The Golden Grove mine is a copper, lead, silver, zinc and gold mine located 52 km south-southeast of Yalgoo, Western Australia. It is operated by 29Metals Limited after a 2021 divestment by EMR Capital.
History The mine was originally owned by Australian Consolidated Minerals Pty LtdAUSTRALIAN CONSOLIDATED MINERALS LIMITED (ACM) delisted.com.au, accessed: 11 January 2010 before passing into the ownership of Normandy Poseidon Ltd in November 1991. Normandy, now renamed Normandy Mining Ltd, was acquired by Newmont Australia Ltd in February 2002.NORMANDY MINING LIMITED (NDY) delisted.com.au, accessed: 11 January 2010
Newmont passed on the mine to Oxiana Limited in June 2005 for A$265 millionTo Acquire Golden Grove Mine from Newmont Oxiana ASX announcement, published: 24 June 2005, accessed: 11 January 2010 and Oxiana merged with Zinifex to form OZ Minerals in mid-2008.Change of name to OZ Minerals approved Oxiana ASX announcement, published: 22 July 2008, accessed: 11 January 2010 OZ Minerals had to sell Golden Grove in June 2009 to China Minmetals, like almost all its other mines, when the company was hit by severe financial difficulties.MINEDEX website - Golden Grove search result accessed: 11 January 2010
Golden Grove currently consists of two operations that are 3 km apart, the Gossan Hill underground mine and the Scuddles underground mine, which both produce zinc, copper, lead, silver and gold. The Gossan Hill deposit was discovered in 1971, and the Scuddles deposit was discovered in 1979.
In 2008, the mine's revenue was A$266.2 million and had a segment operating result of A$72.1 million.Oxiana/OZ Minerals 2008 annual report accessed: 11 January 2010
In June 2009, OZ Minerals announced that a trunnion bearing failure on its mill at Golden Grove had put the mill out of service for almost a month, shortly before the approval of the sale of the mine,Mill outage at Golden Grove OZ Minerals ASX announcement, published: 17 June 2009, accessed: 11 January 2010 but operations resumed in July 2009.Golden Grove mill back online: Minmetals The Sydney Morning Herald, published: 7 July 2009, accessed: 11 January 2010
It was purchased by EMR Capital, a specialist resources private equity manager, who purchased the mine from MMG in February 2017. Minerals and Metals Group was formed after its parent company China Minmetals bought the mine from OZ Minerals in June 2009.Completion of Transaction with Minmetals OZ Minerals ASX announcement, published: 17 June 2009, accessed: 11 January 2010 Golden Grove was part of a deal in which the Sepon, Century, Rosebery and Avebury Mines, the Dugald River, High Lake, and Izok Lake Projects, as well as some exploration assets were sold for US$1.354 billion by OZ Minerals to China Minmetals.Minmetals Succeeds in OZ Minerals Deal Minmetals Australia Pty Ltd website, published: 6 November 2008, accessed: 11 January 2010
The deal, initially including the Prominent Hill Mine, was blocked by the Australian Government, citing national security concerns. Wayne Swan, Treasurer of Australia, stated that Prominent Hill could not be included in the sale as it was within sensitive military area and the sale went only ahead after Prominent Hill was excluded.Australia Blocks China’s Purchase of Mining Company The New York Times, published: 27 March 2009, accessed: 11 January 2010
EMR Capital purchased the mine in 2017 for US$210 million after MMG had been looking for a buyer since 2016. EMR Capital had been founded by Owen Hegarty, who had led Oxiana when it acquired Golden Grove from Newmont in 2005.
In June 2021, EMR Capital divested itself of Golden Grove and other assets, launching the Australian Securities Exchange-listed 29Metals Limited as the new owner of the mine.
Production Production figures for the mine:1The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition, page 317Oxiana 2007 annual report accessed: 12 January 2010 Year Copper Gold Lead Silver Zinc 2001 22,249 t 5,356 oz 4,937 t 975,146 oz 77,569 t 2002 19,500 t 10,300 oz 4,937 t 899,500 oz 34,571 t 2003 2004 2005 21,808 t 25,272 oz 4,949 t 2,174,620 oz 70,508 t 2006 10,811 t 49,354 oz 11,458 t 3,005,611 oz 138,817 t 2007 15,404 t 48,807 oz 8,119 t 3,165,408 oz 131,954 t 2008 18,467 t 47,755 oz 13,300 t 3,157,837 oz 139,900 t 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 16,015 t 35,850 oz 2,448 t 1,496,339 oz 47,756 t 2022 16,938 t 26,574 oz 2,764 t 1,321,000 oz 57,575 t 2023 18,100 t 14,000 oz 1,170 t 775,000 oz 51,500 t 1 January to September 2002 only.
References
Bibliography
External links Golden Grove Deposit Summary Report Golden Grove - Scuddles, Gossan Hill
MINEDEX website: Golden Grove Database of the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety