JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Following the recent acquisition of a 100% interest in the Evander Gold Mines, Pan African Resources sold 51 473 oz of gold in the third quarter of the 2013 financial year.

While tonnes milled remained relatively flat over the previous quarter’s output, sales increased by 21% on the 42 463 oz of gold sold in the second quarter.

Pan African said in an operational update on Tuesday that its key short- to medium-term objective at Evander was to identify, evaluate and advance organic growth projects.

The mine had started to equip the No 7 shaft area to retrieve additional ounces from previously mined areas, while further optimisation opportunities had also been identified in low-grade surface rock dumps.

Evander’s results would be consolidated into the Pan African group results with effect from March 1, as the acquisition was finalized on February 28.

“The acquisition of Evander has propelled Pan African into a new phase of growth. Our current emphasis is the successful integration of the asset into the group, which is progressing well and is in line with our expectations,” commented joint interim CEO Ron Holding.

Pan African expected the overall average recovered grade for the last quarter of the financial year to be 4.6 g/t for Evander and 9.7 g/t for its Barberton gold mine operations, while the underground recovered grade for the upcoming quarter, excluding surface sources, was expected to be 6.5 g/t for Evander and 10.7 g/t for Barberton.

Barberton Tailings Project
Meanwhile, the company’s Barberton tailings retreatment project remained on budget and on target to start production in the first quarter of the 2014 financial year.

Barberton is expected to retreat 1.2-million tonnes of gold tailings a year, with a total life-of-project production of 160 000 oz of gold at an average recovered grade of 0.54 g/t.

The project was set to increase the production profile at the Barberton gold mine operations by some 20 000 oz/y.

The junior miner said it had concluded the necessary Eskom supply agreements and confirmed that the two overhead lines for the required 4 000 MVA had been installed.

The environmental-impact assessment for the tailings storage facility had been approved while, in line with the planned schedule, construction of the facility had started, with Phase 1 due for completion by July.

The project had invoiced R194.2-million since the start of construction in April 2012 and had a projected value of R305.8-million.

Phoenix Platinum
Moreover, Pan African subsidiary Phoenix Platinum Mining produced 1 463 oz of platinum-group elements for the quarter under review.

Production at the plant remained constrained owing to the supply of oxide tailings by ferrochrome producer International Ferro Metals, which negatively affected the flotation recovery.

The company said it would continue to explore options to ameliorate the impact of this oxide feed material, including increasing feed tonnages into the plant, conducting additional testwork on the chemical reagent suite and expediting deliverables for the new tailings project.