Kanowna Belle gold mines lies within the archaean Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt and consists of a series of stacked lenses that have been identified over a strike length of 600m and to a depth of over 1,000m. The Kanowna Belle Gold Mine is a gold mines located 19 km north east of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, near the ghost town of Kanowna. Gold prospecting in Kanowna Belle Australia was first discovered in 1893 about a year after Bayley and Ford discovered the Coolgardie Field and not long after Paddy Hannan located the gold-bearing alluvials that led to the discovery of the Golden Mile at Kalgoorlie-Boulder, also in 1893.
In mid-1999, Delta Gold bought North’s 50% share for AUS$90m, and became the sole owner. Delta subsequently merged with fellow Australian company, Goldfields Ltd, to form AurionGold, which in turn was bought by Canada's Placer Dome. In early 2006, Barrick Gold Corp acquired Placer Dome in a US$10.4bn takeover, and now wholly owns the Kanowna group of operations, which includes Kanowna Belle, the Paddington mill and various other open-pit gold mines in the area.
Gold Prospecting And Gold Deposit Kanowna Belle Australia
Gold prospecting from Kanowna Belle gold mine in Australiia lies hidden beneath a sand and thin sheetwash-covered plain dotted with salmon gums and bluebush about 18 kilometres northeast of Kalgoorlie. The old townsite of Kanowna and its surrounding vein, 'cement' and deep lead workings lie some two kilometres to the east and northeast of Kanowna Belle.
Gold Prospecting And Gold Deposit Kanowna Belle Australia
Gold prospecting mineralization is mainly hosted within a large porphyritic granodiorite body (Kanowna Belle Porphyry) that has intruded a sequence of sedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks. A zone of intense structural disruption (Fitzroy Shear Zone) separates the deposit into hangingwall and footwall structural domains, and is the primary control on gold distribution. Gold mineralisation is locally associated with quartz-carbonate stockwork veins, breccia zones, sulphide-quartz-carbonate stringers and sheeted vein arrays. The generally tabular enveloping surface to mineralisation dips steeply to the south, has a high plunge to strike ratio and remains open at depth.
Gold mineralisation occurs with disseminated pyrite on and within discrete grains or blebs. Visible free gold is occasionally seen.Higher-grade zones frequently exhibit stringer-type quartz-pyrite veins. Generally, the bulk of the 5g/t Au mineralisation is associated with fine networks described as crackle-brecciation with sericite-carbonate alteration and variable silicification.
Gold Mining Methods And Mining Operations In Kanowna Belle gold mine
Kanowna Belle was initially operated and gold mining methods as an open pit and has since moved to an underground operation in 1995 by mining contractor Eltin Underground Operations. Contractor Eltin Open Pit Operations was responsible for initial stripping, using a fleet of Liebherr 984 and 994 hydraulic excavators and Caterpillar 785 trucks, and for mining services until the open-pit bottom was reached at a depth of 220m.
Eltin gold mining methods Underground Operations began work on the access decline and other underground developments in mid-1995. Although a shaft hoisting system was considered for the deeper levels, in mid-1999, North and Delta decided to continue the development of the mine using truck haulage, giving capital cost savings of more than AUS$50m over the mine life. The decline reaches a depth of 1,020m below surface, is 7.7km long and is being extended to provide access for exploration beneath the current reserves.
Long hole stoping with tailings paste backfill was first used as the method of mining underground at the Kanowna Belle underground operation but in 2004 this was changed to a pillarless retreat mining method. The underground equipment was supplied by Atlas Copco with it consisting of the following:
"In early 2006, Barrick Gold Corp acquired Placer Dome in a US$10.4bn takeover, and now wholly owns the Kanowna group of operations."
Underground resources are contained in five blocks of which Block A, the primary target, has now been mined out. Production now comes from the deeper blocks B, C and D, with the deepest, Block E, being evaluated. To date, long-hole open stoping has been used, with tailings paste backfill, but in 2004 Kanowna Belle started changing to a pillarless retreat mining system.
"In early 2006, Barrick Gold Corp acquired Placer Dome in a US$10.4bn takeover, and now wholly owns the Kanowna group of operations."
Underground resources are contained in five blocks of which Block A, the primary target, has now been mined out. Production now comes from the deeper blocks B, C and D, with the deepest, Block E, being evaluated. To date, long-hole open stoping has been used, with tailings paste backfill, but in 2004 Kanowna Belle started changing to a pillarless retreat mining system.
Equipment for underground has been supplied by Atlas Copco. Worth AUS$13m, the fleet consists of a Rocket Boomer 322S development drill rig, two Simba production drill rigs, a Boltec 335SH rockbolting rig, up to seven MT5000 50t-capacity mine trucks and up to three ST1800 Scooptrams. Ore is transported to surface up the ramp using a fleet of Caterpillar 775 haul trucks.
Processing Minerals Ore Gold In Kanowna Belle Gold Mine
The Kanowna Belle gold processing facilities are located adjacent to the Kanowna Belle mine and are designed to handle approximately 1.8 million tonnes of feed per annum. The plant has the capability to treat both refractory and free milling ores, through the flotation circuit and associated concentrate roaster circuit, including carbon-in-leach (CIL) gold recovery, or bypassing the flotation circuit and going directly to a CIL circuit that is designed to treat flotation tails.
Rock mineral from mining is screened, with oversize being crushed to 200–250mm. A two-stage grinding circuit consists of ANI SAG and ball mills. Cyclone underflow from the ball mill forms the feed for primary flash flotation in a 23m³ cell.
Rock mineral from mining is screened, with oversize being crushed to 200–250mm. A two-stage grinding circuit consists of ANI SAG and ball mills. Cyclone underflow from the ball mill forms the feed for primary flash flotation in a 23m³ cell.
The cyclone overflow is also treated by flotation, with the final tailings being leached in a 750m³ tank with cyanide and lime. Gold from the tailings leach is recovered through a series of four adsorption tanks. The mill capacity has been expanded from 1.6Mt/y to 1.9Mt/y, while gold recoveries are usually 89–90%.
Flotation concentrates are thickened then washed to remove chlorides. Two-stage exothermic, self-sustaining roasting is used to oxidise pyrite and remove arsenic.
Calcine from the Dorr-Oliver fluidised-bed roasters is cooled, then treated with lime and cyanide solution, and with gold recovery on to activated carbon in a series of seven adsorption tanks. Loaded carbon is stripped in a desorption circuit, gold being recovered by electrowinning on to steel wool and subsequent smelting to produce doré bars.
Flotation concentrates are thickened then washed to remove chlorides. Two-stage exothermic, self-sustaining roasting is used to oxidise pyrite and remove arsenic.
Calcine from the Dorr-Oliver fluidised-bed roasters is cooled, then treated with lime and cyanide solution, and with gold recovery on to activated carbon in a series of seven adsorption tanks. Loaded carbon is stripped in a desorption circuit, gold being recovered by electrowinning on to steel wool and subsequent smelting to produce doré bars.
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