The recent completion of project studies at precious metals mining company Pan African Resources’ Barberton Mines points to a potential further 15-year life-of-mine (LOM), the company reports.

The reason for the LOM extension is owing to the dumps on site, which contain more than 12-million tons of material at a grade of 1.47 g/t. Recoveries in excess of 55% have been reported.

“Pan African has been implementing a new mineral resource management system over the past two years, with a dedicated resource manager to oversee the studies,” says Pan African CEO Jan Nelson.

Nelson says the company plans to build a R225-million specialised plant to pro- cess the waste material at 1.2-million tons a year.

The full feasibility study is expected to be complete in September this year, and construction of the plant is expected to follow, with completion aimed for the end of 2012.

This project will increase Barberton’s profits by about R60-million a year, increasing its current R180-million yearly profit to R240-million a year.

Further, the company has completed a geophysical programme, surface geological mapping and is currently in the process of moving reverse circulation drill rigs on site to start drilling test holes.

The company aims to test six or seven large targets, including the southern por- tion – known as the Mira Target – of Fairview mine, which produces half of the mine’s production. Targets are being tested at Florence and Devonian, as well as at Eagle’s Nest.

Pan African is also undertaking an extensive drilling programme through sections of the existing mine operations to go further underground. Blocks opened in certain areas are recording between 130 g/t and 140 g/t of gold.

The company’s capital investment in the mines is R70-million a year, half of which is aimed at discovering new ore- bodies, says Nelson.

He adds that the company is highly optimistic about the future of the mine.

Manica Gold Project

Meanwhile, the company is completing a prefeasibility study for both an openpit mine and an underground mine, at its Manica gold project, in Mozambique.

The company recently released test results, increasing its gold resource at Manica by 16% to about three-million ounces. An independent team of six people were appointed to investigate how best to capitalise on the project.

However, Nelson explains that Manica is a challenging project, as the greenstone gold is refractory. The extraction of refractory gold requires a lot of capital invest- ment and the company wants to be certain that it has the margins in terms of payback.

He adds that the project still requires a lot of exploration to determine the best method of moving forward. “The project has not advanced as quickly as the company would have preferred. However, the prefeasibility results are expected to be released near year-end.”

Following the completion of the pre- feasibility study, trial mining should start in line with the feasibility study. As there is already infrastructure, such as electricity, water and tarred roads, an openpit mine could be started within six months and an underground mine could be started within a year.

Pan African is also looking at other acquisitions within the gold and platinum industries.

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