Kirkalocka Gold Mine
Encyclopedia
The Kirkalocka Gold Mine is a gold mine
located 70 km south of Mount Magnet
, Western Australia
. The mine is owned by Mount Magnet South NL, who purchased it from Equigold Limited in April 2008, and is currently in care and maintenance.
It is named after the near-by Kirkalocka sheep station
.
Exploration at Kirkalocka was carried out by a number of companies, including Sons of Gwalia
, before Equigold Limited acquired the area in 2001.
Equigold, after constructing a plant, commenced mining in October 2002. Over the next three years, the company extracted 294,000 ounces of gold from the deposit, at a grade of 1.62 g/t. Equigold continued milling operations after finishing the mining, with the mine being placed in care and maintenance in August 2008, after having produced in excess of 300,000 ounces.
Equigold Limited sold its mining rights in the area to Mount Magnet South NL in April 2008 and was itself merged into Lihir Gold
in June 2008. The Kirkalocka plant however was not part of this sale. It was acquired by Mount Magnet South in a separate sale in March 2009.
Gold mining
Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...
located 70 km south of Mount Magnet
Mount Magnet, Western Australia
Mount Magnet is an old Western Australian gold rush town. The name was chosen during exploration of the region due to an isolated hill 5 km north west of the town current townsite. This hill has an extremely high iron content and affected the compasses of explorers...
, Western Australia
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...
. The mine is owned by Mount Magnet South NL, who purchased it from Equigold Limited in April 2008, and is currently in care and maintenance.
It is named after the near-by Kirkalocka sheep station
Station (Australian agriculture)
Station is the term for a large Australian landholding used for livestock production. It corresponds to the North American term ranch or South American estancia...
.
History
Mount Magnet is one of the Murchison region’s original gold mining towns, having recorded the first gold finds in 1891.Exploration at Kirkalocka was carried out by a number of companies, including Sons of Gwalia
Sons of Gwalia
Sons of Gwalia was a Western Australian mining company which mined gold, tantalum, spodumene, lithium and tin.Sons of Gwalia was Australia's third-largest gold producer and also controlled more than half the world's production of tantalum, before entering administration in August 2004 following a...
, before Equigold Limited acquired the area in 2001.
Equigold, after constructing a plant, commenced mining in October 2002. Over the next three years, the company extracted 294,000 ounces of gold from the deposit, at a grade of 1.62 g/t. Equigold continued milling operations after finishing the mining, with the mine being placed in care and maintenance in August 2008, after having produced in excess of 300,000 ounces.
Equigold Limited sold its mining rights in the area to Mount Magnet South NL in April 2008 and was itself merged into Lihir Gold
Lihir Gold
Lihir Gold Limited was a gold mining company with operations in Papua New Guinea, Australia and West Africa.The company, incorporated in Papua New Guinea in June 1995, and named Lihir as its first project was to raise capital to build the Lihir Island gold mine was merged with Newcrest Mining at...
in June 2008. The Kirkalocka plant however was not part of this sale. It was acquired by Mount Magnet South in a separate sale in March 2009.
Production
Production of the mine:| Year 2 | Production | Grade | Cost per ounce |
| 2002-03 | |||
| 2003-04 | |||
| 2004-05 | |||
| 2005-06 | 47,638 ounces | 1.39 g/t | A$ 384 |
| 2006-07 | 37,472 ounces | 1.07 g/t | A$ 432 |
| 2007-08 | |||
| 2008-09 | inactive | ||
| 2009-10 | inactive | ||