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NQ Minerals opens Hellyer Gold Mines to high-powered delegation ahead of production restart

Published: 08:02 16 Jul 2018 EDT

sag and ball mill
Closed in 2012 by former owner Bass Metals, the mill plant has been revamped and brought up to date

NQ Minerals PLC (AQSE:NQMI) was host to a high-powered delegation, which visited its operation on Tasmania’s west coast, ahead of the re-start of production in October.

Led by Minister for Resources Guy Barnett and Waratah-Wynyard Mayor Robby Walsh, the party was given the lowdown on plans for the Hellyer Gold Mines.

Over the next nine years, the NQ team will re-process mine waste known as tailings, which contains gold, silver, lead and zinc worth an estimated US$1bn.

Closed in 2012 by former owner Bass Metals, the mill plant has been revamped and brought up to date to handle an initial 700,00 tonnes the leftover material a year, which is expected to rise to 1mln tonnes a year.

Pictured are NQ's Roger Jackson with Minister for Resources Guy Barnett and Waratah-Wynyard Mayor Robby Walsh

The site is likely to employ around 55 people.

“The guts of the story is an environmental one, and the re-energising of the environmental side of mining,” Steve White, a director of Hellyer, told Tasmania Talks.

“Whilst we call ourselves a mine, the activity over the next 10 years has more to do with the re-processing of the mineral-rich tailings.”

Held within four separate areas, the tailings at Hellyer total 11.24mln tonnes, and comprise a JORC-compliant resource estimated at 9.5mln tonnes, hosting gold at 2.61 grams per tonne for 796,000 ounces, silver at 104 grams per tonne for 32mln ounces, plus lead and zinc in significant quantities.

In addition to these tailings, the Hellyer assets include a large pre-existing mill facility and full supporting infrastructure, including a direct rail line to port. It also includes a fully permitted consolidated mining lease.

WATCH: NQ's Jackson walks through the plans for Hellyer 

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