Jundee

Overview

The Jundee mine is located 45 kilometres northeast of Wiluna and 520 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie in the northern Yandal Belt of Western Australia. Newmont Mining corporation owns 100% interest in the operation.

Production began in 1995 from a complex of open pits and two underground mines at Newmont Jundee, in the heart of the remote Yandal goldfield.

In 2011, Jundee poured 333,000 ounces of gold and at year end had proven and probable reserves of 650,000 ounces. Ore was sourced only from the underground mining operation.

Location

Jundee gold mine is located approximately 700 kilometers northeast of Perth and 45 kilometers northeast of Wiluna in Western Australia.

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. Today Western Australia's economy mainly relies on mining, agriculture, and tourism, with the state supplying 46% of Australia's exports. Western Australia is the third-largest iron ore producer in the world.

Wiluna is a town in the Mid West region of Western Australia situated on the edge of the Western Desert. The Wiluna area was explored by Lawrence Wells in 1892. Gold was discovered in the area in 1896, and within a few months there were over 300 prospectors in the area.

Geology & Mineralization

The Jundee gold zone has a strike and width of approximately 4.0 km (2.5 mi). Mineralization is hosted within a west-dipping sequence of
tholeiitic basalts, with interflow sedimentary units intruded by dolerite sills.

Younger felsic and intermediate porphyries and dolerite dikes intrude  the sequence. The mine sequence is bounded to the west by a thick succession of felsic volcanics and volcaniclastics, and mineralization diminishes eastwards as the mafic package becomes more high-magnesium to  ultramafic in composition.

Mineralization occurs within moderate to steeply dipping brittle-ductile structures which have strike and down dip continuity, and comprise veined and silicified shears, breccias and fracture-fill veins with strong carbonate, silica, sulphide, white-mica and leucoxene alteration.

Gold mineralization is situated in the Lake Violet-Yandal Greenstone Belt. Mineralized zones on the property include: Barton Deeps, Barton North, Deakon South, Nim 3, Discovery Pit and Jundee West.

As of December 2011, gold reserves were estimated at 3.8 Mt at 0.174 oz/ton for 650,000 oz gold.

Mining & Operation

At Jundee gold mining is being carried out by underground longhole uphole bench method with levels 20 m apart. A fleet of 50t haul trucks transport ore to the surface.

Mining was originally done through open pit mining methods. Underground development of the Barton Deeps orebodies commenced in August 1997.

In 2011, ore was sourced solely from underground sources, with mill feed supplemented from oxide stockpiles for blending purposes.

Processing

Jundee produced 333,000 ounces of gold in 2011. Mill feed was supplemented from oxide stockpiles for blending purposes. Gold production decreased 7% year-on-year as a result of lower mill grade.

Environment & Community

Newmont operates in compliance with applicable laws, regulations and other legal requirements. In addition to this mandate, its internal management system includes a global set of performance standards. Its goal is continuous improvement, and it regularly measure itself against these performance criteria to track its progress.