Northparkes is a

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

and

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

mine in central

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia, approximately 27 kilometres north-northwest of the town of

Parkes Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...

. The mine was originally started in 1994 using

open pit mining Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or ro ...

, with underground mining using the block caving method starting in 1997. The mine has an operational capacity to process six million

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

s of ore per year, containing roughly 60,000 tonnes of copper and 50,000 ounces of gold. Economic viability of the mine is projected to extend at least to the year 2032. Until 2023, the mine was owned by the China Molybdenum Group (CMOC), with the remaining 20% owned by the

Sumitomo Group The is a Japanese corporate group and ''keiretsu'' that traces its roots to the ''zaibatsu'' groups that were dissolved after World War II. Unlike the ''zaibatsu'' of the pre-war period, there is no controlling company with regulatory power. In ...

. The mine was previously 80% owned by

North Limited North Limited was a diversified mining and resources company. Although based in Australia, its operations eventually extended to six continents. By the late 20th century the company had become the fourth largest iron ore exporter in the world wi ...

, with a takeover by Rio Tinto in 2000, before selling its stake in 2013. In December 2023, it was announced that Evolution Mining completed the purchase of an 80% controlling interest in the mine for $300 million.

Technology

Northparkes was one of the first mine sites to have automated loaders, and also the first block-cave mine in Australia.

External links

Northparkes web siteWSJ

References

{{reflist Mines in New South Wales Former Rio Tinto (corporation) subsidiaries Parkes Shire 2000 mergers and acquisitions 2013 mergers and acquisitions 2023 mergers and acquisitions