ABOUT MINTAILS
Mintails Limited's (ASX:MLI) name is a direct description of its underlying activities, which are the development, processing and production of gold and potentially uranium and sulphuric acid from "mining tailings" located on the West and East Rand areas of the Witwatersrand Basin, near Johannesburg, South Africa. Apart from its 100% owned Mogale Projects on the West Rand Mintails also holds a 50% interest in the ERGO Mines Joint Venture with DRDGold Limited in respect to substantial tailings resources located on the East Rand. The ERGO JV owns the rights to process over 1.5 billion tonnes of tailings materials on the East Rand.
Gold mining first commenced in the Witwatersrand Basin in 1886 and has since produced over 50,000 tonnes (1.7 billion ounces) of gold. This represents over 40% of the world's gold production. The massive multi-million tonne tailings deposits, which line the outskirts of Johannesburg, are the remnants of over a century of deep underground and open cast mining.
Mintails through a merger with Skeat Gold Mining (Pty) Ltd (SGM) in December 2006 acquired the two gold and uranium processing plants which constituted the former tailings reclamation operation, ERGO (the former AngloGold Ashanti owned East Rand Gold and Uranium Operations). ERGO was at the time of operation the world's largest gold and uranium tailings operation, located on the Witswatersrand Basin. The major portion of these assets now form the ERGO Mining Joint Venture project with DRDGold Limited.
MOGALE PROJECTS
The Mogale Projects comprise:
- The Mogale Gold Sand Treatment Plant
- The planned Mogale Gold Slime Circuit - Phase 1
- The Mogale FUG (Floation, Uranium, Gold) Project (pre-feasibility stage) - Mogale Slime Phase 2
- Witfontein Regional Tailings Facility
- 322mt of JORC classified resources
- Prospecting Rights Conversion Applications, Surface Right Permits
- West Wits Pit Deposition Site
- Luipaardsvlei Estates - approx. 700 hectares of freehold title land.
ERGO Mining Joint Venture ("ERGO JV")
The ERGO Mining Joint Venture was formed in November 2007 between Mintails and DRDGold Limited on a 50/50 basis. The ERGO Mining JV comprises:
- Approximately 1.5 billion tonnes of tailing materials containing gold, uranium and sulphur
- The ERGO Mining operating plant. This was the former AngloGold Ashanti Brakpan plant. The first of the CIL circuits was refurbished and commissioned and will be operated for the benefit of DRDGold to treat 171m tonnes of gold tailings from the Elsburg Tailings complex. These tailings also contain JORC Classified Uranium of some 14.9 million lbs and 1.76m tonnes of Sulphur. Mintails, through its 50% stake in the ERGO JV retains the benefit of these resources.
- Mintails and DRDGold are jointly undertaking evaluation and feasibility work on the remainder of the 1.5 billion tonnes of tailings to determine the best method for commercial exploitation.
