PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold One CEO Neal Froneman said on Wednesday said that the junior miner's spin-off plans for the Megamine project, in South Africa, were "well advanced".

Speaking to Mining Weekly Online on the sidelines of the Africa Downunder conference, in Perth, Froneman said that the company was likely to make an announcement regarding the spin-off during the next quarter.

"The Megamine project is unlikely to get any traction on the ASX, so we are looking at a JSE-listed vehicle," Froneman said.

He noted that capital raising would not be an issue during the spin-off, so it was unlikely that Gold One would undertake an initial public offering (IPO).

"It's not specifically going to be an IPO, but the IPO is an option. However, there are existing vehicles that are making a lot of sense. So we will keep an open mind."

The Megamine project hosts an estimated six-million ounces of Gold One's 13-million-ounce gold resource, and incorporates the consolidated areas in the vicinity of the three former gold mines of Spaarwater, Vlakfontein and West Vlakfontein.

However, Froneman noted that some portions of the Megamine resource were deeper, and thus more risky, than Gold One's current strategy provided for.

"It is probably a medium-risk project, so it deserves to be developed outside of Gold One. And, as an underground mine, it is very viable," he added.

Meanwhile, Froneman said that the prefeasibility study of the Ventersburg gold project, in the Free State province, would be completed by early next year.

He also added that a "significant" resource upgrade was expected for the Ventersburg project later this month, following expanded resource exploration in the area.

The Ventersburg project currently has a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant indicated resource of 8,73-million tons, at an average grade of 5,12 g/t gold, for 1,44-million ounces of gold, as well as an additional 13,48-million tons, for around 1,84-million ounces in the inferred category.

Froneman told Mining Weekly Online that the Ventersburg project was likely to start production by 2015.

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