Australia-based Newcrest Mining has revealed plans to restart operations at its Cadia East mine in New South Wales (NSW) later this year.
Mining operations were halted last month after an earthquake measuring 4.3 on the Ritcher scale struck around 4km away from the Cadia site.
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NSW's mine regulator then issued a prohibition notice to suspend the extraction of ore in panel cave (PC1) and panel cave (PC2) from the site.
It is reported that the Cadia East underground mine infrastructure experienced minimal damage from the earthquake.
Rehabilitation and upgrades to ground support had started at Cadia East’s PC1, while corresponding works at PC2 were at an advanced stage before the suspension.
The cost of remediation and upgrade work is expected to be around $25m.
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By GlobalDataThe company forecasts lower levels of ore production from Cadia in the first quarter of the 2018 fiscal year.
Meanwhile, it does not expect the seismic event to significantly impact production beyond fiscal 2017.
Once the prohibition notice has been lifted, the company expects gold production in fiscal 2018 to be 650,000oz-750,000oz.
Alongside increasing the dynamic ground support capacity around known fault structures, the work being undertaken also involves rehabilitating ground support in areas impacted by the earthquake.
Production from PC1 and PC2 is expected to resume in the first quarter of fiscal 2018.
A feasibility study on the proposed expansion to the Cadia processing plant has also been completed.
However, the study is pending approval, while the team on-site is focused on finalisation of remediation works.
Image: Cadia Valley processing facility. Photo: courtesy of Newcrest Mining.
