The King of the Hills Gold Mine, formerly the Tarmoola Gold Mine, is located 29 km north-west of Leonora, Western Australia. The mine was placed in care and maintenance from September 2004, when a pit wall failure forced its closure. It is owned by Saracen Mineral Holdings Limited.St Barbara annual report 2005 accessed: 7 February 2010
The Tarmoola mine was originally developed and opened in May 1990 by Mt Edon Gold Mines Australia NL. It is now known as King of the Hills, the original name for the area from its discovery in 1897, and is owned and operated by Saracen Mineral Holdings Limited. Saracen commenced underground mining operations at King of the Hills in July 2016, but sold the mine to Red 5 Limited. Red 5 constructed a new processing plant at the mine and re-commenced underground mining in late March 2022.
History
The mine, opened in May 1990,Klaus Eckhof - Project Geologist and Business Development Manager of Mount Edon www.goldinvest.de, published: 18 January 2007, accessed: 8 February 2010 was discovered and developed by Mount Edon Mines until April 1997,Mr Tony Brennan - Managing Director of Mount Edon Gold Mines Limited deltacapital.com.au, accessed: 8 February 2010 when it was taken over by jointly by Camelot Resources and Teck Corporation through Reachwest Pty Ltd for A$158 million.Joint Takeover Bid For Australian Mine The New York Times, published: 23 January 1997, accessed: 8 February 2010
Camelot Resources was renamed Pacmin Mining in June 1998Tarmoola Joint Venture acclaimexploration.com.au, accessed: 8 February 2010 and took control of all assets of the two companies in Australia.Establishment of Pacific Mining Corporation Camelot ASX announcement, published: 13 March 1998, accessed: 8 February 2010 Pacmin was then taken over by Sons of Gwalia in October 2001 for A$210 million,PACMIN MINING CORPORATION LIMITED (PML) delisted.com.au, accessed: 8 February 2010Intention to Make Takeover Bid for PacMin Mining Corporation SGW ASX announcement, published: 23 August 2001, accessed: 8 February 2010 the mine thereby becoming part of the company's Leonora operations, together with the Gwalia mine. This merger also secured the Carosue Dam mine for Sons of Gwalia.Sons of Gwalia annual report 2003 accessed: 12 January 2010MINEDEX website - Tarmoola search result accessed: 8 February 2010
In February 2004, a pit wall failure caused disruptions to the mine, leading to its eventual closure in September 2004.
In retrospect, the purchase of Pacmin and Tarmoola was seen as very expensive, especially in the light of gold reserve write downs and operational difficulties at the mine.ASX to probe Sons of Gwalia collapse ABC Australia, published: 5 September 2004, accessed: 8 February 2010Gwalia sweats on review metalsplace.com, published: 8 August 2004, accessed: 8 February 2010
Sons of Gwalia went into administration on 30 August 2004, following a financial collapse, with debts exceeding $800 million after suffering from falling gold reserves and hedging losses.Ernst &Young agrees to $125m Sons of Gwalia settlement The West Australian, published: 4 September 2009, accessed: 4 September 2009 Sons of Gwalia was Australia's third-largest gold producer and also controlled more than half the world's production of tantalum.Sons of Gwalia's gold hedging had big holes The Sydney Morning Herald, published: 4 September 2004, accessed: 4 September 2009 At the point of closure, the mine had produced 1.65 million ounces of gold.
St Barbara purchased the mine from insolvent Sons of Gwalia in March 2005 but did not fully reopened the mine thereafter.St Barbara Mines Limited - Lodgement of Open Briefing published: 28 June 2005, accessed: 3 September 2009 The company placed the mine on the market in 2007, seeing little value in operating the mine because of high costs of production. St Barbara estimated that it would cost A$700 per ounce to mine at Tarmoola, at an average grade of 1.1 g/t.St Barbara offloads Tarmoola goldmine The Sydney Morning Herald, published: 9 November 2009, accessed: 8 February 2010 However, the sale of Tarmoola did not eventuate.St Barbara considers underground gold mine at Tarmoola The Australian, published: 14 April 2007, accessed: 8 February 2010
St Barbara explored the option of underground mining at Tarmoola in 2009 and processing the ore at Gwalia.St Barbara website - Leonora accessed: 8 February 2010 Limited amounts of ore were extracted from the mine as a satellite operation by St Barbara and subsequent owners Saracen and Red 5, with St Barbara mining from 2011 to 2015 and Saracen in 2016 before suspending operations in January 2017. In August 2015, St Barbara announced the sale of the mine to Saracen Mineral Holdings for A$3 million.
In August 2017, Red 5 Limited purchased the Darlot-Centenary Gold Mine from Gold Fields for A$18.5 million, A$12 million of this in cash and the remainder in shares and, at the same time, also purchased the King of the Hills Gold Mine from Saracens Mineral Holdings for A$15.5 million in cash and shares.
Red 5 commenced mining at King of the Hills in early 2018, with ore transported to the Darlot process plant for processing until early 2021, when the company decided to preserve the mine's ore for its new plant.
With the completion of their new processing plant at the King of the Hills mine, Red 5 plans to close down the Darlot process plant in 2022 and instead process the ore from the Darlot's underground operations at the new facility. Red 5 spend A$226 million to redevelop the mine.
On 31 March 2022, underground mining commenced at the mine with gold production scheduled to commence in the second quarter of the year.
Production Production of the mine:The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition, page 128Sons of Gwalia fourth quarter report 2004 accessed: 12 January 2010 Year Production Grade Cost per ounce 1995-96 58,369 ounces 2000 230,357 ounces 2.27 g/t A$287 2001 194,540 ounces 1.80 g/t A$379 2002 150,484 ounces 1.41 g/t A$375 2002-03 237,036 ounces A$470 2003–04 165,802 ounces A$476 2004–05 2005–2011 inactive 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 8,962 ounces 2018–19 40,099 ounces 3.16 g/t 2019–20 38,075 ounces 2.71 g/t 2020–2021 inactive 2021–22 9,545 ounces 2022–23 102,574 ounces 1.53 g/t A$1,837
Notes
2002 results for January to November only. Combined result for the Leonora operations, consisting of Gwalia and Tarmoola. The Gwalia mine closed in December 2003. Figures are for ore mined at King of the Hills and processed at Darlot. Ore stockpiled at King of the Hills not included in figure. Combined production figure for King of the Hills and Darlot.
References
Bibliography
External links
MINEDEX website: Tarmoola - King of the Hills Database of the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety How sons of Lalor built, then sank, Sons of Gwalia The Sydney Morning Herald - Article on the collapse of Sons of Gwalia