Wiluna Gold Mine
Encyclopedia
The Wiluna Gold Mine is an active gold mine in Western Australia
near the town of Wiluna
. The mine was active from 1984 till its closure in 2007; when it was put into care and maintenance; and again since late 2008.
After commissioning from its recent upgrade the mine should have resumed full operations before the end of 2008; however, delays in the comissoning had forced the owner, APEX Minerals, to raise more money and postpone this date. The company announced on 5 March 2009 that full production had resumed.
The mine is located on the native title
of the Ngaanyatjarra
aboriginal people.
(a fresh water crustacean).
The current owner, Apex Minerals, upgraded and reopened the mine in November 2008. It originally also planned to transport ore to the Wiluna plant from its other mine sites, the Gidgee Gold Mine
(approx. 150 km south) and the Youanmi Gold Mine
(approx. 300 km south). After having postponed this plan in 2009, APEX reconsidered this option in September 2009, when its Wiluna-focused strategy failed.
Williamson pit, an open pit in the dry salt lake of Lake Way
, was also mined by Agincourt until early 2007 but is now abandoned. The mining lease was still with Oxiana Limited after the sale of Wiluna, Oxiana having had plans to mine rich uranium
deposits there through Toro Energy Limited in the foreseeable future. There are other mining companies that were carrying out exploration in the Wiluna area too, notably for nickel
and iron ore. There is also an older mine site approximately 25 km south of Wiluna, along the road to Leinster
, called Wiluna South or Matilda Mine. It was operated for about 10 years until 1989 by Chevron
. Apart from a couple of old pits and tailings dams there is little remaining of the old site.
One of the few historical buildings from the earlier days of mining is the old Mine Managers Lodge, currently a private residence. There also is some old equipment on display at the visitors' car park, notably an old crusher and an old mill. The Wiluna area was extensively mined from the discovery of gold
there in 1896 till the end of World War II
when mining ceased.
Just before entering Wiluna from the south, a wooden building on the right-hand side is the old railway station's shed. In front of it, the railway dam can still be seen but the tracks which once went all the way to Leinster have been removed.
The mine is connected to Perth through flights out of Wiluna Airport
and serviced by Maroomba Airlines
.
On 29 December 1897, a 460 ounce nugget was found in Wiluna, then the largest found in the colony of Australia. The location it was found at was later to become the spot for the power house of the Wiluna Gold Mine Limited, the operators of the early mine.
The town prospered from the development of the mine until the First World War. In 1920 however, a decline set in because the refractory ore could not be treated. As a consequence, the town's population shrank to less than 150 people.
floated a company that would undertake a drilling program and the Wiluna mine was revived. By 1939, the town had grown to a population of 9,000 thanks to the employment the mine provided.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, Wiluna started to decline once more as the men had to join the Services. The mine lasted for some more years until 1947, when all machinery was sold off and Wiluna went into a form of hibernation.
rosters meant, there was no significant population growth. From 1987 to 1994, oxide ore was mined from open pit operations; from 1994 onwards, underground operations commenced.
On 21 August 1997, Great Central Mines
made an offer for Wiluna Mines Limited, owner of Wiluna at the time. This offer closed on 10 October 1997 and was followed by a second offer, lasting until the 2 January 1998. GMC acquired the necessary 90% acceptance in the second offer and moved to compulsory acquisition on 5 January 1998.
The mine went through a number of owners during this time, being sold in package with the Bronzewing Gold Mine
and the Jundee Gold Mine
when Great Central Mines was taken over by Normandy Mining
in June 2000. Normandy, in turn, was taken over by the Newmont Mining Corporation in February 2002.
A fatality occurred at the mine when, on Friday, 1 July 2005, an employee of Mining and Civil Australia Pty Ltd was killed
at the Williamson pit. The man was crushed while helping to jump-start a truck.
Agincourt was bought out in April 2007 by Oxiana Limited. The acquisition brought Oxiana the Martabe gold project in Indonesia, the Wiluna Gold Mine, a 57% interest in Nova Energy Limited, a listed uranium explorer, and numerous exploration properties. Oxiana offered 0.65 of its shares for every Agincourt share, a deal worth $415 million. Oxiana in turn sold on the Wiluna Gold Mine in July 2007, making them the shortest owner of the site.
At the time of the purchase of the mine by Oxiana, it had only one year of mine life left and approx. 300,000 ounces of gold in reserves.
29.5 million and placed it into care and maintenance from then on, APEX carried out an assessment of the necessary upgrades required to Wiluna for its three-mine strategy.
The company raised a further $58.5 million in September 2008 to be able to continue its projects. Of this, $30 million were earmarked for exploration activities while the remainder was to go towards protecting the company from the exposure to the Australian dollar gold price and the start up of its operations, which were scheduled for Wiluna for October 2008, for Gidgee in February 2009 and for Youanmi in the second half of 2009. Production for the 2009 calendar year was scheduled at 150,000 ounces, rising to 200,000 the following year.
Delays in the commissioning of the mills were announced on 9 December 2008, making a start of full production in 2008 impossible; however full throughput was achieved. The difference between full production and full throughput is the large residence time required by the BIOX process. Apex announced its first gold pour on 22 December 2008. To compensate for these delays, APEX announced on 27 January 2009 the raising of a further $20 million to cover the shortfall in revenue, bringing the overall figure of investment in Wiluna and related projects to $140 million. This was achieved by issuing a further 72.5 million shares. It further declared that production had reached 7,000 ounces per month and would ramp up to the expected 120,000 ounces per year in February 2009. APEX also considered the option to claim certain amounts of the costs involved in the upgrade from the previous owner, formerly Oxiana, now OZ Minerals
. In May 2010, APEX reached a settlement with OZ Minerals, receiving $3 million in compensation.
In its quarterly activities report for the three month up to end of December 2008, the company declared a gold production of 385 ounces. In March 2009 the company announced that it had reached full production, averaging 290 ounces of Gold per day for February.
For the second quarter of 2009, the company declared it had reached its production target of 30,000 ounces of gold per month. Its cash costs however where at $952, almost $400 above the company's target of $560. APEX projected that it could cut production costs per ounce by $40 for every additional 1,000 ounces produced each month. While the mining operations in Wiluna itself in the June 2009 quarter achieved a profit of $9,995,000, the company suffered an over-all loss of $113,762,000 for the 2008–09 tax year.
In a low-key announcement on 31 July 2009, APEX declared that Glenn Jardine, Director of operations, had resigned from his position without stating any reasons for his departure.
On 22 September 2009, APEX declared a trading halt
to its shares and the possibility that it may go into voluntary suspension of trading to receive enough time to complete another capital raising. After having deviated from its original three-mine strategy and only processed ore from the Wiluna operations, leaving the Gidgee
and Youanmi
operations in care and maintenance, the company now decided to return to multiple feed for its Wiluna processing facility, the one feed strategy having failed. To achieve this, it raised enough money to cover its debt and regain $50 million in working capital. With its current debt level estimated to be around $60 million, the company had to raise another $110 million, bringing its investment into its gold mining operations to around $300 million.
The company announced a trading halt on 4 August 2010, in the wake of a loss of A$20 per ounce of gold produced in the June quarter, despite cutting costs and boosting production at the Wiluna mine. APEX, cash strapped and feared to be teetering on the brink of collapse, planned to raise A$5 million through another capital raising. The company issued 250 million new shares at 2 cent per share and resumed trading on the 6 August.
After continued loses at the operation, the mine achieved a profitable quarter in late 2010, being able to reduce operating cost to below A$900 per ounce for the first time. It also increased cash reserves from A$180,000 to over one million.
After continuous production improvements in 2010, the first quarter in 2011 was a disappointment, with lower production and grade figures and higher operating costs. Reasons for the slip in production were power outages, reduced availability of underground hauling and loading equipment and rain affecting the operation.
process is a pretreatment process for refractory
gold ores or concentrates, using naturally occurring bacteria to break down the sulphide ore and liberate the gold for subsequent cyanidation
. The advantage of the BIOX process is its environmental friendliness. BIOX was first commercially used in 1988 and the Wiluna plant was installed in 1993.
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
near the town of Wiluna
Wiluna, Western Australia
Wiluna is a complex town in the Mid West region of Western Australia. It is situated on the edge of the Western Desert at the gateway to the Canning Stock Route and Gunbarrel Highway. It is the service centre of the local area for the local Aboriginal people, the pastoral industry, mining, and...
. The mine was active from 1984 till its closure in 2007; when it was put into care and maintenance; and again since late 2008.
After commissioning from its recent upgrade the mine should have resumed full operations before the end of 2008; however, delays in the comissoning had forced the owner, APEX Minerals, to raise more money and postpone this date. The company announced on 5 March 2009 that full production had resumed.
The mine is located on the native title
Native title
Native title is the Australian version of the common law doctrine of aboriginal title.Native title is "the recognition by Australian law that some Indigenous people have rights and interests to their land that come from their traditional laws and customs"...
of the Ngaanyatjarra
Ngaanyatjarra
Ngaanyatjarra is an Indigenous Australian cultural group in the Western Desert, Central Australia.-Meaning and origin of the name:Ngaanya literally means 'this' and -tjarra means 'with/having' ; the compound term means 'those that use "ngaanya" to say "this"'...
aboriginal people.
Overview
The mine consists of several open pits, the largest being East Pit which was mined until July 2007 and again in late 2008 and early 2009, and three underground operations. Two of those, Happy Jack and East Lode, are older workings, the third, Bulletin decline was also mined until July 2007 and has since reopened. Bulletin and its extensions, Calais and Woodley decline were the sites of an underground drilling program during the mines closure in 2007 and 2008. There was then approx. 15 km of underground workings at the mine. Most of the open pits are flooded with salt water. Only one of them, the small Caledonia Pit, contains fresh water. It is home to long neck turtles and yabbiesCherax
Cherax is the largest and most widespread genus of fully and partially aquatic crayfish in the Southern Hemisphere. Its members may be found in lakes, rivers and streams across most of Australia and New Guinea. In Australia the many species of Cherax are commonly known as yabbies...
(a fresh water crustacean).
The current owner, Apex Minerals, upgraded and reopened the mine in November 2008. It originally also planned to transport ore to the Wiluna plant from its other mine sites, the Gidgee Gold Mine
Gidgee Gold Mine
The Gidgee Gold Mine is a gold mine in Western Australia, 82 km north of the town of Sandstone. The mine was, until recently, owned by APEX Minerals NL, but purchased by Panoramic Resources in February 2011. The mine is currently in care and maintenance....
(approx. 150 km south) and the Youanmi Gold Mine
Youanmi Gold Mine
The Youanmi Gold Mine is a gold mine 82 km south-south-west of the town of Sandstone. It is near the abandoned town of Youanmi, in the Murchison Region of Western Australia....
(approx. 300 km south). After having postponed this plan in 2009, APEX reconsidered this option in September 2009, when its Wiluna-focused strategy failed.
Williamson pit, an open pit in the dry salt lake of Lake Way
Lake Way
Lake Way is a dry lake approximately 15 km south of Wiluna, in the Mid West region of Western Australia. It also gives its name to a nearby cattle station, the Lake Way Station....
, was also mined by Agincourt until early 2007 but is now abandoned. The mining lease was still with Oxiana Limited after the sale of Wiluna, Oxiana having had plans to mine rich uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
deposits there through Toro Energy Limited in the foreseeable future. There are other mining companies that were carrying out exploration in the Wiluna area too, notably for nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
and iron ore. There is also an older mine site approximately 25 km south of Wiluna, along the road to Leinster
Leinster, Western Australia
Leinster is a town in the northern goldfields area of Western Australia. The town is located 4 km east of the Goldfields Highway, in the Shire of Leonora Local Government Area, northeast of the state capital, Perth...
, called Wiluna South or Matilda Mine. It was operated for about 10 years until 1989 by Chevron
Chevron Corporation
Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...
. Apart from a couple of old pits and tailings dams there is little remaining of the old site.
One of the few historical buildings from the earlier days of mining is the old Mine Managers Lodge, currently a private residence. There also is some old equipment on display at the visitors' car park, notably an old crusher and an old mill. The Wiluna area was extensively mined from the discovery of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
there in 1896 till the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when mining ceased.
Just before entering Wiluna from the south, a wooden building on the right-hand side is the old railway station's shed. In front of it, the railway dam can still be seen but the tracks which once went all the way to Leinster have been removed.
The mine is connected to Perth through flights out of Wiluna Airport
Wiluna Airport
Wiluna Airport is an airport in Wiluna, Western Australia with a sealed runway and landing lights....
and serviced by Maroomba Airlines
Maroomba Airlines
Nantay Pty. Ltd., trading as Maroomba Airlines, is a small airline and air charter company based in Western Australia. Founded in 1985, the airline operates regular passenger services to Mount Magnet as well as-hoc charter services around Western Australia....
.
Discovery
In 1896, gold was discovered in the region, which was then known as Lake Way, by three prospectors, George Woodley, James Wotton and Jimmy Lennon.On 29 December 1897, a 460 ounce nugget was found in Wiluna, then the largest found in the colony of Australia. The location it was found at was later to become the spot for the power house of the Wiluna Gold Mine Limited, the operators of the early mine.
The town prospered from the development of the mine until the First World War. In 1920 however, a decline set in because the refractory ore could not be treated. As a consequence, the town's population shrank to less than 150 people.
Second phase
In 1924, Claude de BernalesClaude de Bernales
Claude Albo de Bernales was a Western Australian mining entrepreneur whose business activities and marketing did much to stimulate investment in Western Australia during the early years of the twentieth century...
floated a company that would undertake a drilling program and the Wiluna mine was revived. By 1939, the town had grown to a population of 9,000 thanks to the employment the mine provided.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, Wiluna started to decline once more as the men had to join the Services. The mine lasted for some more years until 1947, when all machinery was sold off and Wiluna went into a form of hibernation.
Third phase
The third reincarnation of Wiluna mines, after 1896 and 1924, started in the early 1980s. Unlike the previous two before, the town did not profit from it as much. Fly-in fly-outFly-in fly-out
Fly-in fly-out is a method of employing people in remote areas. It is often abbreviated to FIFO when referring to employment status. This is common in large mining states in Australia...
rosters meant, there was no significant population growth. From 1987 to 1994, oxide ore was mined from open pit operations; from 1994 onwards, underground operations commenced.
On 21 August 1997, Great Central Mines
Great Central Mines
Great Central Mines was an Australian gold mining company.The company lost its independence in 1999, when it was taken over by Normandy Mining, and was renamed Normandy Yandal Operations Limited in 2000. The company's takeover however led to lengthy court proceedings, initiated by the Australian...
made an offer for Wiluna Mines Limited, owner of Wiluna at the time. This offer closed on 10 October 1997 and was followed by a second offer, lasting until the 2 January 1998. GMC acquired the necessary 90% acceptance in the second offer and moved to compulsory acquisition on 5 January 1998.
The mine went through a number of owners during this time, being sold in package with the Bronzewing Gold Mine
Bronzewing Gold Mine
The Bronzewing Gold Mine is a gold mine located approximately 83 km north-east of Leinster, Western Australia. The mine, owned by Navigator Resources Limited, was, until early 2010, in care and maintenance after its previous owner, View Resources Limited went into administration.The mine is...
and the Jundee Gold Mine
Jundee Gold Mine
The Jundee Gold Mine is an active gold mine in Western Australia, approximately 55 km north east of the town of Wiluna, owned by Newmont Mining.-History:...
when Great Central Mines was taken over by Normandy Mining
Normandy Mining
Normandy Mining was an Australian mining company which predominantly mined gold. Normandy was, during much of the late 20th century, Australia's largest gold miner....
in June 2000. Normandy, in turn, was taken over by the Newmont Mining Corporation in February 2002.
2003–2007
Having gone through a number of owners in its time, the Wiluna mine was owned by the Agincourt Resources since December 2003. Gowit Limited purchased Agincourt Resources, and thereby the mine, on 10 December 2003 from the previous owner, Newmont for shares and $3.65 million in cash. Newmont later acquired almost 20% of Agincourt when it sold its Martabe mine to the later in July 2006.A fatality occurred at the mine when, on Friday, 1 July 2005, an employee of Mining and Civil Australia Pty Ltd was killed
Fatality statistics in the Western Australian mining industry
These are Fatality statistics in the Western Australian mining industry which capture the number of people killed in the industry in the Australian state of Western Australia. The Department of Mines and Petroleum, DMP, the governing authority for the industry in the state, has published statistics...
at the Williamson pit. The man was crushed while helping to jump-start a truck.
Agincourt was bought out in April 2007 by Oxiana Limited. The acquisition brought Oxiana the Martabe gold project in Indonesia, the Wiluna Gold Mine, a 57% interest in Nova Energy Limited, a listed uranium explorer, and numerous exploration properties. Oxiana offered 0.65 of its shares for every Agincourt share, a deal worth $415 million. Oxiana in turn sold on the Wiluna Gold Mine in July 2007, making them the shortest owner of the site.
At the time of the purchase of the mine by Oxiana, it had only one year of mine life left and approx. 300,000 ounces of gold in reserves.
2007
Having purchased the mine in July 2007 for A$Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
29.5 million and placed it into care and maintenance from then on, APEX carried out an assessment of the necessary upgrades required to Wiluna for its three-mine strategy.
2008
On 19 March 2008, APEX announced the raising of $62 million to fund the company’s program to resume gold production at the Wiluna Gold Mine by the end of 2008. The company announced a loss in excess of $60 million for the financial year up to 30 June 2008. Despite the loss, it paid out a bonus of $100,000 to each of its three executive directors, increasing their combined wage, including options, from $1,086,861 (2006–07) to $2,715,923 (2007–08).The company raised a further $58.5 million in September 2008 to be able to continue its projects. Of this, $30 million were earmarked for exploration activities while the remainder was to go towards protecting the company from the exposure to the Australian dollar gold price and the start up of its operations, which were scheduled for Wiluna for October 2008, for Gidgee in February 2009 and for Youanmi in the second half of 2009. Production for the 2009 calendar year was scheduled at 150,000 ounces, rising to 200,000 the following year.
Delays in the commissioning of the mills were announced on 9 December 2008, making a start of full production in 2008 impossible; however full throughput was achieved. The difference between full production and full throughput is the large residence time required by the BIOX process. Apex announced its first gold pour on 22 December 2008. To compensate for these delays, APEX announced on 27 January 2009 the raising of a further $20 million to cover the shortfall in revenue, bringing the overall figure of investment in Wiluna and related projects to $140 million. This was achieved by issuing a further 72.5 million shares. It further declared that production had reached 7,000 ounces per month and would ramp up to the expected 120,000 ounces per year in February 2009. APEX also considered the option to claim certain amounts of the costs involved in the upgrade from the previous owner, formerly Oxiana, now OZ Minerals
OZ Minerals
OZ Minerals is an Australian mining company, formed from the merger of Oxiana Limited and Zinifex in 2008.In 2009, Chinese state owned China Minmetals proposed a purchase of the heavily indebted company. The Chinese proposal was one of three high profile moves by Chinese firms to acquire stakes in...
. In May 2010, APEX reached a settlement with OZ Minerals, receiving $3 million in compensation.
In its quarterly activities report for the three month up to end of December 2008, the company declared a gold production of 385 ounces. In March 2009 the company announced that it had reached full production, averaging 290 ounces of Gold per day for February.
2009
APEX announced yet another capital raising on 18 May 2009, receiving $28 million through share placement and increasing the money invested in the Wiluna project to $168 million. APEX stated lower than expected production in their underground operations as their reason for this further capital raising.For the second quarter of 2009, the company declared it had reached its production target of 30,000 ounces of gold per month. Its cash costs however where at $952, almost $400 above the company's target of $560. APEX projected that it could cut production costs per ounce by $40 for every additional 1,000 ounces produced each month. While the mining operations in Wiluna itself in the June 2009 quarter achieved a profit of $9,995,000, the company suffered an over-all loss of $113,762,000 for the 2008–09 tax year.
In a low-key announcement on 31 July 2009, APEX declared that Glenn Jardine, Director of operations, had resigned from his position without stating any reasons for his departure.
On 22 September 2009, APEX declared a trading halt
Trading halt
A trading halt occurs in the U.S. when a stock exchange stops trading on a specific security for a certain time period. The halt usually lasts for one hour, but is not limited to that. Trading halts occur during the trading day , while a trading delay occurs at the beginning of the trading day...
to its shares and the possibility that it may go into voluntary suspension of trading to receive enough time to complete another capital raising. After having deviated from its original three-mine strategy and only processed ore from the Wiluna operations, leaving the Gidgee
Gidgee Gold Mine
The Gidgee Gold Mine is a gold mine in Western Australia, 82 km north of the town of Sandstone. The mine was, until recently, owned by APEX Minerals NL, but purchased by Panoramic Resources in February 2011. The mine is currently in care and maintenance....
and Youanmi
Youanmi Gold Mine
The Youanmi Gold Mine is a gold mine 82 km south-south-west of the town of Sandstone. It is near the abandoned town of Youanmi, in the Murchison Region of Western Australia....
operations in care and maintenance, the company now decided to return to multiple feed for its Wiluna processing facility, the one feed strategy having failed. To achieve this, it raised enough money to cover its debt and regain $50 million in working capital. With its current debt level estimated to be around $60 million, the company had to raise another $110 million, bringing its investment into its gold mining operations to around $300 million.
2010
APEX returned to its previously abandoned strategy of sourcing ore from Gidgee as well as Wiluna for its processing facility. It planned to commence mining at Gidgee once more in March 2010 and transport ore to Wiluna. In late December 2009, APEX announced a further delay with the development of the Gidgee mine because of the need of an upgrade of the Gidgee - Wiluna road. APEX anticipated that mining could be delayed another two or three month, but, as of the end of July 2010, no further mention of the Gidgee mine being reopened has been made. APEX put up its Younami mine for sale in April 2010, abandoning its strategy to source ore from there for the Wiluna mine.The company announced a trading halt on 4 August 2010, in the wake of a loss of A$20 per ounce of gold produced in the June quarter, despite cutting costs and boosting production at the Wiluna mine. APEX, cash strapped and feared to be teetering on the brink of collapse, planned to raise A$5 million through another capital raising. The company issued 250 million new shares at 2 cent per share and resumed trading on the 6 August.
After continued loses at the operation, the mine achieved a profitable quarter in late 2010, being able to reduce operating cost to below A$900 per ounce for the first time. It also increased cash reserves from A$180,000 to over one million.
2011
On 27 January APEX announced a trading halt for the purpose of yet another capital raising, an asset sale and a restructuring. The company sold the Gidgee Gold Mine to Panoramic Resources, with APEX retaining the rights to the Wilson deposit. Panoramic purchased the mine for A$15.5 million. It also raised A$22.6 million through a share placement.After continuous production improvements in 2010, the first quarter in 2011 was a disappointment, with lower production and grade figures and higher operating costs. Reasons for the slip in production were power outages, reduced availability of underground hauling and loading equipment and rain affecting the operation.
BIOX process
The BIOXBacterial oxidation
Bacterial oxidation is a biohydrometallurgical process developed for pre-cyanidation treatment of refractory gold ores or concentrates. The bacterial culture is a mixed culture of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, Thiobacillus thiooxidans and Leptospirillum ferrooxidans...
process is a pretreatment process for refractory
Refractory
A refractory material is one that retains its strength at high temperatures. ASTM C71 defines refractories as "non-metallic materials having those chemical and physical properties that make them applicable for structures, or as components of systems, that are exposed to environments above...
gold ores or concentrates, using naturally occurring bacteria to break down the sulphide ore and liberate the gold for subsequent cyanidation
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
. The advantage of the BIOX process is its environmental friendliness. BIOX was first commercially used in 1988 and the Wiluna plant was installed in 1993.
1984 to 2007
Pre-APEX production figures were:| Year | Production | Grade | Cost per ounce |
| 1997-98 | 83,782 ounces | 8.25 g/t | A$353 |
| 1998-99 | 134,704 ounces | 7.77 g/t | US$208 |
| 1999 | 131,470 ounces | ||
| 2000 | 117,974 ounces | 6.47 g/t | A$ Australian dollar The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu... 335 |
| 2001 | 117,360 ounces | 5.53 g/t | A$ 423 |
| 2002 | 117,415 ounces | ||
| 2002-03 | |||
| 2003-04 1 | 67,756 ounces | ||
| 2004-05 | 111,280 ounces | A$494 | |
| 2005-06 | 113,607 ounces | ||
| 2006 2 | 48,024 ounces | A$687 |
- 1 December 2003 (sale of mine to Agincourt) to June 2004 only.
- 2 July to December 2006 only.
- Mine closed in July 2007.
2008 onwards
Since resumption of production in December 2008, the company has announced the following production figures:| Quarter | Production | Grade | Cost per ounce |
| Fourth Quarter 2008 | 385 ounces | 3.65 g/t | not announced |
| First Quarter 2009 | 17,137 ounces | 4.15 g/t | not announced |
| Second Quarter 2009 | 26,080 ounces | 5.04 g/t | A$ 952 |
| 2008-09 | 44,000 ounces | 4.54 g/t | A$ 952 |
| Third Quarter 2009 | 19,900 ounces | 3.7 g/t | A$ 1,222 |
| Fourth Quarter 2009 | 18,369 ounces | 3.7 g/t | A$ 1,089 |
| First Quarter 2010 | 14,100 ounces | 3.6 g/t | A$ 1,485 |
| Second Quarter 2010 | 16,307 ounces | 4.29 g/t | A$ 1,374 |
| 2009-10 | 68,629 ounces | 3.79 g/t | A$ 1,276 |
| Third Quarter 2010 | 19,300 ounces | 5.35 g/t | A$ 1,250 |
| Fourth Quarter 2010 | 19,500 ounces | 6.00 g/t | A$ 890 |
| First Quarter 2011 | 15,099 ounces | 4.31 g/t | A$ 1,044 |
| Second Quarter 2011 | 14,100 ounces | 4.55 g/t | A$ 1,300 |
| 2010-11 | 68,049 ounces | 5.06 g/t | A$ 1,120 |
Owners
| Company | From | To |
| Barrack Mines | May 1984 | January 1991 |
| Asarco Gold ASARCO ASARCO LLC is a mining, smelting, and refining company based in Tucson, Arizona that mines and processes primarily copper. The company, a subsidiary of Grupo México, is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy... |
January 1991 | January 1994 |
| Wiluna Mines | January 1994 | December 1997 |
| Great Central Mines Great Central Mines Great Central Mines was an Australian gold mining company.The company lost its independence in 1999, when it was taken over by Normandy Mining, and was renamed Normandy Yandal Operations Limited in 2000. The company's takeover however led to lengthy court proceedings, initiated by the Australian... |
December 1997 | April 2000 |
| Normandy Mining Normandy Mining Normandy Mining was an Australian mining company which predominantly mined gold. Normandy was, during much of the late 20th century, Australia's largest gold miner.... |
April 2000 | February 2002 |
| Newmont Australia | February 2002 | December 2003 |
| Agincourt Resources | December 2003 | April 2007 |
| Oxiana Limited Oxiana Limited Oxiana Limited was an Australia-based copper and gold miner and exploration company. The company's operations were located in Laos, Australia, Cyprus and the Philippines... |
April 2007 | July 2007 |
| APEX Minerals NL | July 2007 | present |
Further reading
- Phil R. Heydon: Wiluna: Edge of the Desert (ISBN 0859052168), published: 1996, publisher: Hesperian Press