JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Department of Water Affairs (DWS) has approved amendments to dual-listed DRDGold’s integrated water-use licence to enable the capacity increase of Ergo Mining’s Brakpan tailings deposition facility (TDF).
The amendments enabled DRDGold to incorporate the bulk of the Withok tailings facility into the refurbished TDF, taking the overall capacity from 200-million tonnes to about 800-million tonnes – enough to receive most of the mine waste tailings in and around Johannesburg, the company said in a production update to shareholders on Monday.
The TDF was used to dispose of all residues from the reprocessing of mine waste from Ergo's clean-up and reclamation sites across eastern and western Johannesburg and as a disposal facility for the DWS’s Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority’s water treatment facility, in Boksburg, where the bulk of acid mine drainage (AMD) emanating from the Central basin was treated.
“DWS’s approval not only brings DRDGold closer to a very significant increase in the life-of-mine of Ergo, but also serves as assurance of a long-term sustainable deposition site for the waste produced by the treatment of AMD,” DRDGold said.
GOLD OUTPUT
Meanwhile, DRDGold posted a 4% quarter-on-quarter hike in gold production to 1 187 kg during the third quarter of the 2016 financial year.
Total operating costs for the three months to March 31, increased 7% to just over R80/t as a result of a 7% decrease in throughput to 5.9-million tonnes.
The company attributed the lower throughput to inclement weather and several grid-related interruptions in the supply of electricity.
DRDGold ended the quarter under review with R416-million in cash and cash equivalents, compared with R254-million in the previous quarter, after paying a dividend of R51-million.