BGM expansion project

The Boddington Gold Mine (BGM) is located 130 kilometres (80 miles) southeast of Perth in Western Australia. BGM has had a presence in the region for more than 23 years.

The original oxide gold mine at BGM ceased operations on 1 December 2001 and the mine moved into a period of closure and decommissioning and shortly after into care and maintenance.

The BGM Expansion Project relates to the mining and processing of basement rock from underneath the existing BGM oxide pits.

The Expansion Project includes open cut mining from two large open pits. It requires the construction of a new processing plant which will include a three-stage crushing circuit, single stage grinding, copper-gold flotation and gold leaching of the flotation residue by the carbon-in-leach (CIL) process.

A 1000 person accommodation village is planned to accommodate the bulk of the construction workers during the construction period with occupancy to be phased down after construction. Construction began in the second quarter of 2006.

In the production phase, BGM’s philosophy is to create local and regional development with employment, training, development and business opportunities targeted at local people.

Key Facts

Ownership: Newmont 66.67%; AngloGold Ashanti 33.33%. Newmont acquired Newcrest’s 22.22% share in March 2006. Expansion Project: The expansion will mine the hard gold–copper ore that lies beneath depleted oxide pits at Boddington. Project Approval: Joint venture partner approval achieved first quarter, 2006. First Production: The project will take approximately 2.5 years to construct with first production planned for late 2008 or early 2009. Processing Rate: Average approximately 35 Mt/a. Mining Rate: Average approximately 80 Mt/a. Annual Production: Gold - First 5 years average of approximately 1 million ounces/year. LOM average approximately 850,000 ounces/year. Copper - LOM average of approximately 30,000 tonnes/year. Total Gold Reserves: More than 13 million ounces (9.1 million equity). Mine Life: Greater than 15 years with potential to extend. Capital Expenditure: Total US$ 0.9 - $1.0 billion (Newmont’s share). Employment: Peak of approximately 1,000 during construction.Approximately 650 permanent workforce. Economic Impact: At construction, an estimated A$39 million/year to the Peel economy and A$410 million/year to the Western Australian economy. During operation, an estimated A$550 million/year to the Peel economy and A$770 million/year to Western Australia.

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