FOSTERVILLE MINE
THE LARGEST GO IN THE STATE OF
High-grade, low cost underground goldmine 20km from Bendigo
OLD PRODUCER VICTORIA
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perating in both Canada and Australia, Kirkland Lake Gold Limited is anchored by three highquality operations and produced almost 975,000 ounces of gold in 2019. Each mine combines free cash flow generating operations, substantial in-mine growth potential and attractive regional exploration. The Fosterville Mine specifically is a highgrade, low cost underground gold mine. It is advantageously located 20km from the city of Bendigo in the state of Victoria. A Gold Medal Team A company creating shareholder value through the drill bit, Fosterville is a gold mine that recognises its greatest asset is its people. And with COVID-19 continuing to disrupt daily life across the globe, this ethos is more important than ever and pays off for the company too. By putting its people at the heart of its operation, you won’t be surprised to learn that its workforce sticks around. Being in Central Victoria, Fosterville is known as a particularly attractive residential mining operation in Australia for families. This enables the company to deliberately target a residential workforce with a bias towards locally based employees. This is particularly important for retaining a committed workforce. It is not only its general workforce team members who are long standing though, its onsite management team has been relatively stable too. It is worth noting that Managing Director Graeme Sloan and Chairman John Quinn built and established the project, We caught up with General
Manager, Ion Hann to hear more about the operation and see what the future holds for Fosterville. Mr Hann begins by explaining the significance of the supply chain in the company’s ongoing success. Heavily comprised of local businesses, when it comes to large expenditures a leading company such as Fosterville relies on global leaders too. “Local businesses make up the majority of goods and services suppliers in number,” says Hann. “However global suppliers also play an important role when it comes to multi-million dollar expenditures – ie Sandvik
and Caterpillar.” INVESTING IN THE FUTURE When it comes to capital investments, Fosterville is dedicated to financing its future. Mr Hann, General Manager commented “In addition to $30 million committed in 2020 alone to infrastructure, plant and equipment we are also aggressively drilling onsite and in the surrounding area with up to 16 drill rigs turning at times. We are investing in the drill bit to find more sustainable ore to mine is ongoing and replacing or upgrading existing infrastructure will be on going to
support this”. It is clear Fosterville will not take its foot off the gas and Mr Hann believes this is what separates them from others in the industry. “We genuinely believe in spending money in the ground through drilling”, he adds. “We are currently sitting on some of the most sought after prospective ground in the world for gold interests and will continue to aggressively explore.” INVESTMENT IN TECHNOLOGY It is not only the drill bit Fosterville are committed to investing in though. It also recognises that the technological
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advances enable it to operate. “Fosterville has only been able to operate due to the acceptance of leading edge technologies and some patented technologies developed onsite,” says Hann. “Starting with BIOX – a patented technology from Outotec, heated leach treatment – developed onsite and now marketed by Outotec, mine water pretreatment developed in conjunction with Cleanteq and an Aster Plant to treat thiocyanate impacted water. “Mine operations are currently installing a complete WiFi network in the underground operations so that smart ventilation on demand technologies and asset tracking systems (Mobilaris) can be
employed.” The business is also at the forefront of innovation having invested in new technology, from installing a trial Chrysos machine in Bendigo to investigating the possibility of “the first large battery front end loader in 2021”. Acknowledging the need to continue improving, Mr Hann admits Fosterville is “continuously looking for new methods of achieving our work in order to sustainably stay in business for the long term” and that new technology “filters into every aspect of the operations – geology, mining, processing, environment etcetera.” Implementing green and sustainable initiatives is also important to Fosterville
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as it seeks to ensure its business is sustainable. The company is employing a number of such initiatives with its biosolids project of particular importance. The bio-solids are sourced from the local effluent centre and are used to assist with upgrading the replaced topsoils on some of its rehabilitation. PRESENT AND FUTURE As COVID-19 caused difficulties across the globe, Fosterville maintained its longlasting ethos of treating its people as its greatest asset. As with all businesses the virus impacted Fosterville but measures were taken to mitigate the disruption. “Like everyone else in the industry our
primary focus has been the health and safety of our people – regardless of who they work for,” says Mr Hann. As a result, substantial changes have been made to our shift start meetings, working from home arrangements, social distancing protocols and site entry requirements.” To conclude, we consider where Fosterville aims to be in five years. Mr Hann follows up optimistically “Fosterville will still be working hard to be a valuable local community member, sustainably producing gold using the smartest technology in the industry. Our employees will still be locally based with the next generation of miners coming from the local area.”
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