All eyes on Northern Territory gold mines

THE Northern Territory gold mines are going to play an increasing role in the nation’s output and its world production ranking

Tanami Gold pouring gold at its smelter down at the Granites mine

NORTHERN Territory gold mines are going to play an increasing role in the nation’s output and its world production ranking.

Newmont’s Granites gold mine in Central Australia, the likely commissioning of Vista Gold’s Mt Todd project and the reactivation of the Union Reef Operations Centre near Pine Creek in the Top End are being greeted with great anticipation following claims the country’s output will fall dramatically over the next five years.

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Gold production in Australia hit a record high last year and a report by S&P Global Market Intelligence predicts this record will grow to about $19.2 billion in value this year putting Australia second to China in the world.

In the report more than half of the predicted increase is attributed to recently commissioned mines or new mines scheduled to come on stream during the year.

However the depletion of gold from several of Australia’s large gold projects has led to forecasts Australia will tumble down the rankings.

S&P analyst Christopher Galbraith said the depletion of long-lived assets such as St Ives, Paddington, Telfer, Edna May, Southern Cross, Agnew/Lawlers and others would be responsible for the slide.

“Those have been great mines, they’ve had excellent lives, but they are running out of gold,” he says.

He said the Vista Gold’s Mt Todd project and Union Reefs Operations Centre in the Northern Territory would partly mitigate the loss of the mines.

“There’s a lot of exploration going into Australia and it is bearing fruit,” he said. “Merger and acquisitions are being carried out to grow or at least maintain production.”

The operator of the Granites Gold Mine is now the world’s leading gold business.

Newmont Mining recently finalised a $14 billion merger with Canadian-based Goldcorp to form Newmont Goldcorp.

The Granites mine is expected to undergo a second expansion to reach a mine life beyond 2028.