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Barminco at our best
with the Nova Project
The Nova Project is an exciting new Nickel and Copper deposit
under development in the largely unexplored Fraser Range, with
access being gained via the Eyre Highway.
Located in the remote Fraser Range, approximately 120km east
of Norseman and 220km south west of Kalgoorlie, the project is
set to have a mine life of 10+ years.
Our client, Independence Group NL (IGO), and prior to that Sirius
Resources, has engaged Barminco to develop the underground
mine and undertake all production activities underground.
Under the leadership of Project Managers Aaron Rankine and
Percy Porter, there are 27 Barminco personnel on site and
we’re pleased to report that there have been no reportable
injuries on the project to date. In fact, September was 254
days TRI free! This is reflective of Barminco’s commitment to
excellence in safety.
High speed development has been an outstanding result for the
project from commencement. The past 3 months alone has
averaged 341 development metres in a single heading operation.
Barminco is very proud of its workforce at Nova, who through
their safety performance and dedication have achieved this
envious target for others to follow.
Did you know?
• The Ngadju People are the traditional owners of the land.
• Power for the site is generated on-site by a 16 megawatt
predominantly diesel-fire power station with solar substitution.
• The processing plant will consist of conventional crushing,
grinding by open circuit SAG mill followed by a ball mill in
closed circuit, and sulphide flotation to produce separate
copper and nickel concentrates.
Fast Fact
• The Ore Reserve estimate comprises 13.1Mt grading 2.1%
nickel, 0.9% copper and 0.07% cobalt for a contained
273,000t of nickel, 112,000t of copper and 9,000t of cobalt.
Barminco - facing
challenges head on,
and succeeding!
Barminco works on projects all around the world and in some
of the most remote and challenging locations possible – just like
our Sukari Hills project, which is located 700 kilometres south
of Cairo and 25 kilometres from Marsa Alam on the Red Sea.
Working for our client Centamin, Barminco is the only
underground contractor at Sukari and is responsible for all
development, stopping, load haul operations, air leg rising and
diamond drilling work on site.
The large-scale open pit and underground gold mine consists
of two declines, access and ore drives and the current targets
are for 700 metres development and the production of 90,000
tonnes of ore each month – quite a challenge!
Under the leadership of Paul Landers, Jordan Paterson and
Rhys Harvey, there are 75 expats involved with the project, in
addition to 150 nationals.
Significantly, Barminco has been tasked with training the
national workforce and there are now a number of underground
roles being carried out by Egyptian workers. To facilitate this,
toolbox meetings are translated from English to Arabic so all
personnel understand instructions for the day and we also have
radio controllers translating to the operators underground.
The workforce reside in rented apartments in Marsa Alam, with
expats working 6/3 rosters and the national workforce working
20 days on and 10 days off.
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Nova Project