Ernest Henry mine

Last updated

Ernest Henry mine
Location
Australia Queensland location map.svg
Schlaegel und Eisen nach DIN 21800.svg
Ernest Henry mine
Location38km northeast of Cloncurry
State Queensland
CountryAustralia
Coordinates 20°26′51″S140°42′49″E / 20.4476°S 140.7136°E / -20.4476; 140.7136
Production
Products Copper, gold and silver
History
OpenedMarch 1998 (open pit)
December 2011 (underground)
Owner
CompanyErnest Henry Mining (subsidiary of Evolution Mining)
Website www.ernesthenrymining.com.au

The Ernest Henry mine is a large copper mine located in eastern Australia, 38 kilometres north of Cloncurry [1] in the state of Queensland. Ernest Henry represents one of the largest copper reserves in Australia and in the world having estimated reserves of 167 million tonnes of ore grading 1.1% copper and 2.67 million oz of gold. [2] Silver is also produced at the mine. [3] The mine produced 64,000 tonnes of copper and 92,000 ounces of gold in the financial year to 2021. [1]

Contents

History

Commercial operations at the site began as an open-cut mine in 1998. [3] Plans to transition to underground mining were announced in 2009. [3] In June 2023, the mine announced that operations would continue till at least 2040. [4]

In March 2023, the mine closed for six weeks after flood water entered the site. [5]

Operations

Ernest Henry is an underground mining operation. [3] A 1,000 metre hoisting shaft brings ore to the surface. [3] Traditional grinding and flotation methods in the concentrator is used to extract copper and gold. Concentrate is treated at Glencore’s Mount Isa Mines smelter and metal is refined at Glencore’s Townsville refinery. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vale S.A.</span> Multinational diversified metals and mining corporation

Vale, formerly Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, is a Brazilian multinational corporation engaged in metals and mining and one of the largest logistics operators in Brazil. Vale is the largest producer of iron ore and nickel in the world. It also produces manganese, ferroalloys, copper, bauxite, potash, kaolin, and cobalt, currently operating nine hydroelectricity plants, and a large network of railroads, ships, and ports used to transport its products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mining in Australia</span> Primary sector industry

Mining in Australia has long been a significant primary sector industry and contributor to the Australian economy by providing export income, royalty payments and employment. Historically, mining booms have also encouraged population growth via immigration to Australia, particularly the gold rushes of the 1850s. Many different ores, gems and minerals have been mined in the past and a wide variety are still mined throughout the country.

Raglan Mine is a large nickel mining complex in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, Canada. It is located approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) south of Deception Bay. Discovery of the deposits is credited to Murray Edmund Watts in 1931 or 1932. It is owned and operated by Glencore Canada Corporation. The mine site is located in sub-arctic permafrost of the Cape Smith Belt, with an average underground temperature of −15 °C (5 °F).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McArthur River zinc mine</span> Mine in Northern Territory, Australia

The McArthur River mine is a zinc-lead mine, situated about 70 kilometres southwest of Borroloola, near the Gulf of Carpentaria in the northeastern Northern Territory, Australia. It is operated by McArthur River Mining (MRM), a subsidiary of the Swiss mining company Glencore. Although discovered in the 1950s, when it was originally called the HYC or "Here's Your Chance" deposit, it only opened as a mine in 1995. Initially an underground mining operation, the mine has been converted to open-cut.

Mount Isa Mines Limited ("MIM") operates the Mount Isa copper, lead, zinc and silver mines near Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia as part of the Glencore group of companies. For a brief period in 1980, MIM was Australia's largest company. It has pioneered several significant mining industry innovations, including the Isa Process copper refining technology, the Isasmelt smelting technology, and the IsaMill fine grinding technology, and it also commercialized the Jameson Cell column flotation technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heath Steele Mines</span>

Heath Steele Mines, situated 60 km (37 mi) northwest of Newcastle, New Brunswick, Canada, at the headwaters of the Tomogonops and Little Rivers, was a large and productive copper, lead, and zinc mine which operated from 1956 to 1999. The mine was an economic cornerstone of Miramichi communities throughout this period.

The mineral industry of Russia is one of the world's leading mineral industries and accounts for a large percentage of the Commonwealth of Independent States' production of a range of mineral products, including metals, industrial minerals, and mineral fuels. In 2005, Russia ranked among the leading world producers or was a significant producer of a vast range of mineral commodities, including aluminum, arsenic, cement, copper, magnesium compounds and metals, nitrogen, palladium, silicon, nickel and vanadium.

The Telfer Mine is a gold, copper and silver mine located at Telfer on the land of the Martu people, in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia. It is owned by Newmont, having acquired the previous owner, Newcrest Mining, formerly the largest gold producer listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, in November 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kagara Ltd</span>

Kagara Ltd was an Australian mining company operating in Queensland and Western Australia. The company was founded as Kagara Zinc Inc in 1981, and was based in Perth. Kagara entered voluntary administration on 30 April 2012. It subsequently went into liquidation in 2014.

Katanga Mining Ltd was a mining company operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with its headquarters in Canada. Katanga Mining operated a major mine complex in the Congo's Katanga Province, producing refined copper and cobalt. It claimed to have the "potential of becoming Africa's largest copper producer and the world's largest cobalt producer."

The Kamoto Mine is an underground copper and cobalt mine to the west of Musonoi in the former Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. As of 2022, the site is the largest active cobalt mine in the world. The mine includes the Luilu metallurgical plant, which accepts ore from KOV mine and Mashamba East mine. The plant has polluted the Luilu River, and tailings also pollute the region with wind-blown dust. The Kolwezi Tailings Project is an attempt to recover additional metal from these tailings.

Mopani Copper Mines PLC is a Zambian company owned by ZCCM Investment Holdings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zinc mining</span>

Zinc mining is the process by which mineral forms of the metal zinc are extracted from the earth through mining. A zinc mine is a mine that produces zinc minerals in ore as its primary product. Common co-products in zinc ores include minerals of lead and silver. Other mines may produce zinc minerals as a by-product of the production of ores containing more valuable minerals or metals, such as gold, silver or copper. Mined ore is processed, usually on site, to produce one or more metal-rich concentrates, then transported to a zinc smelter for production of zinc metal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nickel mining in Western Australia</span> Mining activity in Western Australia

Nickel mining in Western Australia has been an industry that has had many fluctuations of fortune in its history. Large fluctuations in the world nickel price have seen mines close and reopen on several occasions.

Mining in North Korea is important to the country's economy. North Korea is naturally abundant in metals such as magnesite, zinc, tungsten, and iron; with magnesite resources of 6 billion tonnes, particularly in the North and South Hamgyong Province and Chagang Province. However, often these cannot be mined due to the acute shortage of electricity in the country, as well as the lack of proper tools to mine these materials and an antiquated industrial base. Coal, iron ore, limestone, and magnesite deposits are larger than other mineral commodities. Mining joint ventures with other countries include China, Canada, Egypt, and South Korea.

The Oaky Creek Coal Mine is a coal mine located 17 kilometres east-southeast of Tieri in the Bowen Basin in Central Queensland, Australia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 288 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Asia and the world. The mine has an annual production capacity of 11 million tonnes of coal. Oaky Creek is one of Australia's highest producing coal mines over a period of several years. It was opened in 1983.

The Mount Elliott mine is a large copper mine located in eastern Australia in Queensland, 100 kilometres south of Cloncurry. Mount Elliott represents one of the largest copper reserves in Australia and in the world having estimated reserves of 475 million tonnes of ore grading 0.5% copper and 4.56 million oz of gold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evolution Mining</span> Mining company in Australia

Evolution Mining is an Australian gold mining company with projects across Australia and in Ontario, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cosmos Nickel Mine</span> Former nickel mine in Western Australia

Cosmos Nickel Mine is a currently inactive surface and underground nickel mine 38 kilometres (24 mi) north-north-west of Leinster, Western Australia, along the Goldfields Highway.

References

  1. 1 2 Chiat, Josh (18 November 2021). "Ground Breakers: Evolution pays $1 billion to head into copper with Ernest Henry transaction". Stockhead. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  2. "Iron oxide deposits in the world" (PDF). ethesis.helsinki.fi. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 April 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Fact Sheet: Ernest Henry operation" (PDF). www.evolutionmining.com.au. 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  4. Dobson, Emily; Waterson, Larissa (7 June 2023). "Evolution extends life of Ernest Henry copper mine to 2040 to meet global renewables demand". ABC News . Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  5. Waterson, Larissa (15 March 2023). "Mining operations suspended across the North West Minerals Province after severe floods". ABC News . Retrieved 19 October 2023.