The Cannington Silver and Lead Mine is an Australian underground mine located in north-west
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, in the
Shire of McKinlay, about southeast of
Mount Isa. The deposit was discovered by
BHP in 1990.
[Abstract]
The mine was the supplier of silver for the Sydney
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...
and the Beijing
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
. Cannington takes its name from the pastoral property near the deposit.
Geography
Cannington lies on a broad plain with a few low
mesas. The plain is crossed by meandering rivers which are dry for a large part of the year, but which flood periodically. The area is semi-arid with of annual rainfall falling mostly between November and March. The mine itself lies near the confluence of the Hamilton River and Trepell Creek.
Geology
The deposit is in
Paleoproterozoic
The Paleoproterozoic Era (also spelled Palaeoproterozoic) is the first of the three sub-divisions ( eras) of the Proterozoic eon, and also the longest era of the Earth's geological history, spanning from (2.5–1.6 Ga). It is further sub ...
to
Mesoproterozoic
The Mesoproterozoic Era is a geologic era that occurred from . The Mesoproterozoic was the first era of Earth's history for which a fairly definitive geological record survives. Continents existed during the preceding era (the Paleoproterozoic ...
(2500–1000 mya)
metamorphosed sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...
s, known as the "Soldier's Cap Group", and is overlain by approximately of
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...
and more recent
overburden. The deposit was discovered as result of an
aeromagnetic survey of the Soldiers Cap Group in the eastern Mount Isa inlier. The area was selected for survey based upon extrapolations from known prospects and associated
lithostratigraphy. In other words, the rocks were the same as other known prospects, only slightly more deeply buried. The aeromagnetic survey pinpointed Cannington as a potential site and subsequent drilling proved it out.
The theory of formation of the Cannington deposit, and the related deposits at
McArthur River,
Century
A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c.
...
,
Mount Isa,
Hilton, and
George Fisher, is explored in a 2005 paper by Large, ''et al''.
The major ore minerals are
galena and
sphalerite
Sphalerite is a sulfide mineral with the chemical formula . It is the most important ore of zinc. Sphalerite is found in a variety of deposit types, but it is primarily in Sedimentary exhalative deposits, sedimentary exhalative, Carbonate-hoste ...
. The silver occurs mainly as
freibergite but is also present in solid solution within the galena.
Mining
The deposit was discovered by
BHP in 1990.
Although sitework and underground mining began in 1997, full production was not achieved until early 1999, with 1.5 million tons of ore processed in 1999.
Production since has reached 3 million tons of ore per year.
it was the largest and lowest cost silver and lead mine in the world.
The expected life of the Cannington mine is 25 years.
Management
On 19 August 2014,
BHP announced it was splitting the company in two with Cannington Mine amongst the assets transferred to
South32.
Facilities
The mine site is serviced by road from
McKinlay and the private
Trepell Airport. A small housing settlement exists on site for mine workers, consisting of 270 short term accommodation rooms, 364 village rooms, and serving about 67 000 meals per month. Employment is given as about 600 people and a further 300 to 400 contractors, of which 70% of the mine workers are estimated to be
fly-in fly-out (FIFO) from
Townsville
The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...
. The mine site has a 3
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
solar farm to reduce gas consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Electricity generated by the solar farm is used to supply the operation’s accommodation village and airport with surplus power used to support mining and processing operations. It is anticipated that the solar farm will prevent between 4,000 and 6,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year. Two deaths have occurred at the site, a 19-year-old trainee driller on 15 December 2006, and a fifty-one-year-old contractor on 17 January 2008.
Notes
External links
Cannington Deposit Summary ReportCannington
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cannington Mine
Underground mines in Australia
Zinc mines in Queensland
Silver mines in Queensland
Lead mines in Queensland
1997 establishments in Australia
North West Queensland