Cowal

Evolution Ownership
100%

Location
350km west of  Sydney, Australia
40km north-east of West Wyalong
Located on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri People

Local Communities
Bland, Lachlan and Forbes shires

Year commenced operations
Mining commenced 2005
Processing commenced 2006

History

• 1980s: Exploration by North Ltd defines E41 and E42 deposits
• 1991: E46 deposit first delineated
• 1995: E42 Feasibility Study
• 2000: North Ltd acquired by Rio Tinto
• 2001: Homestake acquires 100% interest in the Cowal project from North Gold, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto
• 2001: Barrick Gold Corporation acquires the Cowal project through a merger with Homestake Mining Company
• 2005: Mining of the E42 deposit commenced by conventional open-pit methods (truck and shovel)
• 2006: Processing commenced third quarter of 2006
• 2015: Evolution acquires 100% interest in the Cowal project from Barrick Gold Corporation

Style of mineralisation
Structurally hosted (epithermal to mesothermal) sheeted veins and shear hosted lode

Contained metals
Gold

Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources (at 31 Dec 2017)
199.80Mt at 1.03g/t gold for 6.08Moz gold

Ore Reserves (as at 31 Dec 2017)
116.28Mt at 0.81g/t gold for 3.05Moz gold

Mining Method
Conventional load and haul, drill and blast open-pit operation

Gold Production
CY2006: 122,000 ounces
CY2007: 240,000 ounces
CY2008: 191,000 ounces
CY2009: 233,000 ounces
CY2010: 298,000 ounces
CY2011: 269,000 ounces
CY2012: 268,000 ounces
CY2013: 297,000 ounces
FY2013: 314,000 ounces
FY2014: 270,000 ounces
FY2015: 277,000 ounces
FY2016: 238,000 ounces
FY2017: 263,000 ounces

Processing Method
Crushing, two stage grinding, sulphide flotation, regrind, CIL recovery

Nominal treatment rate
7.5Mtpa

Geology
The deposit is hosted by a sequence of Ordovician volcanic rocks. These volcanics are located on a major structural zone and form part of a belt of intermediate to mafic volcanic and granitic rocks that extend from Temora in the south to Peak Hill in the north

Mining
The Cowal operation is an open pit mining operation with production from a number of different faces within the single pit. Mining is carried out with a company-owned fleet of mining equipment. Pit benches are 9m in height mined as 3 x 3m flitches. Ore is hauled by truck from the pit face to either a stockpile area or directly fed into the primary crusher

Processing
The Cowal processing plant was commissioned in May 2006 and consists of crushing, two stage grinding, sulphide flotation, regrind, CIL recovery. The plant currently processes 7.5 Mtpa.

At 30 June 2016 approximately 2.7 million ounces of gold had been produced at Cowal

Environmental Permit
Please see tabbed section below

Cowal operations are ISO14001 certified for Mining and Ore Processing Operations and Support Services for Gold and Silver production

Fact Sheet
Cowal fact sheet – updated May 2018

Cowal corporate video

Supplier Information

For access to suppliers tender information at Cowal gold operations please click here. 

Blasting Schedule

Blasting is undertaken on-site daily, generally between the hours of 11.00am and 3.00pm.