The mill is located approximately 120km northwest of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, within the Davyhurst Mining Hub.
Refurbishment of the 1.2Mt/y mill is now complete with all circuits having been electrically commissioned or completed. The programme commenced in September 2016 and has focused on:
- Refurbishment of all concrete and steel structures including feed bin upgrade;
- Installation of two new cone crushers (secondary and tertiary) and a new triple deck screen in the three stage crushing circuit;
- Overhaul of all conveyors including new belts, guards, motors/gearboxes and, where required, rollers;
- Installation of a new gravity circuit including two Nelson concentrators and an Acacia reactor;
- Installation of a new control room including new control systems and data fibre throughout the circuit;
- Refurbishment of the preleach and CIP absorption circuits;
- Refurbishment of the elution circuit and gold room;
- Installation of a new tailings thickener; and
- Installation of new liquid cyanide and oxygen tank facilities.
In addition, a new raw water dam has been constructed with storage capacity equivalent to seven days of raw water supply along with an upstream tailings lift of the existing tailings storage facility (TSF) to provide 12-18 months’ capacity. A 5.5MW containerised diesel power station and 550,000L fuel storage facility is currently being installed and commissioned to supplement the existing 1.5MW grid based power supply currently available from the 17MW capacity power line linking the site to the Goldfields power grid.
Michael Fotios, chairman of Eastern Goldfields, commented: “With the major overhaul of the Davyhurst mill now complete, moving to the commissioning of the plant represents a significant milestone for Eastern Goldfields in its evolution to an Australian gold production company. We now have a very high quality and modernised plant that will serve the company well into the future, as we build on the already pleasing exploration results seen on the surrounding tenure.”
