Hundreds of jobs on offer if price of gold stays steady

A company has estimated there is 483,000oz – or around $1 billion worth – of gold left in the ground at the famous site, with a jobs boom on the cards when it reopens. LATEST >>

NEW estimates show there is around $1 billion worth of gold left in the ground at Beaconsfield Gold Mine.

A report from the mine’s new owner, NQ minerals, shows there is 1.454 million tonnes of accessible ore, grading at 10.3 grams per tonne, totalling 483,000oz of gold.

At today’s price of gold means there is around $1 billion worth left in the ground.

The statement says there’s a “huge underlying potential” to the site.

The company’s chairman David Lenigas said hundreds of people could be employed, if the price of gold stays steady.

NQ Minerals chief David Lenigas said there is about $1 billion worth of gold left underground at Beaconsfield.

“It will take a fair bit of work to bring the plant up to 2020 standards, and the estimated time schedule is somewhere between four and six months,” Mr Lenigas told the ABC.

He said a new tunnel would connect to the existing decline 430m underground, which would make room for modern equipment.

There will be five-to-six years of mine life, with jobs for up to 300 people if the price of gold holds steady.

“In this regard, we believe that Beaconsfield offers a genuine opportunity for the company to rapidly develop a high-quality gold asset not only for its shareholders but for Tasmania in general,” Mr Lenigas said.

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“The publishing of this new resource statement clearly demonstrates the huge underlying potential at Beaconsfield and highlights the immense scope for ongoing growth in the gold inventory as NQ moves this mine forward back in to production.

“We are almost complete with our due diligence process on this asset and are focused on bringing this famous and iconic Tasmanian gold mine back into production.”

The mine was sold to NQ Minerals in February this year at a price of $2 million.

In April, Beaconsfield mine collapse survivor Brant Webb released a tell-all documentary on YouTube, unveiling new details of the 2006 disaster.

Mr Webb was working almost 1km underground at the gold mine at 9.26pm on April 25, 2006, when a small earthquake caused a rock fall that trapped him and colleague Todd Russell in a cage and killed Launceston man Larry Knight.

BEACONSFIELD SURVIVOR REVEALS NEW DETAILS IN TELL-ALL SERIES

In one of the first episodes Mr Webb reveals he should never have been working where he was the day of the rock fall as he had “taken a pay cut” after two previous “near misses”.