JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gold-mining junior Witwatersrand Consolidated Gold Resources (Wits Gold) said on Wednesday that it had contracted GAP Geophysics to undertake a 2-D seismic reflection survey over its Deelkraal South prospecting rights near Carletonville.

Wits Gold CEO Marc Watchorn said that the company was excited about the potential of Deelkraal South in view of previous exploration drilling that was carried out by South Africa's second-largest gold-miner Gold Fields, that also resulted in the sinking of a shaft on the property.

Sinking operations on the property to a planned depth of 1 900 m started in May 1988, but were halted in December 1990, at a depth of 1 326 m, owing to adverse market conditions.

The seismic coverage at Deelkraal South will comprise 33-km line and will extend from the southernmost Ventersdorp Contact Reef (VCR) workings at Kusasalethu to the southern boundary of Wits Gold's prospecting rights.

Watchorn said that the survey would assist the company in determining the depth and structure of the VCR within the Deelkraal South project area. "This will facilitate us in the design of a drilling programme on the property," said Watchorn.

In November 2007, an independent report on the Deelkraal South project estimated an inferred resource of 20,5-million tons at 14,6 g/t gold.

Wits Gold said that the company had already started the acquisition of seismic data this week.