Agnew Gold Mine


The Agnew Gold Mine, formerly the Emu Mine, is a gold mine located west of Agnew, Western Australia. It is owned by the South African mining company Gold Fields. It is one of two mines the company operates in Australia, the other being the St Ives Gold Mine.
Ore is mined at Agnew in the under ground Waroonga complex and the open pit Songvang operation.

History

Western Mining - WMC, discovered the Agnew gold deposit in the early 1980s. A second gold mine in the area, the Lawlers Gold Mine, is operated by Barrick Gold.
On 13 June 1989 the mine, then called the Emu mine, was the scene of one of the worst mining disasters in Western Australia when six workers drowned in the underground operations during a flood.
The mine was purchased by Goldfields from WMC in late 2001. The combined price for the two Australian operations Goldfields purchased, St Ives and Agnew, was US$180 million in cash and $52 million in Gold Fields shares.
Agnew, as of 2009, employees 114 permanent staff and 298 contractors.
A 4 MW solar farm was added in 2019, along with a 17 MW wind farm and a 13MW/4MWh battery.

Production

Annual production of the mine:
YearProductionGradeCost per ounce
2000209,598 ounces6.27 g/t
2001185,400 ounces6.08 g/t
Jan to June 200266,200 ounces3.56 g/tA$436
2002-03144,000 ounces3.5 g/tA$437
2003-04202,000 ounces5.3 g/tA$317
2004-05212,500 ounces5.6 g/tA$315
2005-06222,000 ounces5.2 g/tA$370
2006-07212,000 ounces5.0 g/tA$380
2007-08204,000 ounces4.8 g/tA$496
2008-09192,100 ounces5.6 g/tA$541
2009-10