Name of the Project
Elikhulu tailings retreatment plant project.

Location
The project is located at Evander mines, in Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
Pan African Resources and Evander Gold Mines.

Project Description
Elikhulu comprises a technologically advanced, automated plant with a minimal labour requirement.

The Elikhulu tailings plant project entailed establishing facilities and infrastructure at Evander Gold Mines to retreat gold plant tailings at one-million tonnes a month. This is in addition to the existing production from the Evander tailings retreatment plant (ETRP), which has been incorporated into the Elikhulu plant, and which processed about 200 000 t/m of tailings.

The Elikhulu plant processes up to 1.2-million tonnes a month of historical tailings from the three existing slimes dams at Kinross, Leslie/Bracken and Winkelhaak to produce about 70 000 oz/y of gold.

The Elikhulu project uses a conventional carbon-in-leach circuit with an additional pre-oxidation process.

The Elikhulu project has an expected life-of-mine (LoM) of 12 years.

Potential Job Creation
Elikhulu´s construction phase employed more than 1 700 people and will directly employ more than 400 permanent employees and contractors during its LoM.

Capital Expenditure
The initial project capital for Elikhulu is estimated at R1.74-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
The project broke ground in July 2017, had its first gold pour in August 2018 and was commissioned ahead of schedule in September 2018.

Latest Developments
Pan African has approved the development of a solar photovoltaic (PV) plant at Elikhulu, following the finalisation of a positive bankable feasibility study undertaken by independent consultants Arup.

The solar PV plant will initially provide up to 30% of Elikhulu’s yearly power requirements and aims to reduce the operation’s dependency on the national grid, while also reducing exposure to yearly power cost increases, which are above inflation.

The investment will promote a more sustainable renewable-energy solution for South Africa’s green economy and reduce Elikhulu’s carbon footprint. The solar PV plant is expected to generate electricity at a much lower cost than electricity provided by State-owned power utility Eskom.

The plant has an expected minimum life of 20 years. Additional positive environmental and social aspects include the generation of carbon credits and job creation within the local communities. Pan African reports in its 2020 Integrated Report that this investment in renewable energy will result in improved efficiencies, a further reduction in operating costs and the long-term sustainability of Elikhulu.

The engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the solar plant has been awarded to an independent contractor and Pan African is finalising the necessary legal and contractual agreements, as well as raising dedicated funding for the solar plant

Key Contracts, Suppliers or Consultants
DRA Projects (feasibility study, detailed design and construction supervision service) and Fraser Alexander (remining contract).

Contact Details for Project Information
Pan African Resources project lead Jonathan Irons, tel +27 11 243 2900 or fax +27 11 880 1240.
Aprio Strategic Communications Public and Investor Relations on behalf of Pan African Resources, Julian Gwillim, tel +27 11 880 0037.