Newmont’s Tanami Enlargement 2 (TE2) within the Northern Territory – the most important mine growth mission in Australia – has seen some vital latest developments. The gold mission, which is growing an intensive new supplies dealing with system, together with an underground crusher, conveyors and a 1.46 km-deep shaft hoisting system, is Newmont’s greatest capital expenditure mission underway in Australia.
Over November 30/December 1, TE2 accomplished shaft growth and concrete shaft lining all the way down to 1,292 m beneath the floor. As well as, TE2 accomplished the set up of the ABB Koepe (friction) winder drum. At 6 m in diameter, it weighs a complete of 40 t. Within the subsequent two weeks, the staff will set up its brake discs and brake assemblies earlier than an 81 t 5.3 MW motor shall be positioned in place.
The manufacturing hoist has two 28.5 t skips; with one skip each 2.2 minute and 25 journeys per hour whereas the personnel hoist has a 26 individual capability over two decks; and is able to 3.2 journeys or 84 individuals per hour. The manufacturing winder is totally automated; with a full velocity of 16 m/sec. It is usually one of many few Security Integrity Stage (SIL) rated winders on this planet. It is usually regenerative with a battery vitality storage system (BESS). The personnel winder is an ABB single drum winder having a 623 kW DC motor with gearbox and three.6 m drums. The manufacturing skips will be capable of deal with 3.8 Mt/y together with waste.
When full, TE2 would be the deepest manufacturing shaft of any mine in Australia, and its 93 m headframe is without doubt one of the highest constructions within the Territory. TE2 will rework Tanami right into a state-of-the-art crush and hoist operation, and it’ll add one other 150,000 to 200,000 gold ounces per yr to manufacturing whereas on the similar time decreasing working prices by ~30%. The 1,460 m deep shaft is the deepest elevate bore shaft in Australia. The mission contains an lodging village, refrigeration & water remedy vegetation, plus concrete batch plant.
Underground TE2 has seen lateral growth of seven,287 m. Vertical growth has included an 8.5 m diameter by 20 m switch silo and eight.5 m diameter by 50 m nice ore silo. The underground materials dealing with system consists of a 3.8 Mt/y main crusher, conveyors and switch stations. Underground infrastructure features a 100-person refuge chamber, pump station, dewatering dams and refuelling station.
On floor, the TE2 course of plant improve will take plant capability from 2.6 to three.3 Mt/y. Additions embody the brand new shaft headframe, winders, conveyances, skip unloading, switch stations & conveyors; with new energy, water, electrical and communications companies. Floor services for TE2 which are accomplished embody an influence plant growth, refrigeration plant, bulk air cooler, vent elevate (VR8), water remedy plant, administration workplaces plus DBS Camp Levels 1 and a couple of, storage dome and batch plant. In progress and deliberate services embody the method plant improve to extend present capability to satisfy the elevated 3.3 Mt/y throughput by rising circulate by way of the secondary ball mill which is in design. The headframe and winders are in progress whereas the waste stacker, tailings motor and pumping system improve are deliberate.
Lining of the higher shaft leg and mid shaft are full; and lining is underway within the decrease shaft leg. The mission stays on monitor for business manufacturing within the second half of 2027. Whole capital prices stay between A$1.7 billion and A$1.8 billion.
Wanting on the wider Tanami operation, it has 855 staff and 1,420 contractors. It’s primarily a fly-in fly-out operation with an over 40-year historical past of manufacturing with the primary gold produced in 1983; Newmont acquired Tanami from Normandy in 2002. It contains one giant underground mine at Useless Bullock Soak (DBS). Since 2012 Tanami has been beneath operational transformation and delivered a primary mill growth in 2017 then improved energy effectivity with the Tanami Pure Gasoline mission in 2019. Newmont has elevated manufacturing by ~170% because the website transformation started in 2012. The present mine life past 2040; development case contains stock and exploration upside extending the life to 2047. Gold Reserves stand at 4.8 Moz with Assets of 5.2 Moz.
The present strategic focus is the protected commissioning of TE2 by H2 2027 together with optimising the air flow, paste and mining sequence. The mine can be implementing new know-how – together with Caterpillar Minestar, plus new fleet administration, collision avoidance and automation methods. Tanami can be securing long-term fuel agreements with the Northern Territory with ongoing exploration at depth and different near-mine targets.
Cat Minestar fleet administration methods within the Tanami management room
Tanami is considered one of Australia’s largest open stope mines. There are 4 mining areas at DBS: Auron, Callie, Federation and Liberator. The operation groups deal with mine growth, mine companies, paste fill, drill and blast and haulage. The pinnacle grade ranges between 4 and eight g/t. There’s a present underground growth depth of over 1.7 km with TE2 set to resolve the fabric motion constraint beneath 2 km. The mining fleet consists of twenty-two vehicles, 10 loaders, 5 jumbos, three lengthy gap drills, two elevate bores and 150 further assist machines.
Concerning air flow, vital warmth is added to the system on account of excessive floor temperatures in summer season, with ambient rock temperatures of 60 levels Celsius, plus thermal warmth from cell tools and auto compression with excessive pressures underground. Ventilating the massive underground mine requires vital quantity of energy (~8 MW of energy for main air flow, ~35 MW of energy for cooling and over 150 secondary followers within the mine).
The DBS open stoping is a well-established mining technique, applicable for the depth of the mine; this shall be modified because the mine progresses deeper. DBS has comparatively good floor situations and makes use of a number of varieties of floor assist decided on the situations. At depth, dynamic floor assist is used to handle the rising floor stress and seismic occasions. DBS additionally has a complete floor management administration system to watch floor situations
Ore is transported by way of highway prepare 44 km to the processing plant on the Granites. The talked about first mill growth in 2017 elevated mill capability to 2.6 Mt/y with TE2 anticipated to extend this to three.3 Mt/y. Mill debottlenecking tasks are important to sustaining increased throughput (crushing circuit, tails pumping). Tanami has glorious mill restoration with ranges between 98-99%. Some 65-75% of the gold is recovered by way of gravity and 30% of tailings are recovered for backfilling stopes.
Launched in Q2 2024, the Minestar Fleet Administration System changed the earlier guide dispatch system with real-time fleet monitoring and knowledge seize. An underground Wi-Fi community now tracks machine actions, delivering exact, actual time shift knowledge. It additionally helps a extra seamless task system and personnel monitoring, in addition to built-in website communications with stay knowledge feeds to the management room. Minestar unlocks worth by way of optimised fleet administration, environment friendly useful resource scheduling and elevated operator efficiency in addition to enhancements by way of real-time asset well being monitoring.
It additionally displays tools metrics and flags growing upkeep points for preventative repairs earlier than a breakdown happens. Newmont says Minestar’s automated, actual time knowledge seize is considerably outperforming the standard guide dispatch system, resulting in improved operational efficiency.
