JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – As dual-listed Central Rand Gold (CRG) ramps up the processing of gold-bearing ore under a joint venture (JV) tolling agreement, the group is in talks for further opportunities for a target tailings deposit.

The group on Monday said it was in discussions with the owner of an undisclosed target tailings deposit near CRG’s metallurgical plant and was contemplating a transaction structure to operate its current tolling JV and the target tailings deposit concurrently.

CRG expects to announce the final commercial terms of the target tailings deposit agreement and the results of testwork undertaken imminently.

Meanwhile, CRG’s tolling JV partner is delivering on average 5 000 t/w of gold-bearing ore to the metallurgical plant, steadily increasing until the end of September when the average processing rate of 19 000 t/m is expected to be achieved.

Survey, sampling and metallurgical testwork conducted on the rock dump sourced by the third-party supplier indicates an average head grade of 1.8 g/t with no contaminants identified.

Further, the results indicate that there are some six-million tonnes of gold-bearing material in the ore supplier’s rock dump, which will be processed under the tolling JV.

“The company is working closely with the tolling JV partner regarding the identification and sourcing of appropriate gold-bearing material for treatment through the company’s metallurgical plant,” the company said.

Meanwhile, CRG extended the first maturity date of half the $7.25-million loan notes and the first expiry date of less than half of the 27-million warrants in a 2013 agreement with Redstone Capital to October 31.

Some $3.5-million of the loan notes and interest outstanding totalling $180 000 were due to mature, and 13-million associated warrants were due to expire, on August 19, three years after their issue.

The remaining $3.75-million of the loan notes and interest outstanding totalling $190 000 are due to mature, and 14-million associated warrants are due to expire, on December 6.

The extension will enable CRG to progress its capital raising workstream.

In addition, CRG announced that it was in discussions with an existing substantial shareholder over a $4-million investment proposal, along with another shareholder that had expressed interest in providing interim debt or equity funding to the company.