Modern Mining January 2023

MOGALE GOLD PROJECT

Mogale Gold will increase the company’s annual gold production by more than 25% to over 250 000 ounces per annum over an initial 13-year mine life

authorisation and stakeholder engagement, are already well underway, while contract negotiations with engineering, procurement and construction management and contract mining companies are also in progress, said Loots. Pan African expects to begin construction of the tailings retreatment plant in April 2023, followed by an 18 to 24 month construction period, with plant commissioning targeted to start in mid 2024, and first gold production set for December 2024, the company said. Further growth through the Soweto Cluster The Soweto Cluster TSFs, which comprise nine sep arate facilities located to the west of Johannesburg about 10 kilometres from the Mogale Gold assets, have the potential to further extend the combined mine life of the assets. Although Pan African does not currently include the mineral resource of the Soweto Cluster TSFs in the Mogale Gold mine schedule, as further techni cal studies are required, a conceptual study has revealed that the Soweto Cluster resources could add eight years of mine life to the company’s port folio, extending the mine life to over 20 years and further increase combined annual gold production by as much as 60 000 ounces per annum when it comes on stream, the company said. A technical study is underway to increase the mineral resource confidence of the Soweto Cluster, which currently has an inferred mineral resource of 119 million tons at a grade of 0.31 grams per ton,

The 1L 23-25 surface dams that Pan African Resources will re-mine and process.

Top projects Environmental Rehabilitation Opportunity Pan African Resources’ re-mining operations, which comprise the existing Elikhulu, Evander surface and Barberton tailings retreatment plants, provide a unique opportunity for the environmental rehabilitation and restoration of legacy residue stockpiles according to the far higher and more stringent envi ronmental and safety standards and mine waste reprocessing technologies available today. Consolidation of these residue stockpiles into optimised, safer, and well managed facilities, will offer several benefits for both people and the environment

40  MODERN MINING  January 2023