South Island End of Year Brief!

Posted December 22, 2023

Hey team,

What a ride we’ve had in the South Island this year! We’ve wrapped up another crazy, yet super productive, year – projects kicked off, drilling madness (90,000 meters worth), and our team morale hitting the roof. Huge shoutout to our crew for bringing their A-game, and props to the recruitment team for smoothly bringing in all our new folks.

Now, let’s chat about Federation. It started with one rig doing the solo shift dance, and now we’ve got three rigs pulling the underground hustle 24/7. The team, led by the dynamic duo Paul Wallace and Josh October, tackled some seriously challenging drilling conditions and clocked in an impressive 15,000 meters. And oh boy, we pulled off our first-ever successful de-watering hole in New Zealand – a real game-changer with its own set of wild challenges. Kudos to the Alton Drilling and Federation Mining dream team for making it happen.

Over at Macraes, Nathan McEntee and Matt Allcott led the charge with two rigs rocking the surface and two going underground for the first half of the year. We slowed  a bit for the rest of the year, cruising with one rig doing its thing both on the surface and underground, racking up over 21,000 meters. And hey, keep an eye out for our shiny new MDR700 making its debut from Waihi early next year. Sure, we faced some challenges – dodgy ground conditions, a bit of underground ground movement drama – but our team pulled together and nailed those targets. Surface had its own set of quirks with the Geo-Tech program, involving some gear shuffling for blasting and site rebuilding. The guys got their hands dirty with vibrating wire installs and Inclinometer casing installs – loads of great learning experiences.

Cromwell – what a year! Four diamond rigs, non-stop double shifts, and a small RC rig thrown in for good measure. The Cromwell crew, led by Kane Beardsmore, Andy Taylor, Sam Allcott, and Ben Ougthon, drilled a whopping 52,500 meters. There’s been some serious internal growth – crew members stepping up into supervisory and drilling roles, doing the job safely and consistently. Upskilling and training have been the name of the game for both newbies and our seasoned crew members.

We’re stoked to wrap up another successful year, and a massive thank you to our awesome crew for their dedication, hard work, and for living our company values. Now, it’s time to kick back, enjoy the festive season with family and friends, and have a beer or two. We’re gearing up for another action-packed year with drilling at Cromwell, plus ongoing adventures at Macraes, Federation Mining in Reefton and now Reefton Gold in the bush.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas you’ve earned a well-deserved break. Let’s make it a good one!

Cheers,

Chris Carter

South Island Operations Manager