Southern Cross Operation

Southern Cross Operation owned by Barto Gold Mining and managed by Minjar Gold, is centred around Marvel Loch, located 375 km east of Perth, 235 km west of Kalgoorlie and 32 km south of the town of Southern Cross in Western Australia.

Project overview
The operation is located in the heart of the Southern Cross Greenstone belt, which hosts known gold endowment of >10 Moz. The Southern Cross Operation comprises a number of historic and greenfield project sites.

Southern Cross is supported by all the necessary infrastructure to deliver on its current Life of Mine plan, including:

  • One Mtpa processing plant which is linked to all gold deposits by private haulage roads;
  • 320 + person camp at Marvel Loch providing accommodation for employees at site, with a portion of employees also living in the nearby town of Southern Cross;
  • Fully integrated administration buildings, offices and workshops located on site;
  • Existing grid power and water supply; and
  • Access to rail, Great Eastern highway and airport.
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Our involvement
Initially, EMM was engaged to provide base line hydrological and hydrogeological assessments for historic pit expansions and greenfield open cut mine voids for support of DMIRS Mining Proposals. The complexity of managing surplus hypersaline, mine void dewatering was assessed using a site wide water balance model for informing strategic mine water management decisions. Following successful completion of the above projects, the team were subsequently engaged to provide additional hydrological and hydrogeological support services including; underground dewatering assessments for pit expansions, an audit of surface water management for new processing facilities, technical input for the completion of DWER Works Approval for proposed pipelines, and technical surface water and groundwater inputs for further open pit developments.
Technical solutions
  • Groundwater
  • Surface Water