RIDGEWAY UNDERGROUND GOLD MINE

OCTOBER 2007
Ridgeway Mine Location
• “Cadia Valley Operations”, part of
Cadia Holdings, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Newcrest Mining
Ltd
• Located 25km south of Orange,
in the Central Tablelands of NSW
• ~350 km west of Sydney
• Ridgeway U/G mine ~ 3km north
Cadia Hill Open Pit
• Both operations mining gold-
copper ore from porphyry-style
Ridgeway
deposits
• Ridgeway 5.8Mtpa at 2.40g/t Au Cadia Hill
for 366,500oz Au; 40,000t Cu
• Cadia Hill 15.5Mtpa at 0.65g/t Au
for 248,000oz Au; 23,400t Cu
Geology - Mineralisation
• Ordovician porphyry Au-Cu
deposit
• Structurally Controlled
– stockwork & sheeted veins
– subvertical Monzonite Stock
• Mineral & Grade Zonation
– associated with Quartz Veining

11050 mE

11100 mE

11150 mE

11200 mE
10900 mE

10950 mE

11000 mE
– High Grade: Au, Bn (+- Cpy), Mt
– Low Grade: Au, Cpy (+- Bn, Mt)
22800 mN

– Monzonite: low grade to barren

22750 mN

Au g/t
22
7
4
22700 mN
3
2
1.5
1
0.8
0.4 22650 mN

0.2
0.1

_5230_Ring_Avg by Au_ppm
22
7
Geology - Mineralogy
• Strong association between
quartz veining and Au-Cu
grades
• Bornite decreases, chalcopyrite
increases with depth
• Gold and copper both decrease
at depth
• Visual grade estimation based
on vein% is possible
• Current ore grades 1.86 - 2.12g/t
Au, 0.63 - 0.68%Cu (SLC only)
• Gravity gold recovery approx
20% (50um)
• Total gold recovery approx 85%
Geotechnical - Structures

North Fault

Decline
Rimmer’s Flt

Claudia
Purple Flt
Thrust

Sediment
4790
Contact
Extraction
Level
Geotechnical - Domains

22200

22400

22600

22800
5600 5600

Cross Section of Ridgew ay Deeps Project

G eotechnical Domains

Ridgeway Mine
11200E

5400 5400

showing Mo n zo d io rite O re Zo n e

Geotechnical
P yroxe ne P orphyry
(C ru she r D yke)

lt
5200
5200

Fa u
Vo lc a n ic s in o re a b o ve

Domains
A lla n a Pu rp le Fa u llt Zo n e

h in
Th ru s t
F a u lt

D e lp

No rth Fa u lt
Se d im e n ts in O re Zo n e a b o ve Pu rp le Fa u lt
Ha n g in g wa ll Se d im e n ts o u tsid e th e O re Zo n e

Ha n g in g Wa ll Fra c tu re Zo n e Purp le Fault Z one

5000
5000 We e m a lla se d im e n ts
O u tsid e O re Zo n e , a b o ve C la u d ia Fa u lt Vo lc a n ic s in o re b e lo w
Purp le Fa u llt Zo n e

Re d Fa u lt
Mo n zo n ite
C la
ud
ia
Th r
u st
Fa
u lt

4800
4800 We e m a lla se d im e n ts Volcanics
O u tsid e O re Zo n e , b e lo w
C la u d ia Fa u lt

S edim ents

Diskin g
UR3 1 6

4600 Po rp hyry Sill

4600
22200

22400

22600

22800
Pa m ela
T hr us t Fa
N.Bu rg io De c 2 0 0 4 ult
4400 4400
Geotechnical – Key Information
Rock Mass Data
RMR RMR UCS
Domain
Mean Class Upper/Mean/Lower Quartile

Volcanics 63 II Good 138-120-83

Fractured Sediments 52 III Fair 123-99-79
Massive Sediments 62 II Good 123-99-79
Monzonite 57 III Fair 125-112-95
Pyroxene Porphyry 63 II Good 128-117-115
Purple / Delphin Fault Zone 46 III Fair N/A
Host Sediments 56 III Fair 123-99-79

Stress Conditions
Deepest Measurement Result (4920mRL)
Projected Stress @
Component Magnitude Dip Bearing 4790mRL (MPa)
(MPa) (degrees) (degrees)
σ1 53.3 4 267 ~58
σ2 36.7 57 171 ~40
σ3 26.1 32 0 ~26
σv 33.7 n/a n/a ~31
Safety - All Injuries Frequency Rate
AIFR: Mining UG

10 100
9 90

AIFR - AIs Per Million Hours

8 80
7 70
No of Injuries

6 60
5 50
4 40
3 30
2 20
1 10
0 0
Sep- Oct- Nov- Dec- Jan- Feb- Mar- Apr- May- Jun- Aug- Sep-
Jul-07
06 06 06 06 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07
All Injuries 2 5 0 0 1 1 3 1 5 4 5 0 3
AIFR 12MMa 82.32 92.1 83.05 76.61 66.61 57.51 63.59 60.58 71.91 75.48 89.69 82.94 81.23
Safety – Total Recordable Injuries Frequency Rate
TRIFR: Mining UG

20 5
TRIFR - TRIs Per Million Hours

4
15

No of Injuries
3
10
2
5
1

0 0
Sep- Oct- Nov- Dec- Jan- Feb- Mar- Apr- May- Jun- Aug- Sep-
Jul-07
06 06 06 06 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07
Fatality 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
LTI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
ADI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
MTI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TRIFR 12MMa 9.274 6.171 6.171 6.171 6.171 6.171 3.038 3.038 3.038 3.173 3.173 3.173 3.173
Safety – Lost Time Injuries Frequency Rate
LTIFR: Mining UG

5 5
4.5

LTIFR - LTIs Per Million Hours

4 4
3.5
No's of LTI's

3 3

2.5
2 2
1.5
1 1
0.5
0 0
Sep- Oct- Nov- Dec- Jan- Feb- Mar- Apr- May- Jun- Aug- Sep-
Jul-07
06 06 06 06 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07
LTI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
LTIFR 12MMa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Safety Systems
Excellent Safety Performance Achieved through active use of the following
systems:

• PASS System

• Workplace Inspections

• See – Stop - Control

• Safe Behaviour Observations

• Job Safety & Environmental Analysis

• Risk Assessments (Conventional and Semi – Quantitative)

MINING AT RIDGEWAY
• Sub level caving operation.

• Commissioned 2002.

• Approved mine life to 2019 with

Ridgeway Deeps.

• Average Grade of 2.4 grams of Gold

per tonne and 0.79% Copper.

• 06/07 Production of 314,971 ounces of

Ridgeway
Gold and 37,978 tonnes of Copper. Deeps
Block Cave

?
Sub Level Cave Mining at Ridgeway
• Blind orebody – top 580m
below surface
• Large Ore Body Footprint
(~350 E-W x 250m N-S)
• Transverse SLC
• Ore Pass System to
Transfer Level with
Gyratory Crusher and
Conveyor to surface
• Sub-Levels at 25m-30m
– Up to 24 crosscut drives
per level
– Drives 6m x 4.5m on 14m
centres
– Ring burdens 2.6m
– 2650t/ring In Situ,
4000t/ring @ 150% Draw
Rate
Typical Sub Level Layout

West Exhaust
Shaft (VR4) East Exhaust
Shaft (VR2)

3 x Western Ore 3 x Eastern Ore

Passes Passes
 SLC Level Layout – Long. Projection

West East
5130 Level

14m
30m

5100 Level

2650t

5070 Level
SLC Ring Extraction
and Ore Recovery Ring apex
not recovered
Shoulders not
recovered

Typical SLC
Front
Ring
of ring
Primary recovery = 55-65% 14m x 25mnot
x recovered
2.6m
2650t
South
Schematic section of SLC stocks North
Quarternary recovery

Tertiary recovery
Cave Stocks

Secondary recovery

Waste
In-situ ring
Ore

Waste
 Draw Rates
• Higher grade ore in upper part of 5330 40%
orebody
5305 60%
• Lower draw rates applied to develop
5280 80%
a ‘Dilution Blanket’ 5255 100%
5230 110%
• Dilution blanket serves to protect
5205 120%
against drawing low grade/waste
material 5180 130%
5155 150%
• Metal stocks remain within the
5130 150%
dilution blanket
5100 150%
• Now that SLC base has been 5070 150%
reached, higher draw rates applied to 5040 150%
draw down on the contained metal
within the blanket
 Direction of
Caving VR4
Advance Exhaust
RIDGEWAY SUBSIDENCE AREA

E-W
Dimension
380m N-S
VR7 Dimension
Intake 450m

VR6
385m E-W
Exhaust x 255m N-S VR3
Intake
100m deep
VR2
71902sqm area (18 acres) Exhaust
 RIDGEWAY SUBSIDENCE AREA

125m

VR7
385m E-W x 255m N-S Intake
100m deep
VR6
71902sqm area (18 acres) Exhaust
Development & Ground Support
• 3 x Atlas Copco L2D18 Jumbos, all with
split feed booms to allow boring & bolting
capability
• 1 x Normet Charmec
• 1 x Shotcrete machine
• 2 x LHD

• Average 200m/month/jumbo (3.5m round

length)

• All development previously charged with

ANFO, and now completely converted to
emulsion

• 8 x fully resin grouted, 20mm x 2.4m

threaded rockbolts @ 1.5m spacing

• 50mm thick, PFRS (Plastic Fibre Reinforced

Shotcrete) in all areas to 1.5m above floor

• Average 800-1000m3/month PFRS

application
 LHD Information
• 8 x Caterpillar R2900G XTRA LHD (20t,10.5m3 capacity)
 2 in Development
 5 in Production / Transfer duties
 1 in Maintenance

• 5.8 Mtpa Production Rate

 465,000t/month SLC production
 22,000t/month Development

• 1 x LHD on Transfer Level duty 100%, supplemented by second

LHD as required depending on proximity of ore pass to crusher
Longhole Drilling
• 2 x Atlas Copco L6C Simba

• 20,000-22,000m/month

• Hole diameter 102mm (4”)

• Hole lengths ranging from

11 to 35 metres

• Both units fitted with ABC

Total, allowing a ring to be
completely drilled out
automatically
Currently, ring designs are entered manually into the control panel, with
future plans to upload information generated automatically from the Ring
Design software and also allow ‘As Drilled’ data to be recorded and
downloaded into the Ring Design software for Charging design
Typical Ring Design
Charging
• Charging undertaken by contractor
(Dyno Nobel)

• 100% emulsion charging

• All detonators are Non-Electric

• 1.2 density, with lower density (0.9g/cc)

used in centre holes with full explosive
column to reduce brow damage

• 5 tonne capacity on truck, allowing 5

rings, or 20,000t production to be
charged
•
Single person operation
• 1 shift per day
• In peak periods up to 10 rings or
40,000t production has been prepared
in 1 shift by one person
Charging done semi automatically, with
primer locations & explosive column
lengths pre-programmed into the truck
manually
Future plans to automatically upload
charging design from Ring Design
software and download ‘As Charged’
data
Pre Charging
• All rings pre-charged at Ridgeway

• Allows charging to take place safely in

an area away from the brow

• Rings ‘sleep’ for typically a maximum of

28 days

• Production life of 1 ring typically 10

days
Process

• Front ring reaches end of draw tonnage

• 3rd ring from brow is charged
• At same time, the ring nearest to the Cave Advance
brow is connected for firing
• At next firing time, ring is fired and
production commences
Secondary Breakage
• Grizzlies are installed on
ore pass collars to ensure
maximum size of material in
pass is 1.2m

• 1 x Caterpillar 320C with

Montabert rockbreaker
attachment

• Oversize for FY0607, 1.2%

• Expected to increase with

reduced ore pass capacity
and increasing volume of
material from same horizon
as Transfer/Crusher level

• Second rockbreaker being

purchased in FY0708 to
cater for anticipated
increase in volume of
oversize material
Crushing and Conveying System Flowsheet
Crushing
• Fuller Traylor Gyratory Crusher

• 1300 x 1750 sizing

• 500 horsepower

• Maximum rate 1100 tph

• Current Average rate 960 tph

• Limited by conveying capacity

Conveying
• 2 x sacrificial belts (Collection &
Picking conveyors

• 2 x Main Haulage Conveyors @ 1 in

5.3 gradient (18.9%)

• 3.7 kilometres total length from

Picking Conveyor to Portal

• 960 tph Maximum rate

• 1050mm width, 2.8 m/s speed

• Fire Resistant Anti Static (FRAS),

Goodyear

• Original belt still being used after 25

million tonnes
Ore Processing

RECYCLE CRUSHERS
COARSE ORE STOCKPILE STORAGE BIN
AND STACKER PEBBLE
STOCKPILE
AG
MILL

RECYCLE DEWATERING
U/G PRIMARY CRUSHER CRUSHERS SCREEN
(2)
APRON
FEEDERS

WATER
TAIL SCAVENGERS ROUGHERS
THICKENER CYCLONE
FEED HOPPER

CYCLONE FEED
CYCLONES PUMPS

KNELSON
355Kw REGRIND GRAVITY
SMD CYCLONES
SEPARATOR
FLASH
CLEANER SCAVENGER CLEANERS
FLOTATION

BALL
TAIL TO RO FEED
FEEDER

Cu
35 Km PIPELINE TO BLAYNEY CONCENTRATE
FILTER BALL MILL

RECLEANERS

COPPER FALCON
CONCENTRATE GRAVITY
SEPARATOR Au
CONCENTRATE
COARSE
TRAIN TO PORT
SHIP TO CLEANER
STOCKPILE
SMELTER FLOTATION

16/06/04
 People

• Owner Miner workforce with minor services work & peak maintenance work
undertaken by Contractors

• All personnel live in local district (Orange / Blayney ) and travel to work daily,
average 25 minutes drive

• Mining and Maintenance Shift personnel work 4 On / 4 Off roster

• Professional & Operations Support Personnel work normal Monday to Friday

roster
 People - Continued
Mining
• Development - 44 (11 per shift)
• Production – 48 (12 per shift)
• Samplers – 4 (1 per shift)
• Construction – 6 (3 x 2 shifts)
Maintenance
• Fixed Plant - 26 (5 per shift)
• Mobile Plant – 66 (14 per shift)
Total = 230
Operations Support
• Mine Management & Training - 8
• Mining Engineers – 5
• Geologists – 4
• Geotechnical Engineers – 3
• Surveyors – 2
• Maintenance Management &
Planning – 8
• Accountant – 1
• Safety Advisor – 1
• Administration Support - 4
Equipment Utilisation – FY0607

Availability Utilisation of Operating Hours

Availability per Day

Jumbo 83.1% 76.5% 15.1

LHD 83.2% 72.4% 14.3

LH Drill
83.6% 93.2% 18.5

Truck
81.9% 69.8% 15.0
(Sept - 2007)
 FY0607 Costs

Mining & Technical Services AU$9.23 / tonne Mined

Engineering & Maintenance
Milling (inc. Maintenance)
Administration, Management &
Services
Total Site Costs
AU$2.41 / tonne Mined
AU$4.95 / tonne Milled
AU$1.72 / tonne Milled
AU$18.74 / tonne Milled

• Ridgeway produces Au with Cu as a By Product Credit

• In FY0607 Cu paid for all mining costs

• Total Site Cash Costs – (AU$208.70) / oz Au produced

• Total Production Costs after Depreciation, Corporate Admin Charges,

Royalties, Realisation & Tax – (AU$136.23) / oz Au produced
FY0607 Mining & Milling Costs Breakdown

Development AU$3.88 / tonne Mined

Bogging (inc. Transfer AU$1.57 / tonne Mined
Level)
Mining LH Drilling AU$1.04 / tonne Mined
LH Charging AU$0.42 / tonne Mined
Road Maintenance AU$0.27 / tonne mined
Secondary Breakage AU$0.23 / tonne mined
Other Combined AU$1.82 / tonne Mined

ROM Ore Rehandling AU$0.15 / tonne Milled

Grinding AU$2.36 / tonne Milled
Recovery AU$0.38 / tonne Milled
Milling
Tailings Disposal AU$0.07 / tonne Milled
Other Combined AU$2.00 / tonne Milled
 Issues

• Decreasing surge capacity due to proximity of production areas to Crusher /

Transfer Level

• Increasing quantities of Oversize material due to reduction in sized material drawn

from ore passes

• Longer LHD haulage distances with corresponding increase in tyre usage, already
an issue with World tyre shortage

• Introduction of truck haulage for 5040 Level production

• Maintaining production rates while constructing a Block Cave (interaction

between Production & Project personnel)

• Starting a Block Cave below an existing SLC production area and associated
geotechnical interaction

• Decreasing grade with depth, increased costs

 The Future – Ridgeway Deeps

• 45 Million tonnes
- 1.15 g/t Au
- 0.45% Cu

• 236m high Block Cave

• 2 x Jaw Crushers

• Extension to existing
conveying system (1.9km)

• 5.8 Mtpa production rate

• Mine life to 2019

 The Future – Ridgeway Deeps
Undercut Level

• ‘Crinkle Cut’ design

• ‘Trident’ access to increase

pillar size in Perimeters

• Undercut height 10m

Extraction Level

• Offset herringbone layout

for Extraction Level
(Northparkes, Palabora)

• Extraction crosscuts at
30m spacing

• 254 drawpoints