Ellendale

Warning: Abandoned mines are dangerous places. Do not enter abandoned mines.

Ellendale is located approximately 140 km east of Derby in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia. Mining for internationally acclaimed high-quality Fancy Yellow diamonds occurred at Ellendale between 2002 and 2015. Mining activities ceased at Ellendale in July 2015, when Kimberley Diamond Company (KDC) entered into administration, and subsequently into liquidation.  The site was declared an abandoned mine site in accordance with the Mining Rehabilitation Fund Act 2012 (MRF Act) in December 2015.

The scope of this project includes abandoned mine features within the area that has been gazetted under section 9(1) of the MRF Act including: the original two mine site areas of operation (E4 and E9), numerous waste rock landforms, stockpiles, water storage facilities, tailings storage facilities and ancillary infrastructure including but not limited to access roads, the airstrip and bore fields.

Infrastructure

The liquidator’s auction in September 2015 disposed of the valuable items of plant and infrastructure associated with the Ellendale site. Removal of plant and equipment appears to have been unmanaged and the remaining inoperable and redundant plant infrastructure are now in an unsafe state. The prime objective of the current works program is to make safe the areas around the E9 and E4 mine sites starting with the safe removal of all remaining redundant equipment and scrap.

Landforms

Annual landform monitoring through the use of remote sensing technologies including aerial capture, supported by ground-truthing of areas identified as requiring investigation, will enable a low risk approach to managing potential issues on this remote site.

Abandoned Mines Team
Email:  AbandonedMines@dmirs.wa.gov.au

Media enquiries
Email: media@dmirs.wa.gov.au
Phone:  +61 8 9222 6102