Joel is a twin-shaft mining operation. The primary economic reef mined is the narrow tabular Beatrix Reef deposit, accessed via conventional grid development. Mining is currently being conducted to a depth of 1 379m below collar.
Joel is an intermediate-depth underground gold mine that consists of two shaft complexes interconnected via a triple decline system, spanning four levels.Joel consists of two interconnected shaft complexes, the South Shaft complex which is the main operational shaft and the North Shaft which is available for hoisting ore.
The south shaft complex has two shafts, namely 3 shaft (men and material) and 4 shaft ventilation). This shaft system was sunk beyond the reef sub-outcrop and is located on the southern extremity of the orebody. These two shafts go down to 1 050m below collar and cover four levels, namely 60 and 70 levels (which are mined-out trackless levels), 90 level, which is the main transfer level, and 95 level, which houses the pumping and loading facilities.
The north shaft complex is a single-shaft system, sunk and lined to 1 471m below collar, but not yet equipped to hoist people. Feasibility studies were conducted in 2005 to determine whether this shaft could assist in extending Joel’s life-of-mine by opening up 129 level. This shaft was upgraded in February 2006 to enable hoisting of ore through the north shaft barrel. Hoisting was halted in March 2007, owing to the deteriorating shaft infrastructure. T ........
