The commissioning of Pan African Resources’ Barberton Mines Tailings Retreatment Plant (BTRP) regrind mill will be completed this week, on schedule and on budget.
The gold producer on Thursday said BTRP is expected to reach an annualised gold production of 21 000 oz in the next month.
The construction of the 1.7 MW regrind mill, which was installed to reduce the coarseness of the material treated from the Harper dump, had taken five months to complete.
The regrind mill will also help to improve materials handling and recoveries going forward.
Meanwhile, the gold miner has concluded the Section 189 process in terms of the South African Labour Relations Act, and signed a retrenchment agreement with the recognised unions of Evander Mines.
The retrenchment cost will be about R160-million and will be funded from the group’s existing debt facilities and internal resources, Pan African said.
The retrenched employees will be provided with opportunities for reskilling, with Pan African in the process of identifying employment opportunities for retrenched employees, both internally and with potential external employers.
Additionally, Pan African is at an advanced stage of reviewing the technical and commercial merits of mining the remainder of Evander’s 8 shaft pillar, which may extend the final closure date of the shaft and generate positive cash flows.
This could also, potentially, assist with further employment opportunities for those affected by the Section 189 process, the gold miner said.
Construction of Elikhulu, meanwhile, remains ahead of schedule with first gold production expected in August and full commissioning at the end of September.
Elikhulu’s capacity will be increased by 200 000 t to 1.2-million tonnes a month, with effect from December, by incorporating the existing Evander Tailing Retreatment Plant (ETRP) throughput with the associated economies of scale and enhanced recovery benefits.
The increase in processing capacity will not affect the original construction schedule or first gold production expectations, the company noted.
In conjunction with the ETRP throughput, these two surface operations, once in full production, are expected to produce more than 70 000 oz/y of gold.