Name of the Project
Cadia East rehabilitation and upgrade project.

Location
New South Wales, Australia.

Client
Newcrest Mining.

Project Description
Cadia East was placed under a prohibition notice on April 14, prohibiting the miner from extracting ore from its Panel Cave (PC) 1 and 2.

Damage to the mine infrastructure was minimal; however, Newcrest plans to undertake a project to increase the dynamic ground support capacity around known fault structures and rehabilitate ground support in areas impacted on by the seismic event.

Work to restore PC2 to production has been prioritised, while the remainder of the ground support upgrades are completed at PC1 and other areas of the mine.

Jobs to Be Created
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Value
A$25-million.

Duration
Subject to the lifting of the prohibition notice, PC1 and 2 will restart operations in the first quarter of 2018.

Latest Developments
Newcrest Mining has started depositing tailings into the Cadia Hill openpit mine, following the construction and commissioning of pipeline infrastructure.

Newcrest granted approval in April to use the first 20 m of the old Cadia Hill openpit operation as a tailings storage facility, in place of the Northern tailings facility, where a breakthrough of tailings material was reported in March.

Newcrest has reported that, after a short ramp-up period, the Cadia operation is expected to return to full production rates before the end of the current financial year.

Meanwhile, the company continues to review and determine the cause of the Northern tailings facility slump. A prohibition notice issued by the Resources Regulator remains in place.

In conjunction with the current Southern tailings facility, the new permit will create sufficient storage capacity to enable Cadia to progressively return to full production rates for about 16 months.

In this period, the company will consider defining and starting the optimal repair solution for the Northern tailings facility while working on permitting the remaining 300 m of the Cadia Hill openpit mine for tailings storage.

As a result of the use of the Cadia Hill openpit as a tailings storage facility, it is likely that the existing ore reserve, containing an estimated 1.5-million ounces of gold and 13 000 t of copper, and a mineral resource of about three-million ounces of gold and 27 000 t of copper, will be foregone.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
Newcrest Mining, tel +61 3 9522 5333, fax +61 3 9525 2996 or email corporateaffairs@newcrest.com.au.