Vista Gold Website

Technical Reports

Environmental Impact
Statement

Industry Capability Statement

2022 Mt Todd Open Day
Saturday 21 May

Vista Gold is pleased to invite the community to an Open Day at the Mt Todd Gold Mine

Mt Todd is located approximately 50km north of Katherine and 250 km south of Darwin. The site, which operated in the 1990s, covers a mine tenement of 155,644 ha, which includes both the Batman and Quigleys gold deposits. Vista Gold has worked with the authorities to obtain the necessary permits for the mine and is managing the site while it evaluates development alternatives prior to making a final investment decision on the project.

We have drilled over 65,000 meters and have grown the gold resource from 2.3 million ounces to nearly 10 million ounces. We continue to do exploration each year. We have also conducted metallurgical testwork to optimise the processing of the gold-bearing ore and improve the project economics.

We are focused on our environmental stewardship throughout the project’s life, including the current Care and Maintenance Phase. All our environmental programs and data are available on our website.

The Open Day event will include transport from Katherine, a tour of the site demonstrating how the mine is currently managed, the water treatment facilities, an explanation of the gold deposit and Vista Gold’s plans for the future. A BBQ and soft drinks will be provided at the mine as the tour concludes.

The tour will be run from 9am – 2pm. Tour places are strictly limited due to site safety requirements.
Mt Todd has a Mine Site COVID-19 Management and Mitigation Plan in place, and a single page form must be completed prior to boarding the bus.

The tour will take approximately five hours including travel to and from Katherine. No private vehicles will be permitted on site. All visitors will be required to wear long trousers, long sleeved shirts and covered shoes. The tour bus will collect visitors from the Katherine Town Council car park, Stuart Highway at 8:45am.

To register your interest please click here and provide the names of visitors and contact details.
Registrations close COB Tuesday, 17 May 2022. The Vista team looks forward to meeting you on site.

*Please note the tour time may change, subject to the community’s response.

Welcome to Mt Todd Gold Mine

The Mt Todd mine site is located approximately 50 km north of Katherine and 250 km south of Darwin. The site covers a mine tenement of more than 153,700 ha, which includes both the Batman and Quigley's gold deposits.

The site was acquired by Vista Gold and its wholly owned subsidiary Vista Gold Australia in 2006.

Currently not in production, Vista Gold is working with the authorities to obtain the necessary permits for the mine prior to making a final investment decision on the project.

A favorable investment decision could lead to a two-year construction phase employing approximately 450 people with an ongoing workforce of 350 during operations.

Vista Gold announced estimated mineral resources for the Mt Todd Gold Project on September 10, 2019 in the Mt Todd Gold Project Preliminary Feasibility Study (Batman Deposit and Heap Leach Pad) as follows:  

Mt Todd Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act) Approval

In early 2018 the project was issued an approval for a "Controlled Action" (mining) under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act). This was a product of a number of studies and a comprehensive "Management and Mitigation Plan"  outlining the commitments made by the project to ensure effects of mining (if any) are identified and minimised. Below are links to the approval documents and the associated plans that they refer to;
  1. Approval letter from Department of Environment & Energy pdf (0.4mb)
  2. Approval Notice with Condition Details pdf (2.0mb)
We are now finilising the Management and Mitigation Plan (which is required prior to commencement of "works") and Offset Proposal. Both of these are well advanced.

Mt Todd Releasing Water 2020-21 Wet Season

​Mt Todd commenced its annual 2020/21 wet season release of treated water on 14th Dec-20.

We are targeting 1.75GL released, in accordance with our Waste Discharge License.

Waste Discharge License (WDL178) was issued  by the NTEPA. A copy can be downloaded from this website; http://www.mttodd.com.au/waste-discharge-licence.html

When there is sufficient flow in the Edith River we are able to release water via our automated pumping system. This is the continuation of the significant reduction of the water inventory held at Mt Todd. In the past seven years we have released or evaprated a total of ~ 9.0GL of treated water. More the half of the volume of water in the old Batman Pit (RP3) has now been treated and either released or evaprated, with 2.1GL remaining.

Water collection and storage is the biggest environmental issue facing the Mt Todd site.

Since the mine ceased operations in 2000, mine effected water has been collecting in the Tailings Storage facility (RP7) and the Waste Rock Dump Dam (RP1). As required this water has been pumped and stored in the Batman Pit (RP3).

Regardless of the when the mine goes ahead this water requires treatment and release from site as there is a net positive historical 1.5GL of water for Mt Todd Mine Site each year. Hence the need to release water each wet season.
​
As at 14th Dec-20 we had  9.0GL less water on site today then we had seven years ago. We still have a total of 5.4GL (2.1GL in Batman Mine void) at Mt Todd. The remaining capacity is 13.4GL across the site.

We have installed a sprinkler system that operates during the dry season that sees more water evaporated. This is great as it means less water to treat and release.                            
Pictured is the water release point taken 17th Jan 2017
                            2013 Batman Mine void                                                               2017 Batman Mine void                                                                    2018 Batman Pit Void
2019 Batman Pit Void
2020 /03 Batman Pit Void
2020 /09 Batman Void
23 Feb 2021 Batman Void
17 Mar 2021 Batman Void


​Community Feedback Number

(08) 8941 9108
​​
Call the Mt Todd Community Feedback Line at 08 8941 9108 with any issues, comments or questions you may have – and we will listen.

You can also reach us through this website at http://www.mttodd.com.au/contact-us.html  - simply click on “Contact Us” tab and select any one of the contacts listed or fill out the online comment form at the bottom of the page.