Gold

Gold

The Northern Territory has a long and continuous history of gold mining, with around 20 million ounces of gold produced, primarily from three main goldfields in Pine Creek, Tennant Creek and the Tanami.
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Total production
647 tonnes
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2022-23 production
13.7 tonnes
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Remaining JORC resources

800 tonnes
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Value of production in 2022-23

$1.21 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 (1.5 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.

RegionMineAnnual ProductionResourceCompany
Tanami RegionTanami Operations13.7 t (483,000 ounces) gold (2022-23)86.2 Mt @ 3.55 g/t AuNewmont Corporation

Projects

RegionProjectResourceCompany
Pine Creek OrogenFountain Head2.94 Mt @ 1.7 g/t Au (Fountain Head), 2.1 Mt @ 1.2 g/t gold (Glencoe), 681 kt @ 2.2 g/t gold (Mt Porter)PNX Metals Ltd
Pine Creek OrogenHayes Creek4.1 Mt @ 4.35% Zn, 0.91% Pb, 1.8 g/t Au, 124 g/t Ag, 0.25% CuPNX Metals Ltd
Pine Creek OrogenMount Bundy108.6 Mt @ 0.86 g/t Au (Rustlers Roost and Quest 29), 1.1 Mt @ 8.9 g/t Au (Toms Gully)Hanking Holdings Ltd
Pine Creek OrogenMount Todd364.4 Mt @ 0.81 g/t AuVista Gold Corporation
Pine Creek OrogenSpring Hill6.9 Mt @ 1.74 g/t AuTM Gold Pty Ltd
Warramunga ProvinceNobles NobJORC resource not publicly announcedTennant Consolidated Mining Group Pty Ltd
Warramunga ProvinceRover 15.58 Mt @ 1.76 g/t Au, 1.49% Cu, 0.07% Co, 23.2% magnetiteCastile Resources Ltd
RegionProjectResourceCompany
Tanami RegionBuccaneer9.2 Mt @ 1.2 g/t Au Prodigy Gold NL
Tanami RegionCentral Tanami Project14.47 Mt @ 2.89 g/t Au  AuCentral Tanami Project JV
Tanami RegionOberon4.45 Mt @ 2.9 g/t AuNewmont Corporation
Warramunga ProvinceChariot0.56 Mt @ 7.8 g/t AuEmmerson Resources Ltd
Warramunga ProvinceMauretania0.26 Mt @ 3.5 g/t AuEmmerson Resources Ltd
RegionDepoistResourceCompany
Aileron ProvinceJohnnies Reward2.2 Mt @ 0.4% Cu, 0.7 g/t AuAureus Mining Ltd
Pine Creek OrogenEsmeralda1.26 Mt @ 1.62 g/t AuAgnico Eagle Mines Ltd
Pine Creek OrogenMaud Creek8.47 Mt @ 3.2 g/t AuAgnico Eagle Mines Ltd
Pine Creek OrogenMoline0.34 Mt @ 2.4 g/t AuSovereign Metallurgical Pty Ltd
Pine Creek OrogenMount Porter0.68 Mt @ 2.2 g/t AuPNX Metals Ltd
Tanami RegionOld Pirate0.76 Mt @ 4.7 g/t AuProdigy Gold NL
Tanami RegionTregony1.44 Mt @ 1.16 g/t AuProdigy Gold NL
Warramunga ProvinceGolden FortyJORC resource not publicly announcedEmmerson Resources Ltd
Warramunga ProvinceJuno1.3 Mt @ 4.4 g/t AuTennant Consolidated Mining Group Pty Ltd
Warramunga ProvinceOrlando2.89 Mt @ 1.3% Cu, 1.4 g/t Au CuFe Ltd
Warramunga ProvinceWestminster0.11 Mt @ 25.6 g/t AuTruscott Mining Corporation Ltd
RegionProspectExploration resultsCompany
Tanami RegionBrokenwood6 m @ 8.1 g/t Au Prodigy Gold NL
Tanami RegionCentral Tanami ProjectGroundrush: 8 m @ 5.28 g/t Au,13.45 m @ 6.4 g/t Au, 3.6 m @ 22.51 g/t AuCentral Tanami Project JV
Tanami RegionHyperion40 m @ 6.2 g/t Au Prodigy Gold NL
Tanami RegionRipcord17 m @ 1.5 g/t Au, 12 m @ 1.91 g/t Au, 23 m @ 2.09 g/t Au   Central Tanami Project JV
Tanami RegionTregony6 m @ 12 g/t AuProdigy Gold NL
Warramunga ProvinceBluebird14.1 m @ 7.6% Cu, 2.4g/t Au, 0.32% Bi Tennant Minerals NL
Warramunga ProvinceGolden Forty20 m @ 4.7 g/t AuEmmerson Resources Ltd
Warramunga ProvinceHermitage20 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
Warramunga ProvinceOrlando5 m @ 6.24% Cu, 3.89% AuCuFe Ltd
Aileron ProvinceRound Hill Reef6 m @ 3.03 g/t Au Genesis Resources Ltd 
Pine Creek OrogenGlencoe8 m @ 1.52 g/t AuPNX Metals Ltd
RegionMineResourceCompany
Pine Creek OrogenCosmo Deeps5.23 Mt @ 3.03 g/t AuAgnico Eagle Mines Ltd
Pine Creek OrogenUnion Reef Underground0.27 Mt @ 4.42 g/t AuAgnico Eagle Mines Ltd
Warramunga ProvinceEdna BerylJORC resource not publicly announcedEmmerson Resources Ltd

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