Number-two African gold producer Gold Fields and its bigger competitor, AngloGold Ashanti, have decided against partnering to exploit their West Wits surface uranium and gold assets, but the smaller firm might build its own processing plant, new CEO Nick Holland stated on Friday.

Holland said that his company was conducting a pilot study on treating these slimes dams and whether it could justify building a dedicated plant there.

"If those tests prove positive, we could commission that into a project," Holland told Mining Weekly Online.

"It would almost be like adding a new mine into the group, so it's quite exciting," he enthused.

Holland further added that the "beauty" of such a project was that the resources were on the surface. This removed the significant safety risks of typical underground gold mining in South Africa, and also did not require nearly as much power.

Indeed, these were two positives, given the current operating environment for the local gold sector, which has been dogged by safety shutdowns and power restrictions.

"We've actually had discussions with AngloGold Ashanti about cooperation on an integrated basis on the West Wits, and because of the differences in our tailings, we've decided that it's probably not going to be worthwhile to cooperate on this," Holland said after his maiden results presentation as Gold Fields CEO, previously having served as CFO.

However, he did not completely preclude the possibility of partnering in the future to exploit these resources.

"We have been in discussions with them, and if the situation changed, I'd be more than happy to cooperate with AngloGold, I have no issues with that whatsoever."

AngloGold CEO Mark Cutifani said earlier this week that the company could "monetise" its West Wits dumps through either a sale or a joint venture (JV).

There has been a fair amount of activity involving uranium-bearing mine dumps west of Johannesburg, with TSX- and JSE-listed First Uranium, newly formed Rand Uranium, and DRDGold and Mintails' West Wits JV all developing their interests there.

Meanwhile, at Gold Fields' Beisa mine, in the Free State, which also had significant uranium potential, Holland said that there was value to be captured, but that no decisions had been taken on how.

"We're still looking for ways to best monetise that particular asset," he stated. "But, certainly there is value inherent there that's not in our share price, that we need to capture."

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