  8. ^ Barrick Gold Corporation's Lawlers Gold Mine Certified Under International Cyanide Management Code Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine published: 9 June 2009, accessed: 3 January 2010
  9. ^ Heber, Alex (2 October 2013). "Barrick finalises sale of three Australian gold mines". Australian Mining. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  10. ^ Lakmidas, Sherilee (22 August 2013). "Barrick to sell three Australian mines to Gold Fields". Reuters. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  11. ^ Gray, Oliver (12 June 2022). "Kin Mining (ASX:KIN) completes relocation of Lawlers Processing Plant". The Market Herald. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  12. ^ The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition, page 10
  13. ^ The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition, page 105
  14. ^ 2003 Fourth Quarter Report Archived 2010-11-20 at the Wayback Machine accessed: 1 January 2010
  15. ^ 2004 Fourth Quarter Report Archived 2010-10-28 at the Wayback Machine accessed: 1 January 2010
  16. ^ Fourth Quarter & Year-End Mine Statistics 2006 Archived 2010-09-22 at the Wayback Machine accessed: 1 January 2010
  17. ^ Fourth Quarter & Year-End Mine Statistics 2007 Archived 2010-09-22 at the Wayback Machine accessed: 1 January 2010
  18. ^ Fourth Quarter & Year-End Mine Statistics 2008 accessed: 1 January 2010

Bibliography

  • Louthean, Ross (ed.). The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition. Louthean Media Pty Ltd.


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