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South Africa
Driefontein Mine

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 Location:
11 km N from Fochville, South Africa

  Regional Office:
Constantia Office Park Cnr 14th Avenue & Hendrik Potgieter Road Bridgeview House Ground floor
Private Bag X5 Westonaria 1780
Weltevreden Park
South Africa
1709
Phone  ...  Subscription required
Fax+27-11-278-9863
WebsiteWeb
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  • Overview
  • Owners
  • Geology
  • Mining
  • Processing
  • Production
  • Reserves
  • Costs & Financials
  • Personnel
  • Filings & News

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Overview

StageProduction
Mine TypeUnderground
Commodities
  • Gold
Mining Method
  • Breast mining
  • Pillar extraction
Processing
  • Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
  • Carbon in pulp (CIP)
  • Elution
  • Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
  • Cyanide (reagent)
Mine Life2028


Owners

 
CompanyInterestOwnership
Sibanye-Stillwater Ltd. 100 % Direct

Deposit Type

  • Sedimentary


Summary:

Driefontein is a deep level underground gold mine located along the northern and southwestern margins of the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa. This mine is typical of the many Witwatersrand Basin operations, which have been the primary contributors to South Africa’s production of a significant portion of the world’s recorded gold output since 1886.

The orebodies at Driefontein are laterally continuous with relatively long-range predictability. This lends to clear patterns of mineralisation governed by sedimentary characteristics.

The principle mining at Driefontein takes place on the Multiband Carbon Leader Reef. In most cases, the reef was deposited along a structurally controlled basin edge, which created discrete unconformable surfaces of deposition. This led to typical main channel, wide reef packages, which are generally >2m thick and bottom loaded.

The Witwatersrand Basin comprises a 6,000-meter vertical thickness of sedimentary rocks, extending laterally for some 350 kilometres northeast to southwest by some 120 kilometres northwest to southeast, generally dipping at shallow angles toward the centre of the Witwatersrand Basin. The Witwatersrand Basin outcrops at its northern extent near Johannesburg, but to the west, south and east it is overlaid by up to 4,000 meters of volcanic and sedimentary rocks. The Witwatersrand Basin is Archaean in age, meaning the sedimentary rocks are of the order of 2.8 billion years old.

Gold mineralisation occurs within laterally extensive quartz pebble conglomerate beds called reefs, which are developed above unconformable surfaces near the basin margin. As a result of faulting and primary controls on mineralisation processes, the goldfields are not continuous and are characterised by the presence or dominance of different reef units. The reefs are generally less than two meters in thickness and are widely considered to represent laterally extensive braided fluvial deposits or unconfined flow deposits, which formed along the flanks of alluvial fan systems around the edge of an inland sea. Dykes and sills of diabase or dolerite composition are developed within the Witwatersrand Basin and are associated with several intrusive and extrusive events.

Gold generally occurs in native form, often associated with pyrite, carbon and uranium. Pyrite and gold within the reefs display a variety of forms, some obviously indicative of detrital transport within the depositional system and others suggesting crystallisation within the reef itself.

As early as 1923, the presence of uranium was noted in the Witwatersrand reefs. It was found that on average the reefs contain about 0.03% uranium and as a by-product of gold relatively low uranium grades can be recovered. Notwithstanding different opinions as to the origin of the uranium in the reefs, most theories accept localisation of both gold and uranium a function of sedimentary textures. Metal concentrations are directly related to the reefs. Exploration programmes and eventual evaluation of gold and uranium according to a placer philosophy, prove to be highly successful.

The most fundamental controls of gold and uranium distribution are the primary sedimentary features such as facies variation and channel directions. Consequently, the modeling of sedimentary features within the reefs and the correlation of payable grades within certain facies is key to in situ reserve estimation, as well as effective operational mine planning and grade control.


Mining Methods

  • Breast mining
  • Pillar extraction


Summary:

Driefontein has nine shaft complexes (one tertiary shaft and three sub-shaft systems) and one mineral processing plant. Supporting infrastructure to service the operating sections is in place: • Masakhane (1 Shaft) – operational
• Pitseng (2 Shaft) – operational
• Ya Rona (4 Shaft) – operational
• Hlanganani (5 Shaft) – operational
• Bambisanani (6 Shaft) – care and maintenance(1)
• Rethabile (7 Shaft) – care and maintenance(1)
• Khomanane (8 Shaft) – operational
• Ithembalethu (9 Shaft) – care and maintenance
• Thabelang (10 Shaft) – operational – pumping only
• Driefontein 1 plant – operational
(1) No. 6 and 7 Shafts are pending closure.

Mining method:
• Scattered-conventional breast mining – 74%
• Pillars extraction (white areas) – 26%.


Crushing and Grinding


Processing

  • Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
  • Carbon in pulp (CIP)
  • Elution
  • Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
  • Cyanide (reagent)

Source: Subscription required

Summary:

Driefontein has three metallurgical plants exploiting the Carbon Leader Reef, the Ventersdorp Contact Reef and the Middelvlei Reef.

The Driefontein 1 Plant treats underground ore and has a processing capacity of 240,000tpm. The upgraded CIP circuit at the No 1 Plant consists of a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill circuit followed by cyanide leaching, CIP and a central elution facility.

The Driefontein 2 Plant processes SRD material, which is delivered by rail and truck. Plant flow incorporates two SAG mills and a ball milling circuit, cyanide leaching and a CIP plant. A CIL circuit was commissioned in 2014 at the No 2 Plant to improve recoveries by replacing the aging CIP circuit.

The Driefontein 3 Plant was originally designed as a uranium plant but was converted to process low-grade surface rock in 1998. Similar to the No 2 Plant, SRD ore is delivered by rail and truck. The plant has four SAG mills followed by cyanide leaching and a CIP circuit.


Production:

CommodityUnits201920182017201620152014
Gold koz  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required482519558570
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Operational Metrics:

Metrics201920182017201620152014
Tonnes milled  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required5,971 kt5,772 kt5,364 kt
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Reserves at December 31, 2019:

CategoryTonnage CommodityGradeContained Metal
Proven 8.2 Mt Gold 6.8 g/t 1.792 M oz
Probable 3.4 Mt Gold 7.6 g/t 0.828 M oz
Proven & Probable 11.6 Mt Gold 7.1 g/t 2.619 M oz
Measured 18.5 Mt Gold 12.9 g/t 7.679 M oz
Indicated 15.1 Mt Gold 9.3 g/t 4.523 M oz
Inferred 9 Mt Gold 5.4 g/t 1.548 M oz
Total Resource 42.6 Mt Gold 10 g/t 13.751 M oz

Commodity Production Costs:

CommodityUnits2019201820172016201520142013
Total cash costs (sold) Gold USD 961 / oz 753 / oz 756 / oz 814 / oz 862 / oz
All-in sustaining costs (sold) Gold USD  ......  Subscription required†  ......  Subscription required† 1,141 / oz† 893 / oz† 912 / oz† 1,027 / oz† 1,078 / oz†
All-in costs Gold USD  ......  Subscription required†  ......  Subscription required† 1,148 / oz† 901 / oz† 914 / oz† 1,027 / oz† 1,078 / oz†
† Net of By-Product.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Operating Costs:

Units201720162015
Total operating costs ($/t milled) ZAR 1,022937907

Financials:

Units2019201820172016201520142013
Sustaining costs M ZAR  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required 249.2   465.3   320.2  
Capital expenditures M ZAR  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required 994.2   1,149   1,023  
Revenue M ZAR  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required 8,236   7,829   8,163  
Gross profit M ZAR  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required 3,002   2,917   3,282  
Operating Income M ZAR  ......  Subscription required 1,859   1,788   1,824  
After-tax Income M ZAR  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required 1,089   937.9   945.3  
EBITDA M ZAR  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required
Subscription required - Subscription is required


Heavy Mobile Equipment:

Mine Management:

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jul 29, 2020
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Staff:

EmployeesContractorsTotal WorkforceYear
Subscription required Subscription required Subscription required 2019
Subscription required Subscription required Subscription required 2018
Subscription required Subscription required Subscription required 2017
Subscription required Subscription required Subscription required 2016
Subscription required Subscription required Subscription required 2015

Corporate Filings & Presentations:

DocumentYear
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2018
................................... Subscription required 2018
................................... Subscription required 2018
Form 20-F 2017
Year-end Mineral Reserves 2017
Financial Review 2016
Form 20-F 2016
Year-end Mineral Reserves 2016
Form 20-F 2015
Year-end Mineral Reserves 2015
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Aerial view:

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