Paddington Gold Mine
Introduction The '''Paddington Gold Mine''' is a gold mine located 5 km south of Broad Arrow, and 30 km north of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.It is operated by Norton Gold Fields Limited, having acquired the mine from Barrick Gold on 25 August 2007 for A$45 million.
History Kalgoorlie regionThe mine opened in 1985, under the ownership of Pancontinental Mining, mining ore in two open pit operations, the two original open pits being active until 2002.In 1994, the processing plant was upgraded to be able to handle 3.0 million tonnes of ore per annum.AurionGold, the former Goldfields Limited, was taken over by Placer Dome Limited in January 2003.Placer Dome in turn was taken over by Barrick Gold in March 2006.In 2007, the mining tenements were enlarged through the acquisition of the Mount Pleasant and Ora Banda properties. Shortly after, on 26 April 2007, Norton announced it had purchased the mine from Barrick Gold for A$45 million. It moved the small Kundana Plant, at the Kundana Gold Mine near Paddington and part of the sale, to its Mount Morgan Mine Project, near Rockhampton, Queensland.Underground mining commenced in April 2009 with the cutting of a portal at Norton's Homestead deposit at Mount Pleasant, 18 km south-west of the Paddington mill, and is expected to deliver mill feed from December 2009 with a grade in excess of 6.0 g/t. Production performance of the mine was below plan in 2008-09, having been scheduled at 145,000 ounces and achieved only 137,000, because of shortfalls in the second half of 2008.In August 2009, Norton signed an agreement with Curtin University of Technology’s Western Australian School of Mines (WASM) to establish cooperation in education, professional development, and research and development between WASM and the Paddington Gold Mine.On 28 September 2009, two miners were seriously injured, having been pinned between the counterweight of an excavator and a wall in the plant area.Following acquisition by Chinese company Zijin Mining, Norton Gold Fields Limited was delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange in July 2017.
Production Recent production of the mine: Year Production Grade Cost per ounce 1997–98 209,000 ounces 2.2 g/t A$ 317 1998–99 162,000 ounces 2.2 g/t A$400 1999–2000 132,000 ounces 2.7 g/t A$352 2000–01 148,000 ounces 1.8 g/t A$376 2001–02 225,000 ounces 2.3 g/t A$383 2002–03 308,000 ounces 3.2 g/t A$498 2003–04 244,000 ounces 2.6 g/t A$478 2004–05 243,000 ounces 2.6 g/t A$576 2005–06 259,000 ounces 2.9 g/t A$501 2006–07 214,000 ounces 2.2 g/t 2007–08 126,000 ounces 1.5 g/t A$754 2008–09 135,067 ounces 1.45 g/t A$791 2009–10 140,436 ounces 2010–11  2011–12  2012–13  2013–14  2014–15  2015–16  2016–17 190,993 ounces 1.97 g/t 2017  2018  2019  2020 185,606 ounces 2021
References ===Bibliography===*
External links * *  MINEDEX website: Paddington - Mt Pleasant Database of the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety