As part of its strategy to sustain and grow its smelter operations, precious metals smelting and refining complex Rand Refinery is looking to the rest of Africa for feedstock, owing to the declining gold volumes in South Africa, says Rand Refinery CEO Praveen Baijnath.

During the peak of South Africa’s gold production, the smelter was fully occupied – it was designed to address the requirements of the local mines. The strategy objective is to keep the asset fully occupied through international sourcing of low grade, gold bearing materials, he explains.

The smelter processes more than 70 different types of material. It uses a pyrometallurgical process to concentrate low-grade materials into a semi-concentrated product, which is then further purified into pure elements at the main refinery.

The declining gold volumes have not really had a significant impact on the refinery operations as the company adjusted its strategy to mitigate the decline. “We have managed this by ensuring that a portion of the feedstock is sourced from international markets – African and other international mines,” Baijnath notes.

More than 50% of the feedstock is currently sourced from international markets. Should local gold volumes decrease, Rand Refinery aims to maximise and optimise the feed from international markets.

Rand Refinery believes that within the framework of Responsible Gold, there are sourcing opportunities in the rest of Africa. Baijnath mentions that the company has strong relationships with mines in East, Central and West Africa, primarily because its stakeholders have a presence in those geographies.

In terms of its fabricated products, Rand Refinery’s strategy is to ensure that it provides gold kilo bars, especially to the Indian and Chinese markets, as growth opportunities exist in those markets. A high portion of South African gold is beneficiated into Krugerrands.

Meanwhile, Rand Refinery attended the Investing in African Mining Indaba last month, held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Baijnath states that the event provided the company with a platform to meet with key stakeholders.

Rand Refinery also met with government representatives following the Indaba. The company identified opportunities in the rest of Africa and mining companies and/or governments with which it could potentially partner with to process some of the material they have, he concludes.