JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – JSE-listed gold and uranium producer Simmer & Jack (Simmers) produced 48 298 oz, or 1 502 kg of gold in the fourth quarter, compared with 51 879 oz, or 1 614 kg reported in the third quarter, the company reported on Tuesday.

The 7% reduction was primarily owing to its  subsidiary First Uranium’s decision to focus on the completion of the rehabilitation work at the Ezulwini mine, in South Africa. However, the company saw the rehabilitation work as an important milestone, as it allowed the shaft to become available for full use of underground mining and development activities, going forward.

Simmers reported that of the 48 298 oz produced in the quarter, 41 194 oz was attributable to Simmers, compared with 44 733 oz attributable in the third quarter.

The company attributed the 8% reduction in attributable production to its shareholding in First Uranium declining from 62,3% to 41,0% during the final quarter.

For the 2009 financial year, the group produced 183 036 oz of gold, a 9% increase on the 167 912 oz produced during 2008. The 129 376 oz produced by Simmers’ wholly-owned gold operations was 4% below the planned 135 000 oz for the year.

Production at Simmers’ Buffelsfontein Gold Mine (BGM) was largely steady quarter-on-quarter, despite losing three shifts in January as a result of the extended Christmas break. The total of 29 743 oz produced in the fourth quarter was consistent with previous guidance of between 29 500 oz and 31 000 oz.

Year-on-year, BGM’s production output fell by 3%, reflecting the challenge faced by the mine to create sufficient face length at, or above, its average reserve grade. The completion of the rehabilitation of the high-grade number five shaft was expected to redress this issue going forward.

Safety issues also affected BGM’s potential to deliver the 122 000 oz as per the 2009 financial year mine plan.

A fatal accident in August resulted in the closure of the high-grade number two shaft for two weeks. Thereafter, production at the shaft was limited to 30% of planned output for the remainder of the third quarter to accommodate the implementation of additional support elements in pillar areas.

The number two shaft only resumed operating at full capacity in January. These additional safety measures have resulted in a reduction of BGM’s fatality rate from 0,17 in 2008 to 0,07 in 2009, compared with the South African gold mining industry average of 0,25.

Simmers expects to produce between 30 200 oz and 31 200 oz at BGM during the first quarter of the 2010 financial year, despite the short month of April, which had only 18 operating days owing to public holidays.

At the Transvaal Gold Mining Estate (TGME) gold production was up 29% quarter-on-quarter. Although an improvement, the 3 862 oz produced were below the guidance of between 4 400 oz and 5 000 oz for the quarter.

This, in turn, had affected the annual target, which was 2 030 oz short of the 13 000 target oz in the 2009 financial year production profile, the company reported.

It attributed the lower output to a six-month hiatus between the awarding of the mining right at Elandsdrift in March 2008, and the issuing of the water licence in October 2008.

Simmers reported that had the start of heap leach activities at Elandsdrift not been delayed by the water licence, between 1 930 oz and 2 250 oz of gold would have been added to TGME’s production profile.                    

The underground production at Frankfort was constrained by a geological thrust fault which eliminated the reef in the Frankfort A block, resulting in a loss of planned available face length in the last two quarters of the 2009 financial year.

This necessitated moving the production crews to the Frankfort B Block and the fast-tracking of the planned redevelopment of the Theta mine, which was achieved in less than two months. As a result of these interventions, TGME expected to increase production in the first quarter of the 2010 financial year to between 4 400 oz  and 4 700 oz.