Old Johannesburg mines can ‘comfortably’ produce 100 000 oz/y by 2009 - CRG
miningweekly.com
By: Christy van der Merwe
Published on 19th June 2008
Producing 100 000 oz of gold from old mine operations at the Central Rand project was “readily do-able” and could be achieved “quite comfortably”, Central Rand Gold (CRG) executives told analysts and investors at the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday.
The miner’s updated mine works programme, environmental management plan, and social and labour plan had been submitted, along with the mining rights application, and the granting of the new order mining right from the Department of Minerals and Energy was expected by July or August.
CRG CEO Greg James said that the company had completed its metallurgical feasibility study, its base-line mine design, as well as completing the trial mining plant.
Once granted the licence, CRG expected to start trial mining by October, to test the fundamentals, principles and recoveries, and this would also give the company the opportunity to test the methods of underground stoping, and backfilling. The trial mining would begin with processing sands and soils on Langlaagte, and Crown mines, and surface mining at initial targets.
CRG COO Mike Sullivan indicated that the trial mining plant, which was purchased from Gekko Systems, would be commissioned in September. The plant could process 20 t/h, or 12 000 tons a month.
The primary development of the main decline was also expected to start in October, in order to get the right levels to produce first underground ore by April or May 2009.
Full-scale gold production would be initiated by the first quarter of 2009. Final configuration of mining and processing would be determined from the outcome of the trial mining.
Once the 100 000 oz target was reached in 2009, the company hoped to produce 250 000 oz by 2010, and one-million ounces by 2012. The company was also convinced that these targets could be brought forward even sooner. Progress at the operation over the last 12 months had already been accelerating very rapidly, thanks to the work of the technical team.
CRG’s properties are the old Consolidated Main Reef, Crown Mines, City Deep, Village Main and Robinson Deep in Johannesburg. |
