Hanking Gold executives turning the first sod for the new processing plant at the revived Mount Bundy Gold Project. (ABC News: Jane Bardon)
A mothballed mine at Mount Bundy, south of Darwin, is being revived, as high gold prices make formerly defunct operations across Australia potentially profitable again.
Hanking Gold chief executive Mark Qiu says the company is confident the mine will be profitable in its first year of production.
The company plans to start selling gold in early 2028 and is estimating the mine will run for at least 17 years.
A third Northern Territory mine is preparing to enter Australia's modern-day gold rush, with the soaring gold price attracting a Chinese-financed company to revive the mothballed Mount Bundy mine near Darwin.
Executives from Hanking Gold visited the mine 100 kilometres south of Darwin this week to turn the first sod for construction of the mine's new gold processing plant.
Hanking Gold chief executive Mark Qiu said the company was confident it could make the operation profitable in the same year it started production, which is planned for the first quarter of 2028.
Mark Qiu expects the mine to run for 17 years. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
"We expect profits in the first year, 2028," he said.
"We expect it will be profitable because the gold price at the moment is very high, and with this current price it's a highly profitable project."
The surge in Australian dollar gold prices in the past year is being reflected across regional Western Australia, where gold exploration has hit record levels.
Dr Qiu said Hanking Gold had been planning the project for 12 years, and over that time the company had increased its estimate of the gold resource by 11 times.
"On today's price, it's worth more than $6 billion," he said.
"I'm pretty sure we will increase our estimates of the resource and be able to extend that to more than 20 years."
He said the company's feasibility plans judged the project would be profitable with a gold price of $3,750 an ounce.
