Oceana Gold

The Macraes Goldfield is New Zealand's largest gold producing operation consisting of the the Macraes Open Pit and Frasers Underground mine. The Macraes mine has been in operation since 1990 and has produced over 3 million ounces of gold.

OceanaGold operates New Zealand’s largest gold mine, Macraes, located 100 kilometres by road, north of Dunedin in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. The Macraes Gold Project comprises two mines; Macraes Open Pit – which has been operating since 1990 and Frasers Underground which was commissioned in January 2008.

The wholly-owned Macraes Project consists of the Macraes Open Pit gold mine which has been operating since 1990 and the Frasers Underground mine which was commissioned in January 2008, as well as an adjacent processing plant including a pressure oxidation plant for the processing of sulphide ore (which is one of only three in the southern hemisphere).

The Frasers Underground mine was developed to target the extensions of the Macraes ore body and commissioned in 2008. Further information is available on the Frasers Underground page.

The combined open pit and underground proven and probable mineral reserves currently support an approximate eight year mine life at the Macraes Project. Amongst other initiatives, further exploration drilling targeting the deeper extensions of the Macraes ore body is ongoing with the objective of identifying and developing additional underground mines along the strike of mineralisation.  Additionally, exploration is also targeted at other potential surface mineable targets along the Macraes line of strike.

Macraes Processing Plant 

The processing plant is situated within short distance of the Macraes Open Pit and includes a pressure oxidation plant for the processing of sulphide ore (which is one of only three in the southern hemisphere). At the Macraes processing plant, the ore is put through crushing, grinding flotation, fine grinding, pressure oxidation carbon in leach, elution, elctro winning and smelting. Refractory ore requires multistage processing to increase recoveries.

Refractory concentrate from the Reefton processing plant is transported by road and rail to Macraes for treatment through the autoclave pressure oxidation and carbon in cyanide leaching.

Refer to the Reefton page for more details on the Reefton processing plant 

Operating Statistics (Macraes Open Pit and Frasers Underground mines)

Macraes Goldfield	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008
Gold produced (ounces)	169,609	174,851	182,759	213,049	183,680
Total Ore Mined (tonnes)	5,558,056	6,589,904	6,365,855	4,833,671	4,322,001
Ore Mined grade (grams/tonne)	1.29	1.07	1.26	1.67	1.52
Total Waste Mined (tonnes)  incl pre-strip	36,363,043	44,407,352	43,944,947	48,578,180	40,339,489
Mill Feed (dry milled tonnes)	5,789,255	5,817,001	5,458,607	5,635,537	5,545,008
Mill Feed Grade (grams/tonne)	1.12	1.12	1.28	1.47	1.31
Recovery (%)	81.1%	83.3%	81.3%	79.6%	78.6%