The pioneers who mined the Witwatersrand Gold Basin so many years ago were so spoilt for choice that they just chased the obvious rich orebodies, which resulted in the South African economy rocketing and major cities like Johannesburg being developed.
It also resulted in very deep mines. But the good news is that there are also shallow deposits that the majors have spurned but on which the juniors can thrive. The company Shallow Reefs Gold is blazing an interesting new trail in the Wits. Built will be mines and not plants, owing to the surplus of plant capacity available in the Wits.
There is also no need to build tailings dams as the tailings material generated is wanted by established surface mining concerns. The time is right to take advantage of the bullish precious metals investor base that is keen to fund low-cost gold projects. Wonderfully, Shallow Reefs Gold is already finding new high-grade mineralisation that the old-timers failed to spot.