MTE will take its exhibitors to a new and exciting destination in 2024 – Moab Khotsong. This expo will take place on mine premises at Harmony’s operation in the Free State on 22 February.
Image supplied by Unsplash | Jingming Pan
Moab Khotsong is a deep-level mine near the towns of Orkney and Klerksdorp, some 180km south-west of Johannesburg. The mine, which began production in 2003, was acquired from AngloGold Ashanti Limited in March 2018.
Mining is based on a scattered mining method, together with an integrated backfill support system that incorporates bracket pillars.
The geology at Moab Khotsong is structurally complex, with large faultloss areas between the three mining areas (top mine – Great Noligwa, middle mine and lower mine – growth project and Zaaiplaats project in execution phase).
The mine exploits the Vaal Reef as its primary orebody. The economic reef horizons are mined between 1 791m and 3 052m below surface. Ore mined is then processed at the Great Noligwa gold plant. The plant uses the reverse gold leach method, with gold and uranium recoveries achieved by gold cyanide and acid uranium leaching.
Harmony noted in its operational update for the three months ended 30 September 2023 (Q1FY24) that 278% increase in group operating free cash flow to R3 236-million (USD174-million) from R857-million (USD50-million) was driven by higher recovered grades at Mponeng, Moab Khotsong and Hidden Valley.
Average recovered grades at the South African underground operations increased by 18% to 6.29g/t for the Q1FY24 reporting period from 5.35g/t in Q1FY23. The higher underground recovered grades were underpinned by high-grade at Mponeng and Moab Khotsong operations.
With Uranium being a by-product from the gold extraction process at Moab Khotsong – the quarter, uranium production increased by 50% to 70 044kg (154 420lb) from 46 710kg (102 978lb) in Q1FY23. Uranium sold increased 116% to 92 987kg (205 000lb) from 43 091kg (95 000lb). Year-on-year, the average uranium price received increased by 24% to USD58.21/lb from USD47.01/lb, resulting in uranium revenue of R223-million (USD12-million) for the quarter.
Harmony noted, “We are on track with the key projects in execution. These include the tailings storage facility expansion at Mine Waste Solutions and the Zaaiplaats project which is the life of mine extension at Moab Khotsong.”
With Moab Khotsong going strong – it is the opportune time to target the operations with supplier innovation. MTE would therefore like to invite companies that supply equipment, products and services to the gold mines, or that supply equipment or products used in the gold mining process to this expo.
Orkney is a gold mining area so, if you’re involved in that business, then this is the expo for you!