Ross Louthean 5 August 2011
The alluvial gold mining operation at Earnscleugh near Clyde is making the transition from trial mining to full production for Christchurch-based L&M Group.
The company has refurbished the gold dredge it had at Waikaka and it has been moved to a terraced area at Earnscleugh to begin production,
replacing a smaller alluvial dredge unit.
It was being prepared to move into a filling hole this weekend to begin production at around 150 bank cubic metres of material per day.
L&M Groups chairman Geoff Loudon said at the Diggers & Dealers Forum in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia this week that the dredge had been streamlined with in-line pressure jigs from the Australian group Gekko which have enhanced the cleaning up of jig concentrate.
He said L&M has introduced a specially modified long-arm CAT hydraulic excavator to provide feed for the floating treatment plant.
Compared to some conventional alluvial dredging methods used on the South Island, including past operations by L&M, he said because the feeder is land-based the floating treatment plant is not really a dredge.
Back in May Loudon said the trial mining operation had produced about 2,000 ounces of gold. The refurbished plant should process about 1 million bank cubic metres of alluvials per annum and the production target is about 8,000 oz pa. The gold price this week was about $NZ1,928/oz.
Earnscleugh has been owned by L&M for more than a decade at a time it was undertaking alluvial gold mining elsewhere on the South Island, but its development was held up by the then gold price of around $NZ600/ounce and some vexatious issues with one local landholder wanting to sell.
The company struck a joint venture with the local Coleman family which has a 10% stake in the project. Son Mark Coleman helped operate the smaller dredge for the trial mining.
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