Tasmania’s Beaconsfield underground mine is to shut down next year. The Chief Executive Officer of BCD Resources, Pert Thompson, said that the company had decided to close the gold mine as it was not economically viable to mine below the current depth of 1210 meters at today’s gold prices.
The mine was made infamous by the 2006 underground collapse which cost the life of Larry Knight and entrapped Brant Webb and Todd Russell. Mining operations were restarted at the Beaconsfield mine in June 2007. This was approximately 14 months after the fatal rock fall. Although the mine was finally making a profit for the company the management has decided to shut it down.
The formal company statement from BCD Resources mentioned that the company will continue to review the mine plan and mine life should the gold price continue trending upwards. The current production costs were at Australian $1,000 per ounce of gold.
The closure of the mine will affect 103 full time employees at the mine as well as 16 casuals and 32 contractors. Chairman Michael Botting said that in the longer term, the board looks forward to re-utilising its major asset, the Beaconsfield process plant, by leveraging into an undeveloped refractory deposit. He was speaking at the annual general meeting of the company on Wednesday when he added that the company was involved in confidential discussions with the owners of such deposits.