RE: 'Telfer Back in Action' - hot off the press from The West Australian26 Sep 2024 05:17
Newmont has fired up WA’s iconic Telfer mine after nine months of tailings dam troubles as it hands the reins to Greatland Gold under a $714 million deal that’s set to vault the new owner onto the Australian Securities Exchange.
The Pilbara’s nearly 50-year-old gold processing operation has been out of action since April while two leaking tailings storage facilities were being fixed, with soil erosion problems first spotted in December last year.
The reservoirs were used to store waste products from mining and gold processing.
Newmont Australia managing director Mia Gous said it was a “momentous day”. The US miner had worked “tirelessly” with tailings experts and WA regulators to get the mill running safely again.
“This work included an extensive program of technical evaluation, independent engineering assessment and many hours of tailings engineering and construction,” she said.
Underground and open-pit mining continued at the site, building up stockpiles ready to be processed for when the infrastructure was fixed.
Getting the operation ship-shape had been a key condition of Perth-based, London-listed Greatland Gold’s cash-and-scrip deal to buy the asset from Newmont — the world’s biggest gold miner — earlier this month.
Greatland’s chief executive and former Northern Star chief financial officer Shaun Day was upbeat about the restart and said Telfer was now “set up for success”.
“This is the best time to own Telfer since 2005. You have 30 million tonnes of ore at stockpile, which Newmont has built up over the past 10 months, plus you have a record high gold price,” he told The West Australian.
“It’s just a tremendous time to own this infrastructure, and Greatland will be this lovely confluence of an operating asset generating strong free cash flow, plus completing the development of Havieron, which gives us an additional 20-year mine life.”
Newmont chief executive Tom Palmer said the company had “diligently” worked through issues with the tailings facility and was confident Telfer had a “very long and bright future”.
“Telfer is a mine that Newmont developed back in the 60s and 70s. I’m really pleased to be able to pass that asset across to some very capable hands in the Greatland Gold team,” he said.
It’s been a waiting game for Andrew Forrest-backed Greatland Gold.
The billionaire jumped in as a cornerstone investor in 2022, four years after the explorer discovered the Havieron copper-gold deposit in WA’s Paterson region, held under a 70:30 joint venture with former owner Newcrest Mining.
Newmont inherited the interest in Havieron and Telfer as part of its $26 billion takeover of Newcrest last year, and has since been shedding what it deems “non-core” assets from its sprawling global portfolio.
The seller will maintain its presence in WA via Australia’s biggest mine, Boddington, but Mr Palmer hosed down suggestions the company might b
Sign In
Follow the stocks
