Newcrest Mining has been notified of the approval of an application submitted to expand the permitted processing capacity for its Cadia gold operation in Australia that will take it from 32 million tonnes per year to 35 Mt/y.

The green light from the New South Wales Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) allows significant work to begin on the two-phase project for the plant’s growth; initial works are already in progress for both stages, and the facility should be complete by the September quarter of next year.

Also included in the modifications: a repair to the slumped section of the mine’s northern tailings storage facility (NTSF) and a revision of the footprint of both the NTSF and STSF that will adjust it from an upstream to a centreline lift design. 

Detailed design work on a single design option is currently in progress, with execution expected to cost less than A$100 million, it added.

Cadia is made up of the Cadia East underground panel cave mine and the Ridgeway underground mine, the latter of which is currently on care and maintenance.

Gold doré from the operation is refined at the Perth Mint. Concentrates are piped to a dewatering plant at Blaynay and sent via rail to Port Kembia in NSW for export.

Source: Newcrest Mining