Elikhulu Project will create more jobs in the area
RIDGE TIMES
Pan African Resources held a sod-turning ceremony for the R1.7 billion Elikhulu Tailings Re-treatment Project on Friday, 8 September.
This marked the official start of the construction of the plant that is expected to produce an average of 50 000 ounces of gold per year for the next 13 years.
Mr Cobus Loots, Pan African African Resources CEO, said: “Elikhulu’s capital expenditure of approximately R1.7 billion is a substantial investment in the South African mining industry and is expected to contribute materially to economic development and employment in the Mpumalanga province.
“Elikhulu is scheduled to produce the first gold in the final quarter of the 2018 calendar year and deliver an average of 50 000 ounces per annum for the next 13 years, at an all-in sustaining cost of less than US$5050/ounce.”
The Elikhulu project entails establishing facilities and infrastructure at Evander Gold Mining (Pty) Ltd, owned and operated by Pan African Resources, to retreat historic gold plant tailings at a rate of one million tonnes per month.
The definitive feasibility study on the project was undertaken by DRA Projects SA (Pty) LTD, which has been appointed as the engineering, processing and construction contractors to the project.
Three existing tailings storage facilities will be reclaimed in the following order: Kinross, Leslie and Winkelhaak.
The facilities will after processing be consolidated into a single enlarged Kinross facility, thus reducing Evander Mine’s environmental footprint and associated environmental impact.