Gold Ridge (mine)
Gold Ridge is a mine on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, about 30 km south east of the capital Honiara. The Gold Ridge mine was operated by Ross Mining N.L. and Delta Gold Ltd between 1998 and 2000 but had to be abandoned because of civil unrest. In 2003 it was acquired from the political risk insurers by Australian Solomons Gold. Allied Gold acquired the company in 2010 [1] and subsequently rebuilt the mine. Production was restarted at the end of 2010.
At the end of August 2012, the assets of Allied Gold were acquired by St Barbara Limited, including Gold Ridge Mining Limited. St Barbara is an Australian-based gold mining company, with gold mines in the Yilgarn and Leonora Shires in Western Australia and the Simberi mine in the New Ireland Province of Papua New Guinea. The Gold Ridge mine was the only operating mine in the Solomon Islands at this time, and contributed approximately 20% of the Gross Domestic Product of the Solomon Islands economy.
In April 2014, St Barbara shut down the Gold Ridge mine following flash floods. St Barbara employees were subsequently banned by the Solomon Islands government from re-entering the country.
Gold Ridge was sold by St Barbara for A$100 to a landowner-controlled company GoldRidge Community Investment Limited (GCIL) in May 2015, including all legal and rehabilitation liability.[2]
The Solomon Islands government's Disaster Management Council declared Gold Ridge a "disaster " area on 7 July 2015.[3]
References
- ↑ "Profile July 2010" (PDF). Allied Gold. July 2010. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
- ↑ SBS World News (7 July 2015) Bid to find 'saviour' for Solomons gold mine amid toxic slug fears
- ↑ SBS World News (9 July 2015) Solomon Islands mine declared 'disaster zone' over dam collapse fears
External links
- Gold Ridge, Solomon Islands, Allied Gold
- THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF SOLOMON ISLANDS - U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MINERALS YEARBOOK—2000
- Goldmine workers banned from Solomon Islands (ABC)
Coordinates: 9°36′S 160°08′E / 9.600°S 160.133°E