ADENCO’s KCGM Mill water upgrade: borefield reliability insights for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
ADENCO has completed a design-and-construct upgrade of water infrastructure for Northern Star Resources at the KCGM Mill Expansion Project in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, including modifications to 33 production bores across the Kaltails and Gidji borefields. The works, delivered under RSK ownership, focus on improving borefield reliability and water delivery to the expanded mill, a critical constraint for high-throughput gold processing in the arid Goldfields region. For geotechnical and hydrogeology teams, the project signals ongoing optimisation of long-established dewatering and supply bores rather than greenfield groundwater development.
Technical Brief
- Brownfield nature implied tie-ins to existing rising mains, power supplies and control systems, not full replacement.
- Upgrades likely required reconfiguration of boreheadworks, flow control and telemetry to standardise disparate installations.
- For similar Goldfields operations, incremental borefield upgrades reduce permitting and hydrogeological risk versus new wellfields.
Our Take
The KCGM Mill Expansion water upgrades at Kaltails and Gidji sit alongside Northern Star Resources’ trial of an electric haul truck at KCGM Operations (14 Aug 2026), signalling a coordinated push to modernise both energy and water infrastructure at this flagship Western Australian hub.
Given Northern Star Resources has recently been the subject of a rejected multi‑billion‑dollar takeover approach from Gold Fields, incremental infrastructure work at KCGM Operations strengthens the asset base that underpins its standalone valuation and bargaining position.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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