JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed DRDGold on Wednesday announced that Malaysian exploration company OroTree had elected not to exercise an option to acquire the mining infrastructure assets to access the deep underground ounces of the historical East Rand Proprietary Mines (ERPM) gold mine in Boksburg.
OroTree, which acquired the mining rights and prospecting right in February, had until June 30 to exercise the option to acquire the infrastructure assets.
As a result of declining to do so, owner DRDGold, now a mine dump recycling company on both the East and the West Rand, will not receive the $10.3-million, less a nonrefundable fee of $500 000, as purchase consideration for the infrastructure assets.
The 125-year-old underground Witwatersrand basin operation, to the east of Johannesburg, once employed 3 850 people, but closed in 2008, when, according to Wikipedia, it was the deepest mine in the world at 3 585 m depth.
Historical gold production between 1896 and 2008 was 43-million ounces at recovered gold grade of 8.1 g/t and 95% plant recovery.
Wikipedia states that a high-grade gold deposit remains with compliant in situ resources of 63-million ounces, including a measured and indicated content of 13.6-million ounces at 6.7 g/t and inferred resources of 50-million ounces at 4.92 g/t.
Its once very substantial Cason mine dump has already been largely recycled.