Background on MMG Rosebery Mine

By Isla MacGregor

The small town of Rosebery is situated in the remote west coast of Tasmania and is surrounded by the most beautiful, rugged mountains and impenetrable temperate rainforest. Since 1936 Rosebery has been a mining town with the processing operations of the polymetallic underground mine occurring at the mine facility within the Rosebery township. The China Minmetals Non-ferrous Co., Ltd, Min Metals Group (MMG) took over operations in July 2009 from Oz Minerals. The mine processes zinc, lead, copper, silver and gold on site with crushing and concentrating of the base metals and gravity separation and smelting of the gold being done at the processing facility. (1) MMG also has a two year agreement with Bass Metal to process 120,000 tonnes of ore from the Que River Base Metal Project(2). Additionally, in January 2010 MMG submitted a Development Proposal and Environmental Management Plan to the EPA to redevelop the nearby South Hercules Mine for open cut mining and potential possible underground mining and waste rock dumps.(3) The average annual rainfall in Rosebery is 2186mm.

1. http://www.mmgroupltd.com/pages/847.aspx
2. http://www.mmgroupltd.com/pages/847.aspx
3. http://www.epa.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=23511