Modern Mining January 2024

TOP PROJECTS

Setting the bar high M odern Mining’s Top Projects for 2024 are distinguished by their whopping price tags, sheer size, value to the economy and the job market. This year we have selected projects from different commodities – gold, platinum group met als, diamonds and coal – that have set the bar high. They include Pan African Resources Mintails assets; Platinum Group Metals’ Waterberg PGM project; dia mond miner, De Beers Venetia Underground Project (VUP); and Canyon Coal’s Gugulethu Colliery.

In a deal valued at a whopping R50m, Pan African Resources secured the take-over of the Mogale Gold and the Mintails SA Soweto Cluster in the latter part of 2022. The gold miner has an ongoing strategy to re process historical tailings dams, which makes the area safer and greener, while generating economic benefits for the communities and generating significant profits at current gold price levels. The company anticipates a life-of-mine at Mintails of around 20 years, with annual production estimated to average around 50 000 oz/ year. Platinum Group Metals’ Waterberg operation, located on the Northern Limb of the Bushveld Complex, is set to be a large scale, low cost PGM development that will deliver key metals, including palladium, plati num, gold and rhodium. The project has a number of highly attractive characteristics, such as being a shal low, bulk mineable project with significant scale and growth potential. To date, an early work programme has been implemented, which includes an early infrastructure plan intended to significantly de-risk the future construction of the project. With a pro jected annual production rate of 420 000 ounces, the Waterberg project has a mine life of 45+ years. The VUP, which on 30 th June achieved a major mile stone with its first blast, is over 72% complete on its infrastructure development with De Beers on-target for production ramp-up and project completion by 2028. The miner is ramping-up from current produc tion of roughly 12 000 tons achieved in October 2023 to just under 2 million tonnes in the next two years. The mine is expected to produce up to 5.9 million tonnes of kimberlite ore annually, to be used in the extraction of nearly 4.5 million carats of diamonds per year. VUP is positioned as a modern operation implementing lat est technologies to meet its carbon emissions agenda. Gugulethu Colliery in Mpumalanga – Canyon Coal’s newest multi-million-rand investment – will begin first production in early 2024. The mine was among the investment projects pledged at the 2023 SA Investment Conference lead by President Ramaphosa. The rst phase of the Gugulethu project is expected to produce 2.4 million t/y of coal, of which 1.2 million t/y will be export quality of 5 500 kc NAR coal. The sec ond phase is expected to commence in 2030, after the conclusion of the open cast reserve. 

Top projects