Industry intelligence
DRDGold increases production
Gold miner DRDGold’s Ergo plant on the East Rand of Johannesburg.
According to a statement released by
the company recently, the increased
production is mainly be attributed to
an 11% increase in tonnage throughput
to more than six million tonnes as
the first phase of the company’s Far
West Gold Recoveries (FWGR)
South African gold producer DRDGold
produced 15% more gold during the
quarter ended 31 March 2019 than
during the previous one. The company
re-mines historic mining dumps in the
Witwatersrand region, and reported gold
production of about 1279kg for the quarter.
Wescoal becomes partner at Arnot
Suppliers should shape
industry
[4] MINING MIRROR JULY 2019
Surface mining
association,
Aspasa, has
called on
suppliers of
the industry
and those who
make use of
its products to
become more
involved and
assist in the
shaping of the
Nico Pienaar, director at
industry to
Aspasa.
meet future
challenges.
“We want to be proactive and ensure
everybody in the surface mining value
chain is directly involved in shaping the
industry of tomorrow. As an industry we
obviously rely heavily on suppliers and
want to encourage healthy two-way co-
operation that can improve and support
our members’ efforts,” says Aspasa director,
Nico Pienaar.
operation ramps up towards the
planned throughput of 500 000tpm.
FWGR is located in the West Rand of
Johannesburg.
Final commissioning of FWGR
Phase 1 is expected before the end of
the current financial year.
South African coal mining company
Wescoal recently announced that it
will acquire the assets, liabilities and
employees of the Arnot coal mine in
Mpumalanga from Exxaro in partnership
with Innovators Resources (IR).
The shareholders of IR are previous
employees of ECM who were retrenched
during the shutdown in December 2015.
Their initiative to restart the Arnot
Mine and unlock its value created the
opportunity for Wescoal to become a
50% partner.
According to Wescoal the transaction
will enable development of coal reserves
that would have been sterilised by the
mine closure process. Arnot Mine is
adjacent to the Arnot Power Station
and coal can be delivered to the power
station through a conveyer belt, resulting
in a cost-competitive advantage
with minimum carbon emissions
environmental impact.
Stockpiled coal at Arnot, in which junior mining company Wescoal is now a partner.
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