• 18 hours ago
A huge project is underway at the Northern Territory's biggest gold mine. Newmont is building a 1.5 kms deep shaft at The Granites which is set to significantly increase production.

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00:00In the middle of the vast Tanami Desert, more than 500 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs,
00:10is Newmont's Northern Territory Gold Mine.
00:13I love underground, so as soon as I go in that hole, it's like, I'm home again, so it's great.
00:19Jutting up 84 metres from the horizon, and down about 1400 metres underground, is a vertical hoist.
00:27This is the deepest production shaft in Australia when it's in operation.
00:30But it's not in operation yet.
00:32The shaft was due to transport people and ore at the start of this year,
00:36but production is only about halfway complete.
00:40Capital costs were estimated at about $800 million in 2020,
00:45but that estimate grew to $1.8 billion at the start of 2024 due to remediation works.
00:53And now total expenditure is even higher.
00:56With the challenges and stuff we've had to date, we're currently sitting around $2.3 billion in Australia on this project.
01:02But with gold prices at record highs, and the shaft set to reduce costs by 30 per cent,
01:08the company says the expansion is worth it.
01:11Not only will it extend our life of mine for another 20 years,
01:14but it's going to allow us to increase our production by about 20 per cent,
01:17from about 400,000 ounces now to over 500,000 ounces.
01:21It can take three and a half hours for truck drivers to cart their load out of the mine.
01:26But using the shaft, it will take two and a half minutes for ore to reach the surface.
01:32The roads underground here are quite dark.
01:35There's lots of sharp corners, and they're not very wide, so there's lots of congestion on the road.
01:40So when that shaft is finished, it's going to be more efficient and safe for those people working here.
01:46It definitely will help us out. Any improvement helps safety.
01:49And obviously, we want to make sure that everybody is staying safe
01:52and they're getting to their jobs sooner, which means we can get started.
01:55Production from the project is expected by late 2026.

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