NEWMONT Goldcorp’s board of directors have unanimously approved the execution phase of the Tanami Expansion 2 project.

The expansion will allow the miner to access the Auron deposit, first discovered in 2008, below the Callie orebody and could extend the mine life beyond 2040.

Tanami Expansion 2 includes the construction of a 1460m shaft, additional capacity in the processing plant and supporting infrastructure that would allow the project to remain profitable as the mine heads 2140m below surface.

Newmont Goldcorp began commercial production at the expansion project in 2017, and announced in March 2019 that the $245m power station project was complete.

The execution phase of Tanami Expansion 2 represents a significant milestone for the operation.

Newmont Goldcorp chief executive, Tom Palmer, said that the second expansion would improve costs and extend the life of the mine in “core Newmont Goldcorp jurisdiction”.

“Building on the success of the first expansion completed in 2017, Tanami Expansion 2 will provide a platform to further explore the area’s prolific mineral endowment and potentially extend the operation’s mine life beyond 2040,” he said.

“The Tanami district and Australia as a whole continue to offer significant value generating opportunities for our shareholders.”

Tanami’s orebodies are hosted by reactive stratigraphic units, in which high-grade gold mineralisation is found at intersections with structural corridors.

Newmont Goldcorp geology team members at Tanami in Australia. Image: Businesswire.

The company said that the predictability of the geological features, together with recent drilling results, provide a high degree of confidence for continuity at depth.

Since production commenced in 1986, Tanami has produced more than 10mz gold, and in 2018 alone produced a record 505,000oz.

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