Cannington is the world’s largest silver and lead mine. Located in northwest Queensland, Australia, the mine employs 600 workers and 300 contractors. The ore deposit was discovered by BHP Minerals in 1990, and full production was reached in 1999. The silver mine is a fly-in fly-out operation, and it is 83 kilometers from the nearest town of McKinley.
An underground mine, Cannington uses both open-stope and bench mining methods. Access to the mine is achieved via a decline ramp from the surface. The hoisting shaft brings up about 1.8 million metric tons of ore a year. Cannington is the largest single mine producer of silver and lead, representing six percent of the world’s silver production and seven percent of lead production.
The overall operation includes a rail-loading building at Yurbi and a minerals concentrate handling facility at the Port of Townsend. The mineral processing concentrator treats the silver-rich lead and zinc deposits. It separates the valuable silver, lead and zinc from the remainder of the ore. BHP Minerals expects Cannington to have a life of 25 years, annually producing 750 metric tons silver, 265,000 metric tons lead and 111,000 metric tons zinc.
In 2010, BHP Minerals put in a submission to the government to move to open-cut mining. Mine spokesman Mark Daniell says the open-cut mining operation would extend the life of Cannington mine to 2022. BHP Minerals is one of the regions’ largest employers, and contributes significantly to Queensland’s economy through royalties, employment and use of goods and services, said Daniell.
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201007/s2960919.htm
http://www.infomine.com/minesite/minesite.asp?site=cannington
http://www.mining-technology.com/projects/cannington/
