JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed Central Rand Gold (CRG) on Wednesday announced that its new Mill 3 had been installed within budget and has started operations. 

Mill 3 was a 9 ft X 10 ft ball mill fitted with rubber liners. Predictive mill modelling indicated a throughput capability of 17 t/h, which, when combined with the company’s two existing ball mills, would increase CRG’s capacity by at least 55% to 25 000 t/m, which was in line with current mining production.

The installation of Mill 3 would significantly reduce the current pressure on the company’s existing milling circuit. It was also expected that the increased milling capacity and availability would reduce CRG’s reliance of external tolling, which would improve revenue generation and operating margins.

“I am delighted with the advancements we have made on the milling units. In particular, I am extremely proud of the Mill 3 installation. To deliver such an important project on time, within budget and with limited input from external advisers is fantastic. The team has shown a lot of skill, discipline and ingenuity in delivering this project. This performance is something we will look to replicate and build on as we continue to improve the rest of the operation,” CRG CEO Johan du Toit commented.

In addition to the installation of Mill 3, CRG had also, in January this year, initiated a proactive refurbishment and maintenance programme on its existing mills with the objective of improving productivity and increasing mill availability.

The maintenance programme had enabled the company to migrate from a reactive maintenance strategy where items were replaced post breakage to a proactive maintenance strategy, where components are closely monitored and repaired or replaced before breakages, or failures occur.

“Although the maintenance programme is a long-term initiative, results recorded over the last two months have been positive, with a significant increase in milling unit availabilities being recorded since inception,” CRG said.

ACID MINE DRAINAGE
CRG on Wednesday also announced that the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority had, on May 23, started pumping and treatment operations at the Central basin high-density sludge (HDS) plant.

The HDS plant would initially treat 63-million litres of acid mine water a day, with full capacity of 84-million litres a day to be reached by the end of this month.

Once at full capacity, the HDS plant will be able to reduce the water levels within the Central basin.

“With the current water level at about 175 m below surface level at our mining operations, the dewatering will give mines such as ours significantly improved access to deeper mining levels,” CRG said.