Ernest Henry restart ‘on track’ after March drenching

Evolution Mining says it is on track to resume mining at Ernest Henry within six weeks of the March 8 battering that took a string of North-West Queensland mines offline. Operations were suspended at the copper-gold site, 38km north-east of Cloncurry, after water entered the underground mine during heavy rainfall. In an update today, Evolution said it had made significant progress in removing water from the mine with successful restart of the main pump station on the 1325 level and that remediation of the main area of water ingress wa complete. The Ernest Henry operation has been able to restart the site's concentrator, with processing of lower grade stockpile material as well as toll treating of third-party material. “The safe resumption of mine production at Ernest Henry remains the priority for Evolution," Evolution chief executive officer and managing director Lawrie Conway said. "The team has made excellent progress in managing the many challenges caused by the extreme weather event and to be on track to resume mining activities within the original timeframe is a credit to everyone involved." Related: Bert emerging as key player in Ernest Henry growth The early March drenching impacted multiple mines, including 29Metals’ Capricorn Copper operation, 120km north of Mount Isa, and New Century Resources' Century mine in the lower Gulf, which have both suspended mining operations for weeks. Evolution has reported a group cash balance at the end of March 2023 of about $164 million, after payment of a $200 million deferred settlement amount to Glencore and the $45 million debt repayment in the March quarter. Mr Conway said the closing cash balance demonstrated the strength of the company's balance sheet and the transition of the business to net cash generation, with around $96 million generated in the March quarter. "Additionally, this has been achieved at a gold price materially lower than the current spot gold price,” he said. Evolution originally acquired an economic interest in Ernest Henry in 2016 via joint ventures with Glencore that delivered 100 per cent of gold and 30 per cent of copper and silver produced within an agreed life-of-mine area. It proceeded to secure total ownership of the Cloncurry operation in a $1 billion deal early last year. Evolution Mining operates four other mines – Cowal in New South Wales, Mungari in Western Australia, Red Lake in Ontario (Canada) and Mount Rawdon in Queensland.

Ernest Henry restart ‘on track’ after March drenching

Industry Queensland

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