The Granny Smith 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 ...

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 ...

near

Mount Weld Mount Weld mine is a rare earth mine in Western Australia, located about south of Laverton and east of Leonora. It ranks as one of the richest major rare-earth deposits in the world. Rare earths are contained in secondary phosphates and a ...

and operated by

Gold Fields Gold Fields Limited (formerly The Gold Fields of South Africa) is one of the world's largest gold mining firms. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, the company is listed on both the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and the New York Sto ...

. As of 2022, it is one of four mines the company operates in Australia, the others being the Agnew Gold Mine,

St Ives Gold Mine The St Ives Gold Mine is a gold mine located 20 km south-east of Kambalda, Western Australia. It is owned by the South African mining company Gold Fields. As of 2022, it is one of four mines the company operates in Australia, the others b ...

and the

Gruyere Gold Mine The Gruyere Gold Mine is a gold mine located east-north-east of Laverton. It is jointly-owned by the South African mining company Gold Fields, who manages the operation, and Australian company Gold Road Resources. As of 2022, it is one of fo ...

History

The Granny Smith gold deposit was discovered in 1979 by Canadian prospector Ray Lovi Smith and named after his wife Laurende. Construction of the mine took place in the late 1980s. The project was originally owned by Delta Gold Ltd, which became Auriongold Ltd in February 2002. Aurion was taken over by

Placer Dome Inc Placer Dome Inc. was a large mining company specializing in gold and other precious metals, with corporate headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In August 2005, the company had interests in 16 gold mining operations in 7 countries ...

in 2003, who already held a 60% interest in the mine, and Placer Dome in turn by Barrick Gold in March 2006. A large amount of ore processed at Granny Smith originated from the Wallaby deposit, approximately west of the mine, and was hauled to the Granny Smith mill for processing. Open pit mining at Wallaby ceased in September 2006, followed by a ramp up of underground mining at the location. In February 2009, Barrick signed a memorandum of understanding with Crescent Gold to purchase ore from their Laverton Gold Mine and mill it at Granny Smith. In January 2010, an agreement was signed with Range River Gold to purchase ore from the

Mount Morgans Gold Mine The Mount Morgans Gold Mine is a gold mine located 37 km west-southwest of Laverton, Western Australia. The Mt Morgans mine is owned and operated by Dacian Gold Limited, who acquired the project in 2012. History Gold was discovered at ...

and treat it at Granny Smith from February 2010 onwards. In October 2013, Barrick finalised the sale of their Australian Yilgarn South mines, consisting of the Granny Smith, Lawlers and Darlot mines to

Goldfields Goldfield or Goldfields may refer to: Places * Goldfield, Arizona, the former name of Youngberg, Arizona, a populated place in the United States * Goldfield, Colorado, a community in the United States * Goldfield, Iowa, a city in the United State ...

. Barrick sold the mines as it considered them high-cost and required cash to compensate for the rising cost of its Pascua-Lama gold project. The three mines accounted for six percent of Barrick's annual gold output at the time. Goldfields purchased the mines for US$300 million, half of which had to be paid in cash while the other half could be issued in shares.

Environment

In 1999, abandoned mining pits at Granny Smith were used for trials on breeding silver perch and

barramundi The barramundi (''Lates calcarifer'') or Asian sea bass, is a species of catadromous fish in the family Latidae of the order Perciformes. The species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific, spanning the waters of the Middle East, South ...

in salty water.

Production

Granny Smith

Production of the mine as an individual entity:''The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition'', page 90Fourth Quarter & Year-End Mine Statistics 2007
accessed: 1 January 2010

Yilgarn South

Production figures for the Yilgarn South operation, consisting of Darlot, Granny Smith and Lawlers:Fourth Quarter & Year-End Mine Statistics 2008
accessed: 1 January 2010

Granny Smith

Production of the mine as an individual operation again:

References

Bibliography

External links

*
MINEDEX website: Granny Smith
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 Shire of Laverton Barrick Gold Gold Fields