{"id":1843,"date":"2022-08-29T10:01:36","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T00:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pensar.com.au\/?p=1843"},"modified":"2022-12-20T15:32:48","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T05:32:48","slug":"going-for-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pensar.com.au\/going-for-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Going for gold"},"content":{"rendered":"
Pensar is well underway on construction works associated with a major upgrade and expansion of the Ravenswood Gold Mine in North Queensland.<\/strong><\/p>\n We wouldn\u2019t normally make too much of a fuss about building a dam or a gabion wall, but when the dam is 40 times the size of the MCG and the gabion wall has the volume of four Olympic swimming pools, it\u2019s worth sharing!<\/p>\n Building Queensland\u2019s biggest gold mine Once home to almost 5000 people and 50 hotels in its heyday, the historic Ravenswood region, roughly 100 km south of Townsville, has been producing gold since the 1860s. Some four million ounces of gold have been mined at Ravenswood over the past 150 years.<\/p>\n The new state-of-the-art Ravenswood Gold Mine will be capable of producing a similar volume in a tenth of that time \u2013 by the mid 2030s. Processing up to 7 million tonnes of ore per annum, Ravenswood will be the largest gold mine in Queensland.<\/p>\n Pensar digs in The scale of the project is vast. The tailings dam covers 160 hectares. The rigorous construction process commenced with the subgrade preparation and excavation works to enable the construction of the TSF embankments to increase the footprint and dam height.<\/p>\n Some 300,000 m3<\/sup> of topsoil and 1.5 million m3<\/sup> of material were excavated and stockpiled. The embankments were built up with 7 million m3<\/sup> of waste rock from the mine. The TSF embankments were lined with a protective layer of 725,000 m2<\/sup> of bituminous geomembrane.<\/p>\n At the peak of construction, Pensar was managing up to 60 subcontractor personnel and 100 workers onsite. Works continue on schedule with the first stage due for completion in September 2022.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>In 2020, Ravenswood Gold Mine<\/a> commenced a major upgrade and expansion, transforming the operation from underground to large-scale open pit production, and dramatically increasing the size of the processing plant. Following the closure of the longstanding underground operation at Mt Wright in 2019, the new Buck Reef West pit will extend the life of the mine by more than 10 years.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>In late-2020, Pensar was engaged by Ravenswood Gold as the principal contractor to construct the new tailings storage facility<\/a>, supporting the environmental management requirements of the new expanded operation. Pensar is working in tandem with the Ravenswood Gold Projects division and the design engineers ATC Williams.<\/p>\n