AMN - SOUTH AFRICA – West Wits adds 428,000 ounces to WBP

West Wits Mining has added 428,000 ounces to gold resources at the Witwatersrand Basin Project (WBP) in South Africa. The updated resource estimate for the K9B conglomerate band has taken overall WBP resources to 3.67 million ounces of gold.

About 65%, or 2.4 million ounces, of this is within the measured and indicated categories, and further resource estimates are expected to add to the bounty.

K9B is one of several gold mineralised reefs in Kimberley Reef, which forms part of the Kimberley East project.

West Wits is planning for this project to be the first underground target of operations upon granting of the mining right, which is expected in the June quarter of 2019.

The estimate was updated after a data capturing and validation process that included historical underground mining data as well as surface diamond drilling that was completed in 2009.

It captures historical mining and surface data that has been subjected to modern estimation techniques to create domains of higher grade ‘pay shoots’ and lower grade ‘overbank’ areas.

These are interpreted to result from the primary geological features of the reef and allow for the identification of large high-grade areas that will be targeted for underground production.

Work will now begin on a resource estimate for K9A, another gold-bearing conglomerate reef in the Kimberley Reef package and which sits about 20-30 metres above K9B.

Previous mining of K9A and K9B shows that both ore bodies can be developed and mined simultaneously using essentially the same infrastructure.

Company chairman Michael Quinert said: “The board is pleased to announce the continued growth of our Witwatersrand Basin Project through the solid work of our geology team.

“The board’s goal is to continue exploration work to further grow WWI’s resource and obtain the two applied for mining permits.

“A solid recovery in gold production from the Kimberley Central Open Pit for May-June should underpin the necessary cash flow to continue funding project development as WWI prepares to scale up production over the balance of the year.”

Management is also focusing on expediting mining permit and mining rights applications with South African regulatory bodies which, upon approval, will dramatically increase production.

WBP comprises two historic mining centres, Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD) and Rand Leases, within the Witwatersrand Basin.

Gold has been mined from these areas since 1886 with up to seven different gold-bearing conglomerate horizons mined down to 3,100 metres. Total production for the combined DRD and Rand Leases areas was in excess of 40 million ounces at grades exceeding 5 g/t gold.

Harmony Gold Mining reported production of 86,000 ounces of gold for the 2017 financial year at its Doornkop mine, which is adjacent to WBP’s western boundary.

Gold mineralisation within the WBP is part of the Central Rand Goldfield hosted by the Witwatersrand Supergroup sediments. This goldfield, which is south of Johannesburg, has been host to one of the most extensive gold reserves in the world and between 1897 and 2000 about 290 million ounces were extracted.

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