Rio Tinto Alcan Gove summary report 1969-2008 MLN 955

Abstract

Special Mineral Lease 11 (SML 11) (NT Portion 1692) was granted pursuant to the Mining (Gove Peninsula Nabalco Agreement) Ordinance on the 30 May 1969 for a period of forty two years with a right of renewal for a further 42 years. SML 11 is alsoreferred to as MLN 955 and for the purpose of this report, RTA will refer to SML 11 as MLN 955. The lease area is divided into three parts the mine, conveyor and refinery. Part 1, the mine, covers a total area of 20,018 hectares. The mine is located on an extensive plateau, 60-80 m above sea level, occupying the central and eastern part of the Gove Peninsula. Bauxite was discovered at Gove in 1952 by the Northern Territory Coastal Patrol Service. Exploration commenced in 1967 with over 3800 auger drill holes on a 200 by 200 m grid. Mining commenced in 1971 with a cumulative bauxite production, as at the end of 2008, of approximately 194 Mt. Bauxite is mined using conventional open-pit mining techniques. The ore is ripped by dozers and then loaded by front-end loader into dump trucks for transport to the crushing plant. The following summary report has been compiled in response to a letter (Ref MT1996l0017-03 AMS) from the Director of Titles received in August 2009, regarding the submission of Annual Reports for the tenement pursuant to Section 79(l)[a] of the Mining Act. The summary report only covers the activities of bauxite mining which occurs on Part 1 of MLN 955. No mineral extraction activities occur on the conveyor corridor or refinery and so are not reported in this summary document.