Gold
800 tonnes
$1.4 billion
Prospectivity
The Tanami Region has seen more than 10 million ounces of gold produced since 1986 and remains the Territory’s most significant gold producing province. Mineralisation in the Tanami is typically orogenic gold, with gold hosted in quartz and/or quartz-carbonate veins in folded carbonaceous siltstone, iron-rich sediments, turbidite, basalt or dolerite. The gold potential of the Tanami extends into the Aileron Province to the southeast with exploration targeting a range of mineralisation styles including orogenic shear-hosted gold, intrusion-related gold and iron oxide copper gold.
The Tanami region hosts Newmont's Tanami Operations, located 550km northwest of Alice Springs. It has produced >8 million ounces of gold, and remains the Territory’s largest gold operation, with remaining reserves of more than 5 million ounces. Mineralisation consists of high-grade Au-quartz veins in folded carbonaceous siltstone in the lower Dead Bullock Formation.
The Warramunga Province hosts the Tennant Creek and Rover mineral fields. Historic gold production from the Tennant Creek field totals more than 5 million ounces of gold. Small high-grade gold-copper-bismuth deposits hosted within magnetite and/or hematite-rich ironstone bodies in the Palaeoproterozoic Warramunga Formation are typical in the Tennant Creek mineral field and the undercover Rover mineral field, 70km to the southwest, beneath the overlying Wiso Basin. Substantial exploration commenced in 2021 for undercover gold and copper-gold mineralisation in undercover extensions of the Tennant Creek mineral field in the Barkly Tableland east of Tennant Creek, after significant investment in pre-competitive data acquisition by Geoscience Australia's EFTF, MinEx CRC and NTGS. Exploration in 2024 remains very strong.
The Pine Creek Orogen has a 150 year history of gold mining with more than 4 million ounces of gold produced. Most deposits are orogenic gold deposits in the Palaeoproterozoic Cosmo Supergroup, with gold most commonly hosted in-quartz veins, lodes, sheeted veins, stockworks and saddle reefs, with some gold also hosted within iron-rich sediments. Gold also occurs with zinc and silver associated with volcanic-associated massive sulphide deposits.
A number of gold projects in the Pine Creek Orogen are well advanced towards potential production, including a high-grade underground project at Toms Gully, the 8 million ounce Mount Todd gold project near Katherine, and the polymetallic Hayes Creek project.
Read the gold factsheet PDF (1.6 MB)
Mines
Newmont's Tanami Operations is located 550km northwest of Alice Springs and commenced mining in 1986. Mineralisation consists of high-grade Au-quartz veins in folded carbonaceous siltstone in the lower Dead Bullock Formation. The operations include the Callie deposit (>7.6 Moz), the 5.83 Moz Auron deposit, the Federation South Limb and the Liberator deposit, with gold endowment at the mine of more than 9 Moz at the end of 2023. Gold is processed at a plant at The Granites, 40km east of the mine.
| Region | Name | Annual Production | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tanami Region | Tanami Operations | 13.7 t (483,000 ounces) gold (2022-23) | 87.9 Mt @ 3.5 g/t Au | Newmont Corporation |
| Region | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pine Creek Orogen | Cosmo Deeps | 5.23 Mt @ 3.03 g/t Au | Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd |
| Pine Creek Orogen | Union Reef | 0.27 Mt @ 4.42 g/t Au | Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd |
Projects
| Region | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warramunga Province | Nobles Nob | >500 000 ounces Au (including Tennant Mining - Emmerson Resources JV resources) | Tennant Consolidated Mining Group Pty Ltd |
| Region | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pine Creek Orogen | Spring Hill | 25.6 Mt @ 1.00 g/t Au (0.5 g/t Au cutoff) | TM Gold Pty Ltd |
| Pine Creek Orogen | Mount Todd | 364.4 Mt @ 0.81 g/t Au | Vista Gold Corporation |
| Pine Creek Orogen | Fountain Head | 2.94 Mt @ 1.7 g/t Au (Fountain Head) 2.1 Mt @ 1.2 g/t gold (Glencoe) 5.04 Mt @ 1.5 g/t gold (Tally Ho) | Patronus Resources Ltd |
| Region | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pine Creek Orogen | Broocks Creek | 4.2 Mt @ 0.75 g/t Au (Woolwonga Mineralised Waste) 10.9 Mt @ 0.9 g/t Au (Woolwonga Hard Rock) 20.1 Mt @ 0.9 g/t Au (Brocks Creek Hard Rock) excludes Rising Tide and Zappopan Deposits | Bacchus Resources Pty Ltd |
| Pine Creek Orogen | Hayes Creek | 4.1 Mt @ 4.35% Zn, 0.91% Pb, 1.8 g/t Au, 124 g/t Ag, 0.25% Cu | Patronus Resources Ltd |
| Pine Creek Orogen | Mount Bundy | 108.6 Mt @ 0.86 g/t Au (Rustlers Roost and Quest 29) 1.1 Mt @ 8.9 g/t Au (Toms Gully) | Primary Gold Pty Ltd |
| Warramunga Province | Rover 1 | 5.58 Mt @ 1.76 g/t Au, 1.49% Cu, 0.07% Co, 23.2% magnetite | Castile Resources Ltd |
| Region | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tanami Region | Buccaneer | 9.2 Mt @ 1.2 g/t Au | Prodigy Gold NL |
| Tanami Region | Central Tanami Project | 14.47 Mt @ 2.89 g/t Au Au | Central Tanami Project JV |
| Tanami Region | Oberon | 4.45 Mt @ 2.9 g/t Au | Newmont Corporation |
| Warramunga Province | Chariot | 0.56 Mt @ 7.8 g/t Au | Emmerson Resources Ltd |
| Warramunga Province | Mauretania | 0.26 Mt @ 3.5 g/t Au | Emmerson Resources Ltd |
| Warramunga Province | Eldorado | 0.445 Mt @ 4.9 g/t Au | Emmerson Resources Ltd |
| Warramunga Province | Golden Forty | 0.935 Mt @ 4.5 g/t Au | Emmerson Resources Ltd |
| Warramunga Province | Juno | 1.3 Mt @ 4.4 g/t Au | Tennant Consolidated Mining Group Pty Ltd |
| Warramunga Province | Orlando | 2.89 Mt @ 1.3% Cu, 1.4 g/t Au | CuFe Ltd |
| Pine Creek Orogen | Mount Porter | 681 kt @ 2.2 g/t gold | Patronus Resources Ltd |
| Region | Name | Resource | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aileron Province | Johnnies Reward | 2.2 Mt @ 0.4% Cu, 0.7 g/t Au | Aureus Mining Ltd |
| Pine Creek Orogen | Esmeralda | 1.26 Mt @ 1.62 g/t Au | Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd |
| Pine Creek Orogen | Maud Creek | 8.47 Mt @ 3.2 g/t Au | Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd |
| Pine Creek Orogen | Moline | 0.34 Mt @ 2.4 g/t Au | Sovereign Metallurgical Pty Ltd |
| Tanami Region | Old Pirate | 0.76 Mt @ 4.7 g/t Au | Prodigy Gold NL |
| Tanami Region | Tregony | 1.56 Mt @ 1.3 g/t Au | Prodigy Gold NL |
| Tanami Region | Hyperion | 8.64 Mt @ 1.5 g/t Au | Prodigy Gold NL |
| Warramunga Province | Westminster | 0.11 Mt @ 25.6 g/t Au | Truscott Mining Corporation Ltd |
| Region | Name | Exploration results | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aileron Province | Round Hill Reef | 6 m @ 3.03 g/t Au | Genesis Resources Ltd |
| Pine Creek Orogen | Fenton | 72 m @ 0.43 g/t Au | Desoto Resources Ltd |
| Tanami Region | Brokenwood | 6 m @ 8.1 g/t Au | Prodigy Gold NL |
| Tanami Region | Central Tanami Project | Groundrush: 10 m @ 5.02 g/t Au Beaver: 3.18 m @ 4.78 g/t Au Miracle West: 27 m @ 1.55 g/t Au Jims Main: 14 m @ 2.74 g/t Au | Central Tanami Project JV |
| Tanami Region | Hyperion | 40 m @ 6.2 g/t Au | Prodigy Gold NL |
| Tanami Region | Ripcord | 23 m @ 2.09 g/t Au | Central Tanami Project JV |
| Warramunga Province | Bluebird | 61.8 m @ 2.3% Cu, 0.4 g/t Au | Tennant Minerals Ltd |
| Warramunga Province | Golden Forty | 20 m @ 4.7 g/t Au | Emmerson Resources Ltd |
| Warramunga Province | Hermitage | 20 m @ 1.5% Cu, 0.6 g/t Au, 0.7% Bi, 9.6 g/t Ag, 0.05% Co, 11 m @ 4.1 g/t Au | Emmerson Resources Ltd |
More information
- Gold Deposits of the Northern Territory, NTGS Report 11, 2009.
- Schmeider et al, 2018. Newmont Tanami Operations: Multiple new discoveries supporting transformational growth in a mature mining camp. AGES 2018 Proceedings Volume.
- Greenberger and Edwards, 2018. Discovery of the Lantern deposit, the next chapter for the Pine Creek gold province. AGES 2018 Proceedings Volume.
- Cuison et al 2014. An integrated geological model for Tennant Creek style Au-Bi-Cu mineralisation. AGES 2014. Record of Abstracts.
- Wygralak et al 2005. Gold mineral system of the Tanami Region. NTGS Report 18.
- Search GEMIS for other NTGS reports on gold.
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