West Wits Mining (ASX: WWI) has received positive results from the Independent Scoping Study by mining consultants Bara Consulting on its Witwatersrand Basin Project South Africa, confirming the development pathway to advance rapidly with the commencement of a BFS.
The Independent Scoping Study by Bara is underpinned by the WBP’s 3.65Moz Au JORC Resource which covers the Project footprint and the K9A exploration target which forms part of the Kimberley East Underground target.
The study identifies five distinct reef packages to develop mining operations. The combination of these five mining operations was in the previous phase of the mine’s life some 20 years ago producing around 80koz-100koz Au per annum.
However, due to expected constraints in re-opening old shafts the Independent Scoping Study has concluded that the refurbished operations will achieve something moderately less than past production rate. Further details will be provided in due course upon completion of the outstanding resource studies currently underway.
The Qala Shallows and Qala Deeps areas still have extensive life left and will form the backbone of the Project. The other areas of operation will supplement additional tonnes through the Qala operations mine life.
The initial target for development consists of the Kimberley Reef package above 500m depth at the Kimberley East Underground target which is made up of up to 17 individual conglomerate bands. Previous mining and WWI’s exploration to date has targeted the K9A & K9B bands however there is further exploration upside with potential access to additional bands via proposed mine infrastructure.
The Qala Shallows was operational when the historical mine closed in the early 2000’s. The scoping study proposes development via the refurbishment of the existing adit which is anticipated to include trackless
haulage and would require significantly lower CAPEX compared to constructing an incline shaft with winder.
I’m very pleased with the results of the Scoping Study which has provided motivation to proceed to commission the BFS on the initial underground target area on the Kimberley Reef package,” Managing Director, Jac van Heerden, said.
“This area will be accessed by the existing Qala Adit and only requires low CAPEX to refurbish for operations. WWI’s exploration team has also significantly advanced the resource definition process for the Kimberley Reefs which will support the BFS.
“The Board looks forward to announcing the exploration results which are expected to be available for release in September 2020.
“The Scoping Study provides a clear pathway to monetise the mineral resource, which is robust in terms of tonnes and grade.
“The Project’s strength is only further enhanced by the current gold price with the South African Rand price at record highs.”