Location Laverton Country Australia Financial year 2009 Company Gold Fields | State Western Australia Production 352,000 Website Barrick website | |
 | ||
The Granny Smith Gold Mine is a gold mine 21 kilometres (13 mi) south of Laverton, Western Australia near Mount Weld.
Contents
It is operated by Goldfields and, since the end of 2013, part of its Yilgarn South operation, which consists of Granny Smith, the Lawlers Gold Mine and the Darlot-Centenary Gold Mine.
History
The Granny Smith gold deposit was discovered in 1979 by Canadian prospector Ray Lovi Smith and named after his wife Laurende.
Construction of the mine took place in the late 1980s.
The project was originally owned by Delta Gold Ltd, which became Auriongold Ltd in February 2002. Aurion was taken over by Placer Dome Inc in 2003, who already held a 60% interest in the mine, and Placer Dome in turn by Barrick Gold in March 2006.
A large amount of ore processed at Granny Smith originated from the Wallaby deposit, approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) west of the mine, and was hauled to the Granny Smith mill for processing. Open pit mining at Wallaby ceased in September 2006, followed by a ramp up of underground mining at the location.
In February 2009, Barrick signed a Memorandum of understanding with Crescent Gold to purchase ore from their Laverton Gold Mine and mill it at Granny Smith. In January 2010, an agreement was signed with Range River Gold to purchase ore from the Mount Morgans Gold Mine and treat it at Granny Smith from February 2010 onwards.
Environment
In 1999, abandoned mining pits at Granny Smith were used for trials on breeding Silver Perch and Barramundi in salty water.
Granny Smith
Production of the mine as an individual entity:
Yilgarn South
Production figures for the Yilgarn South operation, consisting of Darlot, Granny Smith and Lawlers.