On Friday 2 July 2021, a localised seismic event occurred in the Eastern end of Panel Cave 2 at Newcrest Mining Limited’s Cadia operation in New South Wales, one of Australia’s largest gold mining operations.
No injuries were sustained and, in accordance with standard operating procedure, all personnel working in the affected area were accounted for and safely returned to surface. Mining operations in all other areas, development activities and above-ground operations all continued uninterrupted.
Inspections have been conducted which have confirmed that past investment in ground support has been effective in preventing damage to infrastructure, with only localised damage to the roadways and ground support near the junction of two extraction drives, and minor ground support damage to a nearby ventilation rise.
Newcrest has been working with the New South Wales Government Resources Regulator and a Prohibition Notice has been established around the affected area only. A geotechnical report will be sent by Newcrest to the Regulator today for approval to commence rehabilitation activities in the affected area.
Surface operations have not been affected, nor have other areas of the Cadia East mine and there have been no impacts to PC2-3 development activities, including the replacement of the SAG mill motor for Concentrator 1 which commenced as originally planned.
On 15 October 2019, Newcrest announced the approval of the first stage of the Cadia Expansion Project to Execution phase. The first stage comprises commencement of the next cave development (PC2-3) and, subject to regulatory approvals, an increase in the nameplate capacity of the process plant to 33mtpa. The second stage, which is in Feasibility Study, is focused on a further increase in processing capacity to 35mtpa and recovery rate improvement projects.
The Cadia Molybdenum Plant Feasibility Study has an estimated capital cost of $95m, with commissioning of the plant expected in FY22.
The localised seismic event is expected to have no impact to gold or copper production in the 2022 financial year.