Northparkes copper and gold mine is entering a new era with Rio Tinto handing over its 80% interest in the Northparkes joint venture to China Molybdenum Co (CMOC) in December. The milestone was celebrated onsite with special guests from CMOC, Rio Tinto, Joint Venture Partners Sumitomo Metal Mining Oceania and Sumitomo Corp Mineral Resource, government and employees all in attendance. Northparkes operates underground block cave mines on its mining leases.

CMOC Vice Chairman Steele Chaochun Li said CMOC is excited and honoured to become a citizen of Australia, the state of NSW and the local communities around the mine including the Parkes and Forbes shires.

CMOC Overseas CEO Kalidas Madhavpeddi thanked all of the staff for their ongoing commitment to Northparkes and their collective efforts to make the change in ownership run safely and smoothly.

“We are very excited to have over 300 new colleagues and to now own an operation that is highly regarded for its leading edge technology and absolute commitment to a Zero Harm culture,” he said

We look forward to working alongside our new team members to ensure the bright future of Northparkes Mines for all of us, including the communities that surround the mine.”

CMOC began its majority ownership of the mine on December 1 and has been meeting with employees across site and learning more about what makes Northparkes such a special and safe operation.

Northparkes is a copper and gold mine located 27 km northwest of Parkes in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. Northparkes is now a joint venture between CMOC (80%) and the Sumitomo Groups (20%).

Northparkes was the first in the country to use a variation of the cost-effective block cave mining technique in its underground operations. Underground block cave operations include the E26 Lift 2 and Lift 2 North (Lift 2N) block caves as well as the E48 block cave project. Open-pit mining campaigns have been undertaken in the E26, E22 and E27 pits

Northparkes’ ore is processed on site to produce a high-grade copper concentrate which is then transported by road train to the Goonumbla rail siding approximately 13 km from the mine. The containers are then placed on to a train and transported to Port Kembla, south of Wollongong, where the concentrate is then shipped to customers primarily in Japan, China and India.