Modern Mining May 2022

significantly undervalued, and available debt facili ties for expansion and exploration undertakings.” Investing in organic growth Pan African Resources assets include Barberton Mines, a high-grade operation comprising of Fairview, Consort and Sheba mines; the Barberton Tailings Retreatment Plant (BTRP); and Evander Gold Mining, made up of the Evander underground and surface assets (shaft headgears and metallurgical plants) as well as the Elikhulu Tailings Retreatment Plant. “We are quite fortunate that we are not a one asset company but have a mix of assets, including tailings (surface remining) and underground opera tions and have the flexibility to unlock value from these assets to take advantage of the buoyant gold price.” Its near-term assets include the Evander 24, 25 and 26 Level projects, Egoli underground project and the Mintails and Blyvoor tailings opportunities that are currently undergoing feasibility studies. “Our growth strategy is driven by prudent capital allocation and we are currently focused on organic growth as we have substantial mineral reserves of nearly 10 Moz and 30 Moz in resources. Although we are keeping a close eye on the international acquisi tion space, our portfolio provides us with sufficient

organic growth prospects to keep the company meet ing targeted production rates on home ground. The current focus is to upgrade the existing infrastructure at our operations, in particular the Barberton mine assets which have been in existence for more than 130 years. Plans are in place to upgrade and add refrigeration plants and ventilation systems where required at both operations to allow us to continue accessing precious ounces,” notes Hira. Barberton Although the Barberton mines have an estimated 20 years life of mine within the currently identified mineral resource, the gold miner recently renewed Barberton Mines’ mining rights for another 30 years – to 2051 – allowing Pan African Resources scope to implement long-term initiatives to unlock more gold reserves. Barberton has one of the oldest mines still in operation today, having started mining over 130 years ago. The assets consist of the Fairview, Consort and Sheba underground operations and the BTRP surface operations and is the company’s flagship asset consisting of long-life, high-grade operations and a tailings retreatment plant produc ing some 100 000 oz of gold per year. “The Barberton orebodies are not a typical Wits orebody but consists of vein-type shear zones. As

Image of 8 shaft at Evander Gold mine.

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