Coronation North
Coronation North is a new open pit project north of the existing Coronation pit, and includes the construction of a new waste rock stack and extending the existing infrastructure. The consenting process ended in April 2017 when the project was granted 20 consents from the Otago Regional Council, and two from both the Waitaki District and Dunedin City Councils. This process has taken 18 months to come to fruition and was initiated by a large study beginning in November 2015. The study involved work from over 15 different consulting firms to assess the impacts on the natural and cultural values, water quality, noise, dust and other environmental issues, and find ways that these impacts could be avoided, mitigated or remedied. The process included numerous visits from the council and local Maori iwi representatives, as well as Department of Conservation (DOC) and the consent hearing panel. The result is the unlocking of 12.5Mt of ore. |
The estimated duration of the operation and rehabilitation phases of the project will be approximately five years and the project will add approximately three years of operations to the Macraes Mine Life. The first phase of mining is now underway, with top soil being cleared and the first blast initiated on Sunday, 7th May. Construction of the new waste rock stack (WRS) will commence in July 2017 when the existing waste rock stack reaches its design capacity. After three months of overburden removal, the ore body will be exposed and the first ore tonnes will be mined.
Exploration to extend Coronation North in the south east is ongoing.