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Mintails Limited's (ASX:MLI) name is a direct description of its underlying activities, which are the development, processing and production of gold and uranium and potentially sulphuric acid from "mining tailings" located on the West and East Rand areas of the Witwatersrand Basin, near Johannesburg, South Africa. Mintails recently announced a new 50:50 Joint Venture with DRDGOLD in respect to substantial tailings resources located on the East Rand. The JV will own the rights to process over 1.7 billion tonnes of tailings materials on the East Rand. Mintails is involved in a further JV with DRDGOLD in respect of a new underground exploration company called West Wits Mining Limited formed to investigate and potentially exploit any economic underground mineralisation located at historic leases on the West 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 currently has the rights to exploit in excess of 305 million tonnes of sands, slime and rock tailings material situated on the West Rand approximately 70kms west of Johannesburg, and now also owns 50% of a JV formed with DRDGOLD which has access to a further 1.7 billion tonnes located on the East Rand 60 kms east of Johannesburg.
Mintails through a merger with Skeat Gold Mining (Pty) Ltd (SGM) in December 2006 owns the two gold and uranium processing plants which constituted the former the 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.
WERGO
The Company's intention is to relocate certain sections of its East Daggafontein plant to the West Rand, to construct a processing plant capable of treating tailings for gold and uranium. The operation has been entitled WERGO (West Rand Gold and Uranium Operation) and is currently under construction. The plant has a design capacity to process approximately 9.6 million tonnes of slimes per annum which will be Phase 1. Based on this throughput the company estimates approximately 60,000 ozs of gold and 1.1 million lbs of uranium per annum will be produced. Phase 1 is expected to complete in October 2008.
Several of the tailings deposits contain significant amounts of uranium which was a discarded by-product of the gold production when the price of uranium fell to around US$9 per pound in the 1980's & 1990's.
During October 2007 the Company announced an updated total JORC uranium resource of 30.5 million lbs located on the West Rand. The JORC resource is made up of 14.71 million lbs in the indicated resource category and 15.59 million lbs in the inferred resource category.
Metallurgical testwork undertaken by Mintek Laboratories (Johannesburg) relating to the recovery of uranium from the slimes indicates potential for recoveries in the range of 70% to 86%.
The Company previously announced Measured, Indicated and Inferred JORC gold resources of 2.17 million ounces. The JORC resource is made up of 15.5 million tonnes at 0.55 g/t for 300,600 ounces of gold under the measured and indicated categories and 130 million tonnes at 0.41 g/t 1.87 million ounces (refer Gold resources table).
ERGO Mines Joint Venture
In November 2007 Mintails announced a new Joint Venture (the ERGO Mines JV) with DRDGOLD to supersede the existing East Rand Tailings JV. The new agreement provides for a 50:50 JV and a substantially bigger operation. The JV will have access to 1.7 billion tonnes of tailings materials. The new JV will also completely refurbish the Brakpan plant located on the East Rand in its entirety in order to be able to process and produce gold, uranium and sulphuric acid. The upgrade is expected to be completed in 36 months
Phase 1 of the JV will involve the refurbishment of one CIL circuit at the ERGO Plant with the capacity to treat 7.2 million tonnes of tailings per annum and recover approximately 42,000 oz’s of gold per annum. Phase 2 of the JV now under investigation envisages the expansion of the gold plant to treat 14.4 million tonnes of tailings per month and recover 84,000 oz’s per annum prior to phase 3 which includes the development of a uranium and sulphuric acid circuit which is expected to have a throughput capacity of 30 million tonnes per annum to produce an estimated 150,000 ounces of gold, 660,000 lbs of uranium and 855,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid.
South Africa
| Mr Bryan John Frost (Chairman, Director) |
| Mr Dick Albert Willem van der Walt (Director, CEO) |
| Mr Richard Revelins (Director) |
| Mr Jaco Schoeman (Director) |
| Mr Lloyd Dunbar Birrell (Director) |
| Mr Peter Chapman (Non Exec. Director) |
| Mr Richard Anthony Potts (Non Exec. Director) |
| Mr Robert Charles Croll (Non Exec. Director) |
| Mr Bernard Swanepoel (Non Exec. Director) |
Company AddressSuite 2
|
Annual General MeetingTBA | Year EndJune 30 |
Nominated BrokersBell Potter Securities Limited | Nominated AdvisorsPeregrine Corporate Limited |
| Shareholder | Holding | % |
| NATIONAL NOMINEES LTD | 92,992,026 | 13.71% |
| KINTARA LTD | 76,799,905 | 11.32% |
| JP MORGAN NOM AUST LTD | 64,756,565 | 9.55% |
| ANZ NOMINEES LTD | 55,727,639 | 8.22% |
| HSBC CUSTODY NOMINEES LTD | 53,985,692 | 7.96% |
| CITICORP NOMINEES PTY LTD | 52,678,175 | 7.77% |