Having strengthened its relationship with key potential joint venture (JV) partners and investors, particularly at the 2014 Investing in African Mining Indaba, at this year’s indaba, mineral explorer and developer White Rivers Exploration (WRE) will further promote its diversified mineral project pipeline and establish contacts in the investment community for a potential public listing in 2015.

“The indaba remains a key networking event for explorers, developers and operational mining industries based in Africa. “The advancement of many projects within the company’s 12 project portfolios during 2014 will also enable WRE to review its commercialisation strategy going forward,” WRE executive chairperson Neil Warburton tells Mining Weekly.

The company’s main focus is gold and the Beisa project, in the Free State, which it owns jointly with gold major Harmony Gold, is its priority project, he highlights, noting that the company estimates that a multimillion-ounce Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant gold resource will be established this year. Warburton believes this will lead to successful mining studies.

The Beisa JV project is located next to Harmony’s Target gold mine, in the Witwatersrand basin, with the area containing multiple gold reefs that have been intersected by previous drilling, the company reports.

The Target mine lies adjacent to Beisa and has one operating mine and two additional shafts – Target 2 and Target 3 – which are currently on care and maintenance. Ore is presently processed at the Target plant adjacent to the Target 1 shaft. The Target 2 shaft is close to the Beisa potential gold resources and is currently used only for ventilation and as a secondary escape shaft. Existing underground development from the Target 2 shaft has exposed high-grade gold reefs in the JV area.

At the Target 1 operations, mechanised and conventional mining occurs on the Basal, Elsburg and Dreyerskraal reefs, with mining operations extending to a depth of about 2 350 m, while the Target mine contains total gold resources of 11.2-million ounces, producing 5 593 kg of gold during the 2013 financial year.

“This JV effectively gives access to Harmony’s Target mine’s infrastructure once a bankable feasibility study is completed on developing and mining the gold resources located on the JV tenements,” Warburton reiterates, adding that WRE is 65% the equity owner and the sole funder of the JV up to prefeasibility stage.

He told Mining Weekly in September that the exploration JV “has the potential to position WRE as a substantial gold miner”, with the company “considering funding options as the venture progresses, including potential listings on the Johannesburg and the London stock exchanges”.

Other company achievements include establishing and confirming large thermal coal resources on several projects, as well as acquiring additional prospective tenements for gold, coal, coal-bed methane and manganese.

Additional WRE projects include the Western Margin Gap gold project, the Vredefort north-east thermal coal project, as well as the Recent Placer manganese and the Kroonstad coal-bed methane projects.

The Western Margin Gap gold project, located north of the Beisa JV, entails a potential underground operation with multiple reefs, the company states, noting that miner AngloVaal in 1997 declared an inferred resource of 35.34-million ounces for its Oribi and Sun North projects, abutting on the White Rivers project area, while Village Main Reef’s Goedgenoeg and Jonkerskraal projects and miner Taung Gold’s Bothaville project are in close proximity.

The Recent Placer project includes prospecting rights for gold, alluvial diamonds, iron, manganese and uranium ore, while adjacent infrastructure comprises the historic Holfontein diamond pits that extend into the project, with the Drylands opencast gold mine also in close proximity.

Gold Focus
Having attended the indaba since 2011, WRE will not only attend the event as delegates, but also host a booth for the first time at this year’s indaba, which is taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from February 9 to 12.

Warburton notes that key speakers and discussions between large gold miners, including the World Gold Council panel on responsible gold mining and the discussion of value distribution in Africa, will be important for the gold industry.

Key speakers on gold mining at the indaba will include Harmony Gold CEO Graham Briggs, Randgold Resources CEO Mark Bristow and B2Gold CEO Clive Johnson, while gold major AngloGold CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan will give a presentation on behalf of the gold major.

Warburton notes that the African mining sector is very much at a crossroads, as metal prices fluctuate. “Most African countries are well endowed with natural resources, but they need to ensure that the investment climate and fiscal regimes within these countries are stable and consistent to entice capital funding. “We believe South Africa has this and, with the added bonus of major infrastructure, it makes it an ideal investment destination for nimble, pragmatic mine developers like WRE,” he concludes.