Location Kambalda Country Australia Financial year 2008-09 Company Ramelius Resources | State Western Australia Production 16,283 Website Ramelius website Opened March 2006 | |
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The Wattle Dam Gold Mine is a gold mine located 25 km south west of Kambalda, Western Australia.
Contents
It is currently owned by Ramelius Resources. Ramelius, listed at the Australian Securities Exchange since 2003, discovered Wattle Dam in 2005 and begun mining the deposit in 2006.
Ore from Wattle Dam is not treated on site but rather taken to the company's Burbanks Treatment Plant, 8 km south of Coolgardie, near the Burbanks Gold Mine which is owned by Barra Resources Limited.
Ramelius has made headlines in 2009 when it became engaged in a bitter dispute with Avoca Resources Limited over conflicting takeover bits for Dioro Exploration NL. Avoca eventually had to drop its bit for Dioro, having reached a 44.85% interest in Dioro at the close of the offer on 20 August, short of the 50% needed. Ramelius's offer for the company closes on 8 February 2010. Avoca made a renewed takeover offer for the company in late December 2009. Avoca eventually succeeded in its bid for Dioro and, on 21 April 2010, Dioro was delisted from the ASX.
Ramelius purchased the Hill 50 Gold Mine from Harmony Gold for A$40 million in July 2010.
History
Discovered in 2005, Ramelius begun mining the deposit in March 2006. After two periods of open pit mining in 2006 and 2008–09, underground development commenced in May 2009. The company expects high grade underground ore to be available for milling in December 2009.
The ore is treated at the Burbanks Treatment Plant, which is located 65 km from Wattle Dam. Ramelius purchased the plant in November 2006 for A$2.8 million. Ramelius spent a further $1.3 million on refurbishing the facility, which has a capacity to treat up to 180,000 tonnes of ore per annum. When not used for Wattle Dam ore, the facility toll treats third party ore, like from July to September 2009. Before the purchase of Burbanks, Ramelius had its ore treated at the plant of the Higginsville Gold Mine, owned by Avoca Resources
Production
Production of the mine: