GHD | Oceana Gold NZ Ltd | 12552081 | Geochemical Assessment Wharekirauponga Underground Mine (WAI985-000-REP-LC-0013) 1 1. Introduction 1.1 Project Description and Background Oceana Gold NZ Ltd (OceanaGold) proposes to proceed with developing a new underground mine at Wharekirauponga referred to as the “Wharekirauponga Underground” or “WUG” Mine. Development of the mine initially involves developing a tunnel drive (the Willows Access Tunnel) to link the Wharekirauponga gold resource and a portal located on farmland near Willows Road, approximately 5 km north of Waihi. This portal area will be linked to the current Waihi site via road, water conveyance pipelines and an additional access tunnel. For the following assessment the Willows Access Tunnel and WUG Mine are being treated as distinct entities and have been consequently separated into the following groupings as shown in Figure 1: Willows Access Tunnel – Comprising a single decline from Willows Road Farm to vent raise 1, then dual parallel tunnels to the Wharekirauponga Orebodies and a single decline from the Waihi plant to the base of vent raise 1. Predominately for ore and rock transportation, development, exploration and vent drives. WUG Mine – T-Stream and East-Graben-Vein (EG-Vein) orebodies The location of the surface facilities area (SFA) and the WUG Mine in relation to the current OceanaGold Waihi operations is shown on Figure 1. The key components of the portal infrastructure are outlined in Figure 2 . The WUG Mine and associated infrastructure will be progressed under the wider project – Waihi North Project. Key components of the project pertaining to the WUG Mine portion of the site include: Development of an access tunnel, associated portal and infrastructure located on Willows Road Farm, located approximately 5 km north of the current site processing plant, to access the WUG Mine; A new underground mine targeting the Wharekirauponga orebodies located approximately 11 km northwest of the township of Waihi; A pipeline connecting the Willows Access Tunnel portal area with the site Water Treatment Plant (WTP); An additional access tunnel connecting the orebodies and portal area with the current site Processing Plant; and A new temporary rock stack (WRS) adjacent the Willows Road Farm portal to store tunnel spoil during the exploration and operation of the WUG Mine.
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