The peak

Peak Mines, that commenced production in 1992, is a group of five underground mines situated near Cobar in New South Wales that produce gold, copper and silver for its owner, New Gold Inc., a Canadian based global mining company. The gold produced by Peak Mines is sold to the Perth mint as gold dore and the copper concentrate is sold to the company's Asian customers.

Peak Mines Have Five Underground Operations Currently Producing
Gold and Copper
New Gold Inc. have a copper-gold processing plant on site that handles the production from all five underground operations that comprise the following:
- Perseverance ñ The development of the Perseverance ore body began in 2002 with the initial production stope coming on-line in 2003. It is a relative high grade deposit that contains most of the groups gold resource.
- Peak ñ The Peak ore body was the first to be discovered in 1980. over one million ounces of gold was produced from this deposit between 1991 and 2002 when mining ceased. Mining was re- commenced in 2006. The surface decline was completed in 2007 that connected the underground workings between the Peak and New Occidental deposits.
- New Occidental - This deposit has been mined on and off throughout the last century. Mining was recommenced in 2001 after a lay off of 50 years. It is located three kilometres from the peak ore body but is linked via the decline.
- Chesney ñ The Chesney deposit has also been mined at different times in the past. It was brought back into production in 2009 and linked to the New Cobar deposit via a 700 metre decline. It has the best copper grading of all the Peak Mines.
- New Cobar ñ This deposit was earlier worked as an open pit and when the open pit ceased in 2004 it had produced one million tonnes of ore. Underground mining began in 2004 and it continues as an important contributor to the groups copper/gold processing plant.

The Peak, New Occidental and Perseverance mines are accessed by means of a shaft and decline located at the Peak Mine site. The Peak mine site is also where the processing plant and administration buildings are located. The Chesney and New Cobar deposits are accessed by way of a decline at the base of the new Cobar open pit.

Bench and Open Stoping Methods Employed at Peak Mines
The bench stoping method of underground mining is carried out at the New Cobar, New occidental, Perseverance and Peak underground mines, while at Chesney the compant uses a combination of open stoping and bench stoping. Mining is progressed in each panel from bottom up and drifts are driven along the ore strike on each level. A slot is developed and ore blasted into the space created. The ore is then extracted and waste rock used as backfill.

The Cobar Peak Mines operation takes place by exploiting the five different deposits contained in the Greater Cobar Gold Field, a 10 kilometre long highly mineralised belt, that extend north from the Perseverance deposit to the Tharsis Mine located immediately north of the town of Cobar. The Cobar Gold Field is situated at the eastern extremity of the Cobar Basin and has produced more than 200,000 tonnes of copper and three million ounces of gold since mining began in the area in 1870.