Cadia-Ridgeway Mine

Cadia
Location
Cadia mine
Location in Australia
Location Orange
State New South Wales
Country Australia
Coordinates 33°28′01″S 148°59′35″E / 33.467°S 148.993°E / -33.467; 148.993Coordinates: 33°28′01″S 148°59′35″E / 33.467°S 148.993°E / -33.467; 148.993
Production
Products Copper
Gold
Production Copper: 57,000 tonnes
Gold: 532,187 ounces
Financial year 2008-09
History
Opened 1998
Closed 2030+ (forecast)
Owner
Company Newcrest Mining
Website Cadia Valley Operations

Cadia Mine is a series of large underground and open-cut gold and copper mines located in the Cadia Valley, about 20 kilometres south of the regional city of Orange, New South Wales, Australia. The mine has been developed throughout the 1990s and is a major employer in the region with an expected lifespan of several decades. Cadia is the second largest open cut mine in Australia after the Super Pit at Kalgoorlie. Large mineral deposits are also being uncovered from the more recently developed Ridgeway underground mine, and Cadia East underground mine, adjacent to the Cadia Open Cut Mine.

The mine is operated by Newcrest Mining. Cadia-Ridgeway is one of three gold mines Newcrest currently operates in Australia, the other one being Telfer in Western Australia. A fourth gold mine owned by the company is the Gosowong Mine in Indonesia.[1]

Water Supply

In May 2007, due to the prolonged drought which was likely to adversely affect production in the near future, the company approached Orange City Council requesting to use some of the town water supply. Orange City Council subsequently agreed to allow a supply initially from Gosling Creek Reservoir and then if necessary from Lake Canobolas. The two main water supplies for Orange, Suma Park Dam and Spring Creek Reservoir will not be used. Cabonne Shire Council later offered to supply water from a disused quarry on Icely Road to the east of Orange. There is also a recent dispute (July 2009) currently in the courts between Orange City Council and Newcrest Mining to the current rights to the towns treated Effluent water that the mine has received for free since beginning its operations in the late 1990s. Orange City Council believes the mine has broken the original agreement they had with the mine due to the mine's recent expansion and development of Cadia East and Ridgeway Deeps projects, they now would like the mine to purchase the treated effluent water.[2]

Automation

The Ridgeway Deeps mine site contains a large number of autonomous systems including Sandvik Automine for automating the underground loaders and Transmin Rocklogic for automating the rockbreakers. Ridgeway materials handling system is automated by controllogix PLC and CitectSCADA. Concentrator is automated by Yokogawa DCS centum VP. Cadia East underground materials handling system is fully automated by Yokogawa Stardom system. Yokogawa Centum VP graphics is used as the main operator interface. [3]

Union Involvement

The employees at the Cadia-Ridgeway Mine are represented by the Australian Workers Union. They are employed under an enterprise agreement known as the "Cadia Valley Operations Enterprise Agreement 2012". The agreement was approved by Fair Work Australia on 23 November 2012 and will expire on 15 November 2016. The Australian Workers Union was nominated as a bargaining representative for this agreement. This was the first agreement that the union had involvement with Newcrest at the Cadia-Ridgeway Mine.

See also

References

  1. ↑ December Quarterly Report Newcrest ASX announcement, published: 28 January 2010, accessed: 9 February 2010
  2. ↑ Stink over effluent Central Western Daily, published: 3 July 2009, accessed: 19 July 2010
  3. ↑ Sandvik delivering 14 LH517 LHDs to massive Cadia East project
  1. http://www.fwc.gov.au/ Fair Work Australia Commission
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