The Darlot-Centenary Gold Mine is a gold mine located 58 km east of Leinster, Western Australia.
It is operated by Red 5 Limited since the sale from Gold Fields Australia in 2017 where, since the beginning of 2008, it was part of Gold Fields Yilgarn South operation, which consisted of Darlot, the Lawlers Gold Mine and the Granny Smith Gold Mine. The mine is located in the Yandal Greenstone Belt.Australia Pacific Barrick website, accessed: 1 January 2010Barrick Gold on the move miningaustralia.com.au, published: 28 March 2008, accessed: 1 January 2010
History
Ore at Darlot-Centenary is mined in an underground operation at the Centenary deposit, discovered in 1996 next to the Darlot Gold Mine, which had a historical production in excess of 500,000 ounces.Homestake Mining Co/DE · DEFA14A accessed: 1 January 2009 Homestake began mining the Centenary deposit in 1998.On the Use of Mechanistic Blast-Outcome Measurement and Modelling Dyno Nobel, accessed: 1 January 2009
The site, was originally owned by Sundowner Minerals, which was taken over by Forsayth group, then Plutonic Resources, a major Australian gold mining and exploration company.PLUTONIC RESOURCES LIMITED (PLU) delisted.com.au, accessed: 1 January 2009Atlantic Gold NL website accessed: 1 January 2009 Homestake Mining Company purchased Plutonic in April 1998 for more than $1.0 billion,Homestake Mining Company - History accessed: 1 January 2009 and, in turn, Homestake was acquired by Barrick Gold at the end of 2001.MINEDEX website Darlot search result, accessed: 1 January 2010
In October 2013, Barrick finalised the sale of their Australian Yilgarn South mines, consisting of the Granny Smith, Lawlers and Darlot-Centenary mines, to Goldfields. Barrick sold the mines as it considered them high-cost and required cash to compensate for the rising cost of its Pascua-Lama gold project. The three mines accounted for six percent of Barrick's annual gold output at the time. Goldfields purchased the mines for US$300 million, half of which had to be paid in cash while the other half could be issued in shares.
In August 2017, Red 5 Limited purchased the Darlot mine from Gold Fields for A$18.5 million, A$12 million of this in cash and the remainder in shares. At the same time, the company also purchased the King of the Hills Gold Mine from Saracens Mineral Holdings for A$15.5 million in cash and shares.
With the completion of their new processing plant at the King of the Hills Gold Mine, Red 5 will close down the Darlot process plant in 2022 and instead process the ore from the mine's underground operations at the new facility.
Production Annual production of the mine: Darlot Production figures as a stand-alone operation:The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition, page 802003 Fourth Quarter Report accessed: 1 January 20102004 Fourth Quarter Report accessed: 1 January 2010Fourth Quarter & Year-End Mine Statistics 2006 accessed: 1 January 2010Fourth Quarter & Year-End Mine Statistics 2007 accessed: 1 January 2010 Year Production Grade Grade Cost per ounce 2000 127,100 ounces 5.9 g/t A$193 2001 125,000 ounces 5.7 g/t A$325 2002 145,443 ounces US$168 2003 154,977 ounces US$164 2004 140,235 ounces US$210 2005 135,000 ounces 0.164 oz/t 5.3 g/t US$325 2006 137,000 ounces 0.170 oz/t 5.4 g/t US$378 2007 120,000 ounces 0.156 oz/t 5.0 g/t US$508
Yilgarn South Production figures for the Yilgarn South operation, consisting of Darlot, Granny Smith and Lawlers:Fourth Quarter & Year-End Mine Statistics 2008 accessed: 1 January 2010 Year Production Grade Grade Cost per ounce 2007 410,000 ounces 0.117 oz/ton 3.7 g/t US$486 2008 325,000 ounces 0.125 oz/ton 4.0 g/t US$749 2009 352,000 ounces US$685 2010 2011 2012 2013
Darlot Production figures as a stand-alone operation: Year Production Grade Cost per ounce 2014 2015 2016 2017 2017–18 2018–19 70,081 ounces 4.43 g/t 2019–20 63,921 ounces 3.46 g/t 2020–21 76,104 ounces 2.63 g/t 2021–22 57,362 ounces 2.0 g/t 2022–23 102,574 ounces 1.53 g/t A$1,837
Notes
Combined production figure for King of the Hills and Darlot
References
Bibliography
External links
MINEDEX website: Darlot Database of the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety