TSX-V-listed junior Galane Gold has placed the material orders required for upgrading the processing plant that will bring back to life the Galaxy gold mine, situated near Barberton in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province.
Galane has refurbished the existing 15 000 t/m processing plant at Galaxy and will upgrade the plant capacity to 30 000 t/m.
The upgrades include a new jaw and cone crusher, which will be able to crush up to 90 t/h. Orders have also been placed for a reconditioned ball mill and for concentration filtration equipment.
Once known as the Agnes mine, Galaxy is a century old operation, which Galane will bring back in to operation by March next year, with an aim of producing 25 000 oz/y at a cash cost of $800/oz.
The Galaxy restart is being funded through a $5-million loan from Barak Fund.
The company reported on Monday that preparation for mining had started and that the contractor had mobilised to site to start development and first fit work required to resume underground operations in the New Year.
“The work done by Galane while Galaxy was in care and maintenance has resulted in a detailed scope of work for the plant upgrade, which we have had verified by independent third parties. Galane has also followed the same process for the restart of underground operations.
“This represents only the first step of our resurrection of the Galaxy mine and we will shortly commence a study with the aim being to double production and lower the all-in cost as a result of increased economies of scale,” commented Galane CEO Nick Brodie.
The company, which is also quoted on the Botswana Stock Exchange, operates the Mupane mine in Botswana.