Stonewall to fast-track SA gold mine development
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Stonewall Resources on Wednesday announced that it would fast-track the development of its Rietfontein underground gold mine, in South Africa, following a successful prefeasibility study (PFS).
The junior told shareholders that mining was set to start at a rate of 5 000 t/m, targeting production of some 1 294 oz of gold for 2013, and increasing to 8 200 oz/y by 2014.
Stonewall said that, with the feasibility study and mine plan completed, production could now start two years ahead of schedule.
“The Stonewall approach has been to start with bulk testwork and small-scale mining, and then upgrade production steadily,” said CEO Lloyd Birrell.
“This approach has served us well in the past, as demonstrated with the processing of TGME tailings and the Klipwal tailings, both of which were precursors to full-on underground mining operations.”
Birrell said the start of mining operations on a small-scale allowed the company to build the right team, conduct underground exploration, gain a comprehensive understanding of the geology and metallurgy, and learn about the working conditions.
The Rietfontein mine is one of several areas of gold mineralisation held under the approved Rietfontein new-order mining right, which includes Rietfontein, Waterval, Malieveld Valley and Spitskop.
Stonewall had started resource drilling at the TGME and Sabie projects, where it was targeting an increase of between 110 000 oz and 1.2-million ounces in resource.
Additional exploration drilling and bulk testwork would also be conducted as part of extended feasibility studies at Rietfontein, with the aim of extending the life-of-mine and increasing the mine plan to allow for production of some 40 000 oz/y by the end of 2014.
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