The Carosue Dam Gold Mine is a

gold mine Gold Mine may refer to: *Gold Mine (board game) *Gold Mine (Long Beach), an arena *"Gold Mine", a song by Joyner Lucas from the 2020 album '' ADHD'' See also * ''Gold'' (1974 film), based on the novel ''Gold Mine'' by Wilbur Smith *Gold mining ...

located south of

Laverton, Western Australia Laverton, originally known as British Flag, is a town in the Goldfields region of Western Australia, and the centre of administration for the Shire of Laverton. The town of Laverton is located at the western edge of the Great Victoria Desert, no ...

. Carosue Dam was previously owned by the now defunct mining company Sons of Gwalia Limited. Purchased in 2005, the mine was placed into

care and maintenance Care and maintenance is a term used in the mining industry to describe processes and conditions on a closed minesite where there is potential to recommence operations at a later date. During a care and maintenance phase, production is stopped but t ...

by new owners St Barbara in June 2005 and sold to Saracen Mineral Holdings in February 2006. Saracen reopened the mine in early 2010. It is now owned and operated by

Northern Star Resources Northern Star Resources is an Australian gold mining company with operations in Western Australia, Northern Territory and Alaska. History Northern Star Resources (NSR) was founded in December 2003 to search for and develop ore deposits in the E ...

after a merger with Saracen in 2021.

History

Located within the South Laverton gold field, situated 120 km north east of

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

, the processing plant at Carosue Dam was constructed and commissioned in 2000, then owned by Pacmin Mining. In October 2001, it was acquired by Sons of Gwalia. During its five-year operation until June 2005, the mine produced over 700,000 ounces of gold. Sons of Gwalia went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

on 30 August 2004 and the company's gold mining operations were sold to St Barbara Limited in March 2005 for A$38 million, having been valued by the Sons of Gwalia directors at A$120 million. It was one of four gold mines sold to St Barbara in this deal, the other three being the

Marvel Loch Gold Mine The Marvel Loch Gold Mine is a gold mine located at Marvel Loch, south of Southern Cross, Western Australia. It is operated by St Barbara Limited. Apart from Marvel Loch, St Barbara also operated the Gwalia Gold Mine at Leonora and owned th ...

, the Tarmoola Gold Mine and the

Gwalia Gold Mine The Gwalia Gold Mine is located at Gwalia, a few kilometres south of Leonora, Western Australia. It was originally established by Welsh miners in the late 19th century and Herbert Hoover, the later President of the United States, served as th ...

.Sons of Gwalia Limited at delisted.com.au
accessed: 3 September 2009 After the collapse of Sons of Gwalia in 2004, the mine continued producing but was placed in care and maintenance by St Barbara three months after its purchase. In October 2005, St Barbara announced the sale of Carosue Dam to Saracens for A$19.4 million in cash and shares. St Barbara acquired a 20% interest in Saracens through this transaction. With the purchase of the mine by Saracen, the new owners developed a two-staged plan to reopen the mine in 2010. After a period of

open pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...

mining, lasting for three to five years, the second stage will also include an underground operation. On 15 June 2009 Saracen announced that the mine would be connected to the

Western Power The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

grid through a 90 km

power line An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit electrical energy across large distances. It consists of one or more uninsulated electrical cables (commonly multiples of three for three-p ...

rather than being supplied by

diesel generators A diesel generator (DG) (also known as a diesel Genset) is the combination of a diesel engine with an electric generator (often an alternator) to generate electrical energy. This is a specific case of engine generator. A diesel compression-ig ...

on site. This line, scheduled to be completed in late 2010, is estimated to cost between $10 and 15 million but should provide the company with savings in the range of $50 to 100 per ounce of gold produced. In November 2009, Saracen announced that the $7 million construction project at the mine had been finished and plant commissioning had started. Gold production was scheduled to begin in February 2010, with the first gold pour announced on 29 January 2010. In October 2020, a merger between

and Saracen Metal Holdings was proposed and completed in February 2021 when Saracen was de-listed from the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

. As of 2022, the mine operated by

as an underground and surface operation. A 5MW solar power station was commissioned in June 2022 to reduce the mine's emissions by over 5600 tonnes per year.

Production

Production of the mine:''The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition'', page 77Quarterly Activities Report June 2011
Saracen ASX announcement, published: 28 July 2011, accessed: 5 August 2011

Notes

* 2002 results for January to September only. * 28 March to 30 June period only.

References

Bibliography

External links

*
MINEDEX website: Carosue Dam - Khartoum
Database of the

Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety The Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety is a department of the Government of Western Australia. The department was formed on 1 July 2017, out of the former Department of Mines and Petroleum and Department of Commerce. A restr ...

{{Active Gold Mines in Western Australia Gold mines in Western Australia Surface mines in Australia Underground mines in Australia City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder 2000 establishments in Australia