Gidgee Gold Mine
Kingfisher open pit at Gidgee.
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| Location | |
|---|---|
| Location | Sandstone |
| State | Western Australia |
| Country | Australia |
| Coordinates | 27°15′S 119°24′E / 27.250°S 119.400°ECoordinates: 27°15′S 119°24′E / 27.250°S 119.400°E |
| Production | |
| Production | inactive |
| Financial year | 2008–09 |
| History | |
| Opened | 1987 |
| Closed | 2005 |
| Owner | |
| Company | Panoramic Resources |
| Website | Panoramic website |
| Year of acquisition | 2011 |
The Gidgee Gold Mine is a gold mine in Western Australia, 82 km north of the town of Sandstone. The mine was, until recently, owned by APEX Minerals NL, but purchased by Panoramic Resources in February 2011. The mine is currently in care and maintenance.
The mine was scheduled to reopen in late 2008 but delays experienced forced APEX to postpone this date to mid-2010. Gidgee is part of a three mine production strategy, together with the Wiluna Gold Mine and the Youanmi Gold Mine.
The mine is located in the Gum Creek Greenstone Belt. Its name is derived from the nearby Gidgee Station.
While in operation under Australian Resources Limited, liquidated in October 1999, the company had to close the mine because of financial difficulties. Abelle Limited took over Gidgee in October 1999 and resumed production in February 2000.
Under Abelle, mining was mainly carried out in the South Woodya, Donkey Well and Wahoo open pit and the Swan Bitter underground operation. At the end of 2002, Abelle ceased mining in open pit operations at Gidgee, the only ore now coming from the Swan Bitter underground operation. As a consequence of reduced ore production, milling was reduced to a two weeks on, one week off roster.
In February 2003, Harmony Gold launched a take over offer for Abelle Limited. By the end of April 2003, Harmony had acquired an 85% interest in Abelle and declared the offer closed. The purchase of a controlling interest in Abelle cost Harmony A$155 million and was primarily carried out to acquire Abelle's gold mining projects in Papua New Guinea. The driving forces behind Abelle Limited, Sydney businessmen Peter Cook and Peter Newton, earlier had also sold another gold mining company to Harmony, Hill 50 Gold, for A$233 million in 2002. Abelle was delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange on 2 July 2004, following a compulsory acquisition by Harmony.
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