LOAD & HAUL
BRIGHT FUTURE
A
Eric Gourley reveals how aggressive exploration, a contractor mentality and a productive new fl eet of underground trucks has rejuvenated an ageing mine
Eric Gourley zeigt, wie die aggressive Exploration , ein Auftragnehmer Mentalität und eine produktive neue Flotte von U-Bahn- Lkw hat eine alternde Mine verjüngte
Eric Gourley revela cómo la exploración agresiva , una mentalidad contratista y una nueva fl ota de camiones subterráneos productiva ha rejuvenecido una mina de envejecimiento
the morning’s pre-start. T e meeting is quick yet thorough – hallmarks of seemingly everything Northern Star Resources does.
T
Colleagues listen attentively as one miner identifi es a hazard to be rectifi ed. T e shift boss leads a discussion on the day’s safety focus, details scheduled maintenance and delivers production statistics from the overnight shift. Less than 15 minutes later, operators are fi lling blue two-and-a-half-litre insulated jugs with ice and water and climbing into the underground trucks and loaders they’ll use to move ore underground for the next 10 hours. Northern Star prides itself on this
sort of effi ciency, from these pre-starts to daily production to turning around
he sun won’t rise for another hour as 40 miners fi le into a classroom at the Plutonic gold mine for
ageing Australian mines. In 2013 the company produced 88,000 ounces of gold from its only asset. Today, Northern Star operates fi ve mines and emerged as Australia’s second-largest gold producer in 2015. “When Northern Star started
fi ve years ago, we were a very small company in very tough times, ultimately with a bigger picture planned to look to acquire more assets and grow,” says Craig Jones, who previously served as general manager at two of the mines now in Northern Star’s portfolio and currently leads the company’s business development eff orts. “We’ve put a lot of hard work in over the years to get to the point where we are now, and it’s been good to be a part of it.”
Astronomical growth From a AU$1 million shell company in 2010 to a market capitalisation of
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