CONSTRUCTION TO KICK OFF AT MINTAILS MOGALE GOLD
Re-mining of the Mogale Gold TSFs, a crucial component of the mogale tailings retreatment project and one of the two tailings facilities comprising Pan African Resources’ recently acquired Mintails SA assets, will increase the Group’s annual gold production profile by 25%.
This is the finding of the Group’s recently completed definitive feasibility study (DFS), independently completed by DRA Projects, which confirmed the economic value of what is one of South Africa’s few remaining large-scale gold tailings retreatment opportunities.
Located near Krugersdorp, northwest of Johannesburg, the Mogale Gold TSFs include nine individual dams containing Probable Mineral Resources of 123.6 Mt of re-mineable material. By employing the same proven, ultra-efficient retreatment process utilised at Pan African’s Elikhulu operations, the plant will treat gold-bearing material with a head grade of 0.29 g/t, containing an overall estimated gold content of 1.14 Moz.
When production commences in December 2024, it will be the next milestone in Pan African’s exceptional track record of developing and operating surface tailings retreatment plants to produce low-cost, high-margin ounces. It’s a track record that’s helped establish the Group as one of southern Africa’s lowest cost gold producers.
MOGALE GOLD TSFS
Project timelines
Production begins
Mineral Reserves and Resources
To improve confidence in the available mineral resource at Mogale Gold,
- Highly accurate LiDAR technology was employed to survey available tonnages across the project area.
- 25 historical holes were twinned to verify previously reported head grades.
- 82 new boreholes were sunk – totalling some 2 761 metres of drilling – in areas with little or no data.
This drilling resulted in the analyses of 1 877 samples and 187 control samples, reporting the following Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource:
| TSF | Tonnage | Gold | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mt | g/t | kg | oz. | |
| Total Indicated Resource | 121.62 | 0.29 | 35 049 | 1 126 855 |
| Total Inferred Resource | 4.64 | 0.33 | 1 525 | 49 040 |
These findings were then modelled according to the engineering parameters of the processing plant defined in the DFS, with a monthly throughput rate of 800 kt, to accurately estimate the ore deposit’s Probable Mineral Reserves:
| TSF | Tonnage | Gold | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mt | g/t | kg | oz. | |
| Total Indicated Resource | 123.658 | 0.29 | 35 400 | 1 140 180 |
Mining Methodology
Hydro-mining will be utilised at the larger tailings dumps, using hydraulic guns cutting mine widths of 15 m wide and 20 m deep. Load-and-haul mining will be used to extract resources from the smaller North Sands and South Sands tailings dumps.
The re-mined tailings will be processed in a CIL plant of similar design to the Elikhulu operation, with an additional water treatment plant that will help limit corrosion and potentially improve gold recoveries.
Environmental Rehabilitation
Pan African Resources’ remining operations will provide massive scope to rehabilitate the natural ecology of the mine area by reprocessing legacy mine waste according to the far higher and more stringent environmental and safety standards and mine waste technologies available today.
At the existing Elikhulu and Barberton tailings retreatment plants, optimised tailings management has made these facilities safer and less prone to failure, and reduced the pollution load on the surrounding land and underground water resources. This has resulted in improved freshwater quality and lower levels of radiation and toxicology, allowing the re-introduction of indigenous flora and fauna species to the area, which has shown a tremendous ability to recover at a rapid rate.
These same benefits can now be extended to the Mintails facilities.
Following the overwhelming early success of the 10 MW PV plant at Elikhulu, feasibility studies will also investigate the merits of a solar renewable energy plant at Mintails, in line with our decarbonisation strategy and production cost reduction initiatives.
