EUREKA! 400 JOBS BOOM

THE first of more than 400 new jobs are starting to flow from the reworking and expansion of the historic Ravenswood goldfields, about 100km south of Townsville. There are hopes it will develop into Queensland’s biggest gold mine.

THE first of more than 400 new jobs are starting to flow from the reworking and expansion of the historic Ravenswood goldfields, about 100km south of Townsville.

The town, settled when gold was first discovered in the 1860s, could well see a return to the halcyon days.

Managing director and CEO of the new ownership group Brett Fletcher said they were excited about the prospects of developing the operation into Queensland’s biggest gold mine.

“I think it’s fantastic. We have a hugely positive culture on site. A lot of people we are attracting are experienced operators, some in the Bowen Basin,” Mr Fletcher said.

“COVID aside, we are pushing hard with this project now.”

Ravenswood Gold, which bought the assets from Resolute Mining earlier this year, has employed 40 people to add to an existing 160 employees who were taken on from the previous owners.

It has been advertising for another 60 people — digger operators, mining operators and tradespeople — paying average wages of $122,000. More than a 1000 people have applied for those latter jobs.

“We are very focused on local employment. We are tendering out as many of the work packages as we can to local suppliers,” Mr Fletcher said.

He said the company was spending more than $200 million over the next 18 months to start open cut mining, expand an existing processing plant and develop an existing tailings dam.

A further $100 million would be spent buying a new fleet of trucks and other equipment, including 180-tonne trucks and 350-tonne diggers.

Mr Fletcher said the mining fleet would probably come through one of the local dealerships.

“We are out to tender for 20 four-wheel drives,” Mr Fletcher said. “We are buying new because of the mine life. It’s such a long-lived operation we can justify that investment.”

Since the late 1980s, the mine has operated on a relatively small scale, but will now be expanded into a large-scale, low-cost operation producing 200,000 ounces of gold a year, worth around $540 million at today’s record prices.

Mr Fletcher said they would progressively employ another 250 people full-time, as well as 150 people through contracting roles developing the mine.

About 60 permanent roles would be added in October and another 60 in December. Another big intake would occur in March next year. “We plan to start open pit mining in December. We will expand as the mine develops,” Mr Fletcher said.

While the company would develop the open pits itself rather than through contract mining, Mr Fletcher said there would be significant work packages including for steel fabrication.

“It’s going to be great for the town. This is going to bring a whole heap more businesses to the town and put Ravenswood back on the map,” he said.