“The Edie Creek gold mine is located in the Papua New Guinea Highlands in the Bulolo gold mining province. It shares a common boundary with the Hidden Valley gold mine that has been commonly producing more than 170,000 ounces of gold annually.Gold Discovered at Edie Creek in the 1930'sThe Edie Creek gold mining areas were first developed in the latter part ofthe 1930's with mining being undertaken at a number of sites which included the Enterprise and Day Dawn sites. Over the following 60 years mining was carried out in the area on a sporadic basis. Some tenements were explored during the 1970's but most of the data collected at that time has since been misplaced, however, considerable underground mapping, trenching, rock chip sampling and regional mapping of the Edie Creek area occurred again during the 1980's and most of this data remains available to this day. During the early part of the 1990's Melanesian Resources Limited drilled 12 holes into the Enterprise lode.All Gold won From Edie Creek to Date has Been Found on the Surface in Oxidised RocksAll of the gold discovered at Edie Creek in the past has been from oxidised rocks on the surface. Niuminco acquired and re-opened alluvial mining operations at Edie Creek in 2007 and have continued their interest in the area ever since. Niuminco entered a joint venture arrangement with Mincor Resources NL in 2011. This resulting in both partners carrying out comprehensive geological work at the site that included a 2,700 metre, 12 hole diamond drilling program, up until early 2013.Niuminco Became Managing Partner of Edie Creek in March 2013In March, 2013, Niuminco Group Limited became the managing partner of the joint venture with Mincor agreeing to surrender its right to any interests in the venture over and above its 17 percent interest. Between April, 2013 and June, 2013, Niuminco carried out the first stage of a three stage drilling program at Edie Creek in order to test two low grade bulk tonnage stockwork and diatreme targets. Edie Creek mining leases were renewed to 2022 and gold and silver production and pilot scale processing of the mineralised ore recommenced at Edie Creek in February 2014.Edie Creek Mine Producing Gold and Silver With a Workforce of 34The Edie Creek gold mine currently has a workforce of around 34 personnel which includes a qualified and registered mine manager who is presently overseeing the pilot scale mining operation that includes ore processing as well as silver and gold production, ongoing resource drilling, mine design planning, maintenance of the roads, mine security and comminity affairs.In the immediate past the Niuminco/Mincor joint venture had focused on a core drilling program based on the high grade but narrow low sulphidation quartz carbonate veins that showed potential for underground mining at Edie Creek, however, more recently the focus has changed to more concentration being placed on bulk tonnage lower grade targets that comprise shallow sections of larger veins of a higher grade.”
