Overview -
Northparkes Mines is a copper-gold mine, situated 27 kilometres north/north-west of the town of Parkes in Central West New South Wales. The mine is a joint venture between Rio Tinto (80%) and the Sumitomo Group (20%). It produces high grade copper-gold concentrate, which is shipped to international smelters. The mine was the first in Australia to use the block cave mining method.
Northparkes occurs within the northernmost exposed part of a long belt of volcanic rocks that extends from Temora in the south. This volcanic belt is Ordovician in age rangi ng from approximately 480 to 440 million years old. The operation is comprised of two open pits and an underground mine using the block caving mining method and employ 200 people with another 200 contracted employees working on the minesite.
Exploration commenced in the district in the early 1970's when Geologists were attracted to the lead-zinc potential of the volcanic belt. Several years were spent exploring for this type of deposit before drilling (in 1976) of 1 km spaced drill holes along public roads intersected what is now known as the E22 ore body. Approval for mining was granted in 1992.
In 2005, the combined output from Module 1 and 2 totalled 57,000 ounces of gold in concentrate and 54,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate having processed 5.45 million tonnes of ore, 93% of its design capacity.
The E48 Orebody is being looked at as the next mineral resource to be mined. the next mineral resource to be mined at the NPM site. The interim reserve of 34 million tonnes for E48 has the potential to add value and increase NPM mine life to 2016. The orebody is not at the prefeasibility stage.
