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South Africa

Joel Mine

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Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Gold
Mining Method
  • Scattered stoping
  • Breast stoping with strike pillars
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SnapshotJoel is an intermediate-depth underground gold mine that consists of two shaft complexes interconnected via a triple decline system, spanning four levels and mining at depths of up to 1,379m below mine datum. Ore mined is processed at the Harmony One plant.

Joel LOM includes mining up to 137 level and in a block of ground swapped with the neighboring Beatrix Mine.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd. (operator) 100 % Indirect
Joel Mine is owned and operated by Harmony Gold Mining Company.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Conglomerate hosted

Summary:

The main structures at Joel are associated with the Platberg Extension. These faults are north-south striking, steeply dipping and typically have downthrows to the east of 10m to 100m. These downthrows form a graben against the De Bron Fault, which has a 450m upthrow to the east. East of the De Bron Fault, the reef has been either truncated or eroded against the Karoo Supergroup.

Minor east-west striking faults are also present. However, displacements on these faults are generally less than 10m, which are believed to be Klipriviersberg in age. Low angle reverse faulting is also present. These structures trend north-south, have small displacements and dip towards the east. These structures may be related to the central Rand Contractional event.

The Klippan Formation has been preserved as an east-west trending erosional channel that has eroded deeply through the Witwatersrand sediments and has eliminated the Beatrix/VS5 horizon in the eastern portion of the mine and cut out a significant chunk in an east west direction through the middle of the lease area. Regionally the Klippan Formation is preserved in the north-south striking basin, known as the Virginia Basin in the Southern Free State, which parallels the De Bron Fault.

A deep erosional channel of Platberg Group volcano-sedimentary rock, known as the Klippan Channel, truncates the Beatrix Reef some 1.8km to the north of south shaft. This washout feature is wedge-shaped with its apex to the west and widening to the east. The estimated dimension from the apex to the eastern property boundary is approximately 1.8km. The reef has been shown to be continuous to the north of this feature.

Where unaffected by the Klippan Channel, the reef is bound to the east by the De Bron Fault, which strikes north-north-east. The CD Fault, which strikes north-east and is roughly halfway between the two shafts, has a 320m sinistral lateral displacement south of the fault towards the north-east.

The complex nature of the reef has resulted in a highly irregular distribution of gold throughout the mining area. There are broad low- and high-grade zones over hundreds of metres, which are considered likely to be repeated within the reef environment beyond the limits of the development. However, the detailed grade distribution within these zones remains very unpredictable.

For the purposes of resource estimation, a detailed facies model is used and is based on detailed sedimentological observations.

The reef exploited at Joel is the Beatrix Reef, which covers approximately 90% of the mine. The other economic reefs are the Hybrid BV Reef and the footwall reef (“Aandenk”) which cover the remaining 10% of Joel. Mineralisation is associated with the presence of medium to coarse, clast-supported oligomictic pebble horizons. The significant minerals in the deposit are pyrite (60%), quartz (35%) and garnets (5%) within medium to coarse, clast-supported oligomictic pebble horizons. Detrital carbon is also common.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

CommodityUnits2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Gold oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe50,379 52,566 72,211 73,239 72,596 
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré. ^ Guidance / Forecast.

Operational metrics

Metrics2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Tonnes milled  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe429 kt454 kt514 kt542 kt551 kt

Production Costs

CommodityUnits20242023202220212020201920182017
Cash costs Gold USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 1,354 / oz   1,347 / oz   945 / oz  
All-in sustaining costs (sold) Gold USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 1,539 / oz   1,602 / oz   1,092 / oz  

Financials

Units20242023202220212020201920182017
Capital expenditures (planned) M USD
Capital expenditures M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 13   19   18  
Revenue M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 67   74   96  
Gross profit M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe -2   2   27  

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNamePhoneEmailProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 4, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ........... Subscription required ........... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 4, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ........... Subscription required Subscription required Nov 4, 2024

EmployeesContractorsTotal WorkforceYear
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Aerial view:

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