The place is gold mined in Australia?
One of many nation’s extra prolific gold-mining areas is Western Australia, which in keeping with the Fraser Institute is likely one of the finest mining jurisdictions on the earth. Unsurprisingly, the world has attracted main miners like Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,LSE:RIO,NYSE:RIO) and BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BLT).
In reality, gold was the second most precious commodity in Western Australia by in 2023, solely behind liquefied pure fuel; gold gross sales got here in a file AU$20 billion throughout that point.
Total, in keeping with statistical information supplied by the federal government of Western Australia, the state alone produced 211.22 tonnes of gold in 2023 in comparison with simply 80.73 tonnes of gold produced in the remainder of the nation.
Inside Western Australia, the Pilbara area has renewed curiosity and helped enhance the nation’s constant gold output. Protecting greater than half 1,000,000 sq. kilometres, the Pilbara space is likely one of the most resource-rich areas within the state. And whereas the Pilbara space is best often called an iron ore hotspot, it is at present within the midst of a small gold rush due to a significant discovery in 2017 by Novo Assets (TSXV:NVO,OTCQX:NSRPF) and Artemis Assets (ASX:ARV,OTCQB:ARTTF).
Some geologists have in contrast the geology of the Pilbara Craton with South Africa’s Witwatersrand Basin, which is house to the Earth’s largest recognized gold reserves and is chargeable for over 40 % of worldwide gold manufacturing.
Each the Pilbara and Witwatersrand are comparable in age and composition, sitting on prime of the Archean granite-greenstone basement. The Pilbara space hosts quite a few small mesothermal gold deposits containing conglomerate gold — mineralisation recognized to carry massive, high-grade gold nuggets.
What are the largest Australian gold mines?
Under is a guided tour of the ten largest gold mines in Australia when it comes to gold output, as per Aurum Analytics’ Q2 2024 report on Australian and New Zealand gold operations.
1. Boddington
Newmont (TSX:NGT,NYSE:NEM) grew to become the only real proprietor of this open-pit gold and copper mine in 2009. The asset is situated 16 kilometres from Boddington, Western Australia.
Iin calendar yr 2023, Boddington produced 745,000 ounces of gold, a 7 % drop from the 798,000 produced in 2022.
Newmont expects manufacturing at Boddington to say no considerably in 2024, setting steering at solely 575,000 ounces, which it attributes to lower-grade ore. Nonetheless, the corporate expects manufacturing to extend in 2026 as it really works to finish laybacks within the north and south pits.
The mine produced 147,000 ounces of gold within the second quarter of 2024.
2. Cadia Valley
Situated in New South Wales, Cadia Valley is now owned and operated by Newmont following its acquisition of Newcrest Mining in November 2023. The mine is made up of the Cadia East underground panel cave mine and the Ridgeway underground mine (at present on care and upkeep), which produce gold doré bars from a gravity circuit and gold-rich copper concentrates from a flotation circuit.
As soon as the largest gold mine in Australia, Cadia’s manufacturing numbers have been in decline in recent times, slipping from 843,000 in 2020 to 597,000 ounces in fiscal 2023. Output declines in 2023 had been resulting from deliberate shutdowns as the corporate labored on improvement actions for the PC1-2 undertaking and started cave ramp-up on PC2-3.
Newmont is forecasting additional declines in manufacturing from Cadia in 2024. It set steering at 370,000 ounces because it continues on underground improvement on block caves and tailings growth and plans for the subsequent decade of mine life.
Cadia produced 117,000 ounces of gold within the June quarter of 2024.
3. KCGM
Northern Star Assets (ASX:NST,OTC Pink:NESRF) owns Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM), which incorporates the Fimiston open pit — also called the Tremendous Pit — the Mount Charlotte underground mine and the Fimiston and Gidji processing crops. The operations reached the milestone of fifty million ounces of gold manufacturing in 2019.
KCGM is situated within the legendary Golden Mile, which was as soon as reputed to be the richest sq. mile on Earth. In its fiscal 2024, KCGM produced 449,032 ounces of gold, and the operations sit on 13.3 million ounces of reserves.
In mid-2023, Northern Star launched a AU$1.5 billion growth undertaking at KCGM that’s anticipated to extend manufacturing to 900,000 ounces per yr by 2029. Because the growth enters its second yr, the corporate reported main works would come with the set up of grinding, crushing and flotation cells together with website infrastructure.
KGCM produced 116,690 ounces of gold through the second quarter of 2024.
4. Tropicana
Tropicana is co-owned by AngloGold Ashanti (ASX:AGG,NYSE:AU,OTC Pink:AULGF), which owns 70 %, and Regis Assets (ASX:RRL,OTC Pink:RGRNF), which owns the remaining 30 %.
The mine spans 3,600 sq. kilometres and stretches over near 160 kilometres in strike size alongside the Yilgarn Craton and Fraser Vary cellular belt collision zone. The regional geology is dominated by granitoid rocks, making it a uncommon instance of a giant gold deposit inside high-grade metamorphic rocks which have undergone widespread recrystallisation and melting.
In calendar 2023, Tropicana produced 442,887 ounces of gold, with AngloGold Ashanti’s 70 % accounting for 310,000 ounces and the remainder attributed to Regis.
As a part of AngloGold Ashanti’s dedication to reducing its carbon footprint, a 62 megawatt wind and photo voltaic facility is at present beneath building at Tropicana. The undertaking is predicted to be accomplished through the first quarter of 2025 and can cut back greenhouse fuel emissions on the website by an estimated 65,000 per yr.
Tropicana produced 102,763 ounces of gold through the second quarter of 2024.
5. Tanami
Tanami has been absolutely owned and operated by Newmont since 2002 and is situated within the Northern Territory’s distant Tanami Desert. Each the mine and the plant are situated on Aboriginal freehold land that’s owned by the Warlpiri folks and managed on their behalf by the Central Desert Aboriginal Lands Belief.
Tanami is a fly-in, fly-out operation in one in all Australia’s most distant areas. The asset is 270 kilometres away from its closest neighbours, the distant Aboriginal group of Yuendumu.
In 2023, Tanami produced 448,000 ounces, 7 % decrease than the 484,000 ounces from the earlier yr. Newmont has projected that 2024 will see an extra lower to 400,000 ounces, attributing the lowered output to decrease grades from deeper within the underground mine because it continues to develop the growth.
In October 2023, Newmont introduced the Tanami Enlargement 2 undertaking, which has an anticipated industrial manufacturing date of late 2025. As soon as full, it’s anticipated to increase the mine’s life past 2040 and enhance its annual gold manufacturing by roughly 150,000 to 200,000 ounces for the preliminary 5 years.
Tanami produced 99,000 ounces of gold within the June quarter of 2024.
6. Cowal
Owned by Evolution Mining, Cowal is the corporate’s largest gold-producing asset. The mine is situated close to Bland Shire in New South Wales inside the conventional lands of the Wiradjuri folks.
In 2023, Evolution marked essential milestones within the mine’s improvement with the ramp-up in manufacturing of its newly cutback Stage H portion of its open pit mine and the early completion of its underground mine.
The brand new underground portion of Cowal helped to ship a file manufacturing in its fiscal yr 2024 of 312,644 ounces of gold versus 276,314 ounces throughout its fiscal 2023.
As a result of excessive gold costs and robust manufacturing numbers, the corporate reported that it has been capable of repay capital prices for the acquisition and growth at Cowal. In complete, the mine generated AU$604.9 million in fiscal 2024.
Cowal produced 94,826 ounces of gold within the quarter ending June 30.
7. Jundee
Jundee is situated within the Northern Goldfields area of Western Australia and is owned by Northern Star after the miner bought it from Newmont in 2014 for AU$82.5 million. The property is well-known resulting from the truth that it solely makes use of underground mining. Together with Cadia Valley, Jundee is likely one of the lowest-cost gold producers on this listing.
The asset produced 280,963 ounces of gold within the firm’s fiscal 2024, decrease than the 320,201 ounces produced the earlier yr. Manufacturing at Jundee was impacted by a hearth within the processing plant in This fall that resulted in 10 days of unplanned downtime.
In June of 2023, Northern Star introduced it will be integrating 24 megawatts (MW) of wind and 16.9 MW of photo voltaic into its present fuel energy station community and could be supplementing all the system with 12 MW of battery vitality storage. As soon as full renewable technology is predicted to account for 56 % of the mine’s energy and can contribute to a 36 % discount in Northern Star’s carbon footprint.
In its 2024 report launched in August, the corporate reported that three of the 4 deliberate wind generators have been put in, with the fourth on observe for commissioning later in 2024.
Through the second quarter of 2024, Jundee produced 72,661 ounces of gold.
8. St. Ives
Owned and operated by Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI,JSE:GFI), St. Ives consists of a number of open-pit and underground mines close to Kambalda in Western Australia.
In Gold Fields’ 2023 annual report, the corporate detailed that output from St. Ives got here in at 371,800 ounces of gold through the calendar yr, a slight decline from the 376,700 ounces achieved in 2022. The corporate set steering at St. Ives for 2024 at roughly 355,000 ounces of gold.
In March 2024, Gold Fields introduced the development of a microgrid undertaking at St. Ives that may add 42 MW of wind and 35 MW of photo voltaic, producing 73 % of the operation’s electrical necessities. The corporate expects the microgrid to be operational towards the top of 2025. Total, it’s projected to cut back scope 1 and a couple of emissions on the mine by 50 % in 2030.
St. Ives produced 70,147 ounces of gold within the second quarter of 2024.
9. Duketon South
Owned by Regis Assets, Duketon is situated within the North Japanese Goldfields of Western Australia. The operation consists of the Backyard Effectively and Rosemont mines, with each internet hosting open pit and underground operations.
The first processing facility at Backyard Effectively has a 5 million tonne every year throughput price with a two-stage crushing circuit, scrubber and ball mill, in addition to a 7.5 million tonne every year carbon-in-leach circuit, which additionally handles slurry from Rosemont.
Within the firm’s fiscal 2024 report, it indicated manufacturing had decreased to 244,455 ounces of gold for the yr ended June 30 from 252,672 ounces produced in 2023.
In Might 2024, Regis introduced it accepted improvement for a brand new underground mining space at Backyard Effectively and an extension to the Rosemont underground mine. As soon as these are full, Regis is projecting annual manufacturing of 100,000 to 120,000 ounces of extra capability by fiscal 2027.
Through the quarter ending June 30, Duketon South produced 66,102 ounces of gold.
10. Fosterville
Fosterville, which is owned by Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX:AEM,NYSE:AEM), is a high-grade, low-cost underground gold mine situated within the state of Victoria.
The mine has been operational since 1989, with a lifetime manufacturing of over 16 million ounces of gold. The asset produced 277,694 ounces of gold in calendar 2023, a lower from the 338,327 ounces produced in 2022. Agnico Eagle attributes the lower to decrease grades because it processes the remaining areas of the Swan zone.
The corporate has forecast continued declines from Fosterville placing the mid-point of steering at 210,000 ounces in 2024, 150,000 ounces in 2025 and 150,000 ounces in 2026. The expectation is the Swan zone will likely be largely depleted by the top of 2024. Steeper declines will likely be offset by improved air flow, rising the mining price at Robbins Hill by 10 %.
Fosterville produced 65,963 ounces of gold through the second quarter of 2024.
spend money on Australian gold shares?
Investing in Australian gold shares is just like shares in different sectors. Gold corporations challenge shares on inventory exchanges which might be obtainable for traders to commerce. Whenever you buy shares of a gold inventory, you’re primarily buying a stake within the firm.
Many gold corporations in Australia are listed on the ASX, making them simply accessible to Australian traders. To spend money on the businesses which might be listed on worldwide exchanges, Australian traders should use a dealer that has entry to that market.
For North American traders seeking to spend money on Australian gold corporations, some are dual-listed on Canadian and US inventory exchanges as nicely, making them extra accessible.
As for deciding which sort of gold firm to spend money on, whether or not you select to spend money on gold-mining shares or gold corporations on the improvement or exploration stage must be based mostly in your threat tolerance. Usually, established corporations which might be producing metallic are extra steady and fewer dangerous than smaller corporations which might be nonetheless exploring for gold or constructing a mine.
Though no investing technique is 100% foolproof, consultants usually advocate gold shares as a solution to hedge publicity to basic inventory market. That is as a result of they have an inclination to maneuver in tandem with the worth of gold.
For extra concepts in how one can spend money on Australian gold shares, try our articles on the greatest ASX-listed gold shares and the top-gaining ASX gold shares year-to-date.
That is an up to date model of an article first printed by the Investing Information Community in 2019.
Don’t neglect to observe us @INN_Australia for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, at present maintain no direct funding curiosity in any firm talked about on this article.
