Tailings will be dumped into the old Cadia Hill open pit from next week after Newcrest gained government approval.
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Newcrest has been forced to find an alternate site for mine tailings after the partial collapse of a wall between its two tailings storage facilities last month.
Using the pit as a tailings storage facility will mean Newcrest will have to sacrifice millions of ounces of gold and thousands of tonnes of copper still in the pit area.
A statement from Newcrest said approval from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment had been given to use the first 200 metres of the pit for tailings storage.
It said Newcrest was working on plans to gain permission to use the remaining 300 metres of the pit for further tailings storage.
The pit last saw mining operations in 2012.
“Newcrest is currently installing the pipeline infrastructure to enable this [the first 200 metres] to occur with utilisation of the open pit as a storage facility expected to commence in the first week of May,” it said.
It said with the use of the pit and the mine’s southern tailings dam there would be sufficient storage capacity to enable Cadia to progressively return to full production for about 16 months.
The statement said work was continuing a find a repair solution for the northern tailings facility [NTF] which had been used for tailings storage until the partial collapse.
“Newcrest continues to review and determine the cause of the NTF embankment slump,” it said.
“A prohibition notice issued by the NSW Resources Regulator on depositing tailings in the NTF remains in place.”
The statement said that subject to further study it was likely the existing ore reserve containing about 1.5 million ounces of gold and 130,000 tonnes of copper and the mineral resource of three million ounces of gold and 270,000 tonnes of copper “will ultimately be forgone.”
However it said the economic value of using the pit was greater than the value of the unmined minerals at the pit.
Shareholders and financial markets are now awaiting the March 2018 quarterly report from Newcrest which will be released on Thursday, April 26.
Processing at the mine was suspended after the partial wall collapse on March 9 but it has since resumed.
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David Fitzsimons
I am a senior journalist at the Central Western Daily concentrating on council, government and real estate issues. Before moving to Orange I filled senior roles at the Daily Telegraph, Daily Telegraph-Mirror and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. They included being an editor, news editor, chief of staff and reporter.
I am a senior journalist at the Central Western Daily concentrating on council, government and real estate issues. Before moving to Orange I filled senior roles at the Daily Telegraph, Daily Telegraph-Mirror and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. They included being an editor, news editor, chief of staff and reporter.
