Name of the Project
Far West Gold Recoveries (FWGR) project.

Location
Gauteng, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
DRDGOLD’s acquisition of Sibanye-Stillwater’s (Sibanye’s) West Rand Tailings Retreatment Project (WRTRP) assets was finalised on July 31, 2018. Following the successful implementation of the transaction between the two companies, Sibanye owned 38.05% of the issued share capital of DRDGOLD.

Under the terms of the transaction, entered into in November 2017, Sibanye agreed to exchange selected surface-gold processing assets and tailings storage facilities (TSFs) for shares in DRDGOLD.

Sibanye also had an option to subscribe for further shares in DRDGOLD within 24 months at a 10% discount. In January 2020, Sibanye exercised this option, obtaining a 50.1% controlling interest in DRDGOLD.

Project Description
FWGR is being rolled out in a phased approach.

Phase 1 included early-stage production, involving upgrading the Driefontein 2 plant to process tailings from the Driefontein 5 dump at between 400 000 t  and 600 000 t a month, depositing the residue on the Driefontein 4 tailings dam, which was upgraded to a cyclone deposition dam to cater for the higher throughput.

Phase 2 envisages the construction of a high-volume central processing plant capable of processing between 1.2-million and 2.4-million tonnes a month, the continued use of Driefontein 2 plant at an increased 600 000 t a month, and the development of a new regional TSF capable of receiving up to three-million tonnes a month to a capacity of about 800-million tonnes.

In this phase, reclamation will initially be from the Driefontein 3, Libanon and Kloof 1 dumps, and then from the Ventersdorp North and South dumps. The scale of the infrastructure established in this phase will allow for reclamation from other sources in the region. The objective is to clean up the regional landscape by reprocessing tailings that are currently on dolomite, and redepositing reclaimed material onto a properly designed and managed megadam, thereby reversing the potential pollution of underground water in the region.

Phase 2 is expected to extend the life of the operation to 20 years and beyond and good progress has been made in advancing this phase, with DRDGOLD well into the planning and permit application processes.

As an alternative to Phase 2, or if Phase 2 is delayed, Phase 1 can be extended by extending deposition onto the Driefontein 4 tailings dam, owing to the good cyclone splits being achieved at the Driefontein 4 tailings dam. Envisaged is the treatment of the remaining tonnes from Driefontein 5 and then processing material from Driefontein 3.

Potential Job Creation
Since its inception, FWGR has secured employment for more than 100 employees and is committed to its environmental, social and governance mandate, as well as social upliftment programmes, in the Far West Rand area of operations. With the implementation of Phase 2 and extended life-of-mine, more opportunities are expected to create DRDGOLD’s value creation narrative.

Capital Expenditure
DRDGOLD invested R330-million of capital in Phase 1.

The cost of Phase 2 will depend on whether DRDGOLD chooses to build a second plant and TSF or to expand the existing facilities.

Planned Start/End Date
Phase 1 commercial production began within eight months of the acquisition, on April 1, 2019, and made its maiden full 12-month contribution to DRDGOLD’s financial results in the 2020 financial year.

Detailed design of the planned new processing plant will start in this financial quarter and will be undertaken by DRA Global.

Construction of Phase 2 is planned to be completed by 2024/5, provided the requisite amendments to existing regulatory approvals are obtained, the gold market remains favourable and an investment climate prevails that is conducive to long-term investment on this scale.

Latest Developments
A new R12-million copper elution circuit at the FWGR surface retreatment operation is expected to deliver an additional 1.2 kg to 1.8 kg of gold a month that would otherwise have been lost to refining charges.

FWGR is retreating material reclaimed from the Driefontein  5 dam. The material reclaimed contains high levels of copper that competes with gold and co-adsorbs onto activated carbon. Copper and gold are removed from the carbon and subsequently recovered together in the electrowinning process.

Consequently, gold purity in the bullion has been low, owing to high levels of copper. Copper in bullion incurs penalty charges of between 1% and 5% at refinery level, where FWGR has been allocated 98%, on average, of its gold production in the past, with 2% lost to refining charges.

To remedy this situation, FWGR conducted testwork to determine how to reduce the copper levels in its bullion. This testwork indicated that up to 74% copper could be desorbed from carbon without significantly desorbing gold.

Further, it showed that, if FWGR was to achieve bullion purities above 60%, the refinery’s gold allocation increase from 98% to 99.5%.

This led to the construction and commissioning of the copper elution circuit to improve FWGR’s payable gold content.  Construction began in January 2021, commissioning in May and steady state operation was achieved in June.

The initial plant results show that, on average, 69% of the copper is stripped from the loaded carbon. The first smelt contained mostly copper-eluted carbon and yielded a gold purity of 48.76%, compared with the previous five smelts, which averaged 33.64%.

The second smelt yielded a 50% purity, with a 99% payable content, and the third smelt achieved a 53.6% purity, again achieving 99% payable content. The goal is to reach 60%, at which point FWGR will receive 99.5% payable content, the company has said.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
R&A Strategic Communications James Duncan, on behalf of DRDGOLD, tel +27 11 880 3924, fax +27 11 880 3788 or email james@rasc.co.za.