The Middelvlei Gold Project
The Middelvlei Gold project presents a unique opportunity where there are a number of economic reef packages available for development at very shallow depths. The initial program will see the development of a series of open pits, leading to the potential development of a decline to the south where the reef packages continue at depth, into the historic Venterspost mine.
The mine is situated within the West Rand Goldfield some 35km west of Johannesburg, close to the town of Randfontein. The project abuts the Venterspost underground mine to the south and to the east the Cooke 1 and 2 mines previously operated by Sibanye-Stillwater. View Map >
Scheduled to begin production in H2 2019, the Middelvlei Gold project has measured, indicated and inferred resources of 1.66 Moz of gold.
The Middelvlei 3D sectional geological model shows the various shallow reef packages available for mining on the West Rand, ranging from surface to around 1,000 meters below surface. Historically, Black Reef was extracted by open pit mining techniques. The Black Reef (BR), Middelvlei Reef (MVR) and Ventersdorp Contact Reef (VCR) are available for open pit mining. Subject to confirmatory drilling, BR, MVR, VCR and Carbon Leader (CL) present very attractive targets for shallow underground mining.
Shallow flat dipping BR and the outcropping MVR and VCR deposits present shallow open pit mining opportunities. Following the extraction of the near surface reefs, the continuation of mineralization could be extracted by shallow underground mining. Further, the presence of the Carbon Leader (reef) at depth could significantly extend mine life. Confirmatory exploration drilling is required to define the geological model and advance future mine planning.