Mark Blythe, Tarrangower Times
Everybody has probably driven past that imposing front entrance along the Maldon- Bendigo Road at some stage, and wondered what goes on in there. Last week, the [Tarrangower] Times got to poke around inside and have a long chat with Dylan Morgan, the Processing Manager at the Kaiser Reef gold treatment plant on the edge of town.
For the record, the mine presently in Maldon is in a state called ‘care and maintenance’ but ready to be operated again on short notice when required. The Maldon treatment plant is for now only processing ore that is extracted from Kaiser Reef’s other mine the ‘A1’ near Woods Point in the Yarra Ranges.
Dylan is confident that the Maldon mine will open again in the future as the test results, known within the industry as ‘inferred resources’, is very encouraging. However as you can imagine, due to the eye watering cost of gold mining – particularly in the early stages – not a lot is left to guess work. If the mine begins operating again, employment at Kaiser Reef in Maldon should increase from the 12 at present to 50, when gold production recommences.
Despite all the technological advances since mining first began in Maldon way back in 1853, winning gold from the earth has never been easy, and most likely never will be. It is a hard, noisy and dusty job, and the 12 men and women who work at Kaiser Reef go about their business professionally, with a family-like atmosphere that is generally the signature of a small, cohesive work force. The work place culture is inclusive and supportive, with a phenomenal emphasis on workplace safety. Kaiser Reef employs modern world-class safety systems and as a result have not experienced a L.T.I. (Lost Time Injury) in over two years. Kaiser Reef’s motto is ‘production first, but safety always’, with a stated policy of ‘zero harm to people equipment, the environment, or the community’.
Kaiser Ops in Maldon
One of the byproducts of digging deep holes in the ground is water and Kaiser Reef have managed to turn a potential problem into an actual solution for the wider community. Kaiser Reef distributes all ground water in excess of their needs for processing and the like to various recipients – about 30 or 40 in total – to be used as required. The water is of a good quality that can see it quite safely used for watering stock which in these uncertain times of water security it is refreshing to see: two historically important Maldon industries mutually supporting each other.
Finally with my head bursting with figures and my note pad bursting with hastily written scribbles, Dylan suggested we wind up this interview with a quick Cook’s tour of the plant including the all-important ‘old room’.
Spoiler alert. The gold room? Not actually glittering with gold at all – quite disappointing really. I’ve sent a rather sharp email to their head office.
Alluvial gold was first discovered in the area in 1853 by Capt. John Mechosk. This triggered a gold rush that saw 20,000 miners descend on Maldon to try their luck. Maldon wasn’t even Maldon then, it was Tarrangower – it didn’t become Maldon till 1856. The last mine, the North British, closed in 1926. However, gold mining in some form or other has never entirely ceased in Maldon. Kaiser is proudly continuing that unbroken 170-year tradition.
This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 15 March 2024.
