The Northparkes copper-gold mine is located at Goonumbia, 27 km north/north-west of the central New South Wales township of Parkes and is a joint venture with the Sumitomo Group (20 per cent). Mining commenced at Northparkes in 1994, initially as an opencut operation. Underground block caving mining has bee undertaken since 1997. The copper concentrate produced is shipped under long term contracts to smelters in Japan (67 per cent), Australia (14 per cent) and other countries (19 per cent). Northparkes employs approximately 160 people together with 140 permanent contractors.