Modern Mining March 2019

MINING News

Ramaphosa said the Gamsberg project was “an important step in our shared journey to revive our mining industry. It confirms our view that with an effective regulatory frame- work, improved collaboration between all stakeholders and sustained investment, min- ing has the potential to be a sunrise industry. South Africa has vast undeveloped mineral deposits that we have the opportunity to exploit for the benefit of all the people of this country.” Gamsberg is located in the ecologically sensitive Succulent Karoo Biome – one of the world’s 35 ‘biodiversity hotspots’. VZI’s bio­ diversity action plan includes the preservation of plants and seeds for post-mining replanting, and a biodiversity offset programme involving the purchase of 12 500 ha of land. Gamsberg is reported to be one of the most digitally advanced greenfields mining projects in South Africa. Digitalisation at Gamsberg includes Smart Ore Movement, Spatial Risk Monitoring and Management and Collision Avoidance Systems.  a solid base from which to grow Golden Hill and reaffirms our interpretations that most of the prospects offer substantial upside,” said Paul Chawrun, Teranga’s Chief Operating Officer. “We are pleased with the grades, strong continuity and widespread mineralisation at Golden Hill. Given the encouraging results of this early-stage initial resource estimate, our confidence in – and understanding of – the project geology, recent discoveries and the proven mineral potential of the region, our priority is to increase the number of resource ounces and advance the project through a PEA and into the feasibility stage of development.” Drilling at Golden Hill has identified and partially outlined numerous at-sur- face, oxide-hosted mineralised gold zones demonstrating excellent along trend and to- depth continuity. These gold zones extend to considerable depths below the oxide- hosted mineralisation transitioning into fresh brecciated and altered shear zones that remain open to further depth expansion. “We recognise the paramount impor- tance of structural controls on the gold zones and will focus ongoing exploration efforts on identifying additional favourable structural trends that should add resources through drilling evaluations,” said David Mallo, Teranga’s Vice President, Exploration. 

construction of a smelter-refinery complex. Over 3 000 people were employed during the construction of Phase 1 – more than half of whomwere recruited from the Northern Cape, with over 25 % from local communities. When in full production, Gamsberg will employ 800‑850 people. Speaking at the opening, Venkatakrishnan reflected on his time in the South African min- ing industry and the pride he felt as President Ramaphosa opened Gamsberg. He also high- lighted Vedanta’s local procurement and CSR spend, noting that “Local procurement is criti- cal to economic development. More than 90 % of our US$400 million investment at Gamsberg has been spent in South Africa. Our expendi- ture with local enterprises was around R77,5 million in 2018, while we invested more than R44,6 million in 2018 on training and social projects aimed at skills development, edu- cation, health, enterprise development and municipal infrastructure support. And this was before the mine had made a single cent.” Delivering the keynote address, President Indicated mineral resources total 6,40 Mt averaging 2,02 g/t gold for 415 000 ounces while inferred mineral resources total 11,95 Mt averaging 1,68 g/t gold for 644 000 ounces. This initial resource estimation includes the following prospects: Ma Main, Ma North, Jackhammer Hill, Peksou/C-Zone, Nahiri, A-Zone and B-Zone. “It is still very early in our exploration programme. However, after only 18 months of drilling, Golden Hill has advanced rap- idly and we are increasingly confident that Golden Hill will ultimately represent Teranga’s third gold mine,” said Richard Young, Teranga’s President and CEO. “With an early-stage initial resource esti- mate in hand, the focus now is on advancing the metallurgical test work required to pro- duce the initial technical and economic assessments. The completion of these assess- ments is a prerequisite to drawing down on the debt facility in place to take Golden Hill into the feasibility stage of development.” “Our initial resource estimate provides

Golden Hill shapes up to be Teranga’s third mine Canada’s Teranga Gold Corporation, listed on the TSX, has announced an initial min- eral resource estimate for its Golden Hill advanced exploration project, located within the central part of the highly miner- alised Houndé greenstone belt in south-west Burkina Faso.

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