| 43 Endura Mining Once in production Endura expects the Snowy River goldmine to be operating continuously for at least the next decade. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Endura Mining A major gold mine just up the road at Reefton has proved a boon to Colin J Holmes Contracting, a small Greymouth-based family company that has landed the job of hydraulics servicing for Endura Mining’s Snowy River Gold project. Colin Holmes started his company, supplying and repairing hydraulic hoses and ttings, 35 years ago, and today, as he considers hanging up his work-belt, his sons Taylor and Callan are overseeing the work at Reefton. “When I rst heard that Endura was going to open up the Snowy River mine, I approached them and offered our services,” Colin says. “They took me and the boys on, and left some of our competition wondering how we landed such a good client. “It’s a huge project, and unlike the other biggies in the area like Siren and Rua Gold, Endura has got through all the consenting, is fully funded and fully permitted, and should be producing gold by the end of this year. “We not only do their hydraulic servicing, but we’re just now nishing the repairs and overhaul of one of the mine’s two underground Jumbo drilling rigs, and we also do repairs on their boggers, the 25t machines that load the dump trucks in the mine. “It’s a plum job for a small family concern, and we’re pretty proud to have it.” Endura Mining is an Australian-based company whose agship asset is the Snowy River mine, a high-grade brown eld project on which plant construction began in September of last year. Endura’s major shareholder is the Australian superannuation scheme, and Snowy River is the rst stage of the company’s goal to build long-term investments in Tier One countries like New Zealand. The project goes all the way back to 1905 with the discovery of what was called the Birthday Reef by the small team of prospectors that identi ed it. Mining started there the following year and continued for 45 years until 1951, producing 733,000 ounces of gold from two shafts, the Blackwater and the Prohibition, which were mined to a depth of 800m across 16 levels. The rst stages of bringing the Snowy River mine into production were completed just before last Christmas with the project’s biggest concrete pour for the processing plant. Work on the roads and the ROM pad continued through the Christmas period, and initial works and infrastructure procurement were close to completion by the early New Year. The project envisages production of around 60,000oz of gold a year, with the mine life projected to be at least ten years, based on probable gold reserves of around a quarter of a million ounces. “Taylor and Callan are both working most of the time at Reefton ,” Colin says. “They leased a building there to carry out the overhaul of the Jumbo, and they also serve as local resource organisers and providers, taking the pressure off the management to get various minor tasks done. “It’s an exciting venture for us to be involved in,” he says. Family Firm Strikes Gold at Snowy River
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