Mine excursion
and planned to send their ore to the
Randfontein plant.
But before they could, Bernard
Swanepoel and Harmony won a hostile
bid for Randfontein Estates and, as
a result, sterilised the Durban Deep
footprint, since Swanepoel’s processing
plants, only 7km away, were off-limits.
After that, DRD ventured into all
sorts of exotic destinations to save
face, but failed dismally. Eventually,
a lawyer from the small Free State
town of Philippolis took the reins,
sold all DRD’s underground mines,
and transformed the company into the
most efficient surface mining operation
in the world.
Neil Pretorius is probably another
name that will be remembered long
after all the mine dumps on the
Rand have disappeared. Pretorius
has extensive knowledge of the
Johannesburg area, but most of all,
knows how to negotiate the harsh legal
battlefield that companies like West
Wits often face when attempting to
mine what is left of the reef. Pretorius
sits on the West Wits board.
West Wits has encountered fierce
opposition from various quarters in
the area. Quinert and his team deny
allegations of blasting, dust, and noise.
In fact, they have brought in new
equipment, called Xcentric Rippers, to
replace drilling and blasting.
Joburg – a stunning goldfield
“We see the area as terribly
neglected, and mining can be a
constructive process to assist with
that,” says Quinert, adding that it is
a misconception that the gold in the
Witwatersrand is mined out.
“If we look at it in comparison to
what we have in Australia, and other
areas that we have operated in, this is a
stunning goldfield,” he says. More than
40% of all the world gold, ever, has
been produced within the boundaries
of the city of Johannesburg.
Although most traditional mining
companies have moved out of the
area, Quinert believes there is a lot
of gold left. And he is not alone: a
group of geologists has just rethought
the formation of the Witwatersrand
goldfields, and they are convinced that
the best is ye t to come.
“We have gone down to 400m over
most of the area; in some cases, we
have opened up the surface to greater
depths. But by using a shallow mining
approach with conventional methods,
we have delivered a JORC Resource
of 3.7-million ounces at 3.6 grams per
tonne. There are mines in Australia
raising money with about half of that
resource,” says Quinert.
The two historical mines that
constitute the West Wits area, Durban
Roodepoort Deep and Rand Leases
(called the Soweto Cluster), have
produced more gold than Kalgoorie,
the flagship of Australian gold mining.
The old mines in South Africa kept
immaculate records, and it is this data
that provided most of the information
necessary for West Wits to make a
viable case. However, the company
spent a lot of money on drilling when
they brought in Australian geologists
eight years ago and is still using some
of that information. Those geologists
were highly paid, though, and also lived
Ever since West Wits started mining the
Kimberley Reef, they have moved more
than 1.5 million tonnes of material.
OCTOBER 2018 MINING MIRROR
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