South Africa: the commissioning of the Barberton Mines Tailings Retreatment Plant (BTRP) regrind mill will be completed during the current week, on schedule and on budget. The BTRP is expected to reach annualised gold production of 21,000 oz in the next month, in line with previous guidance.

The regrind mill enables the BTRP to sustain the annual production at approximately 21,000 oz/y. The construction of the regrind mill took five months and was completed on budget. The regrind mill was installed to reduce the coarseness of the material treated from the Harper Dump and will improve material handling and recoveries going forward.

The 1.7 MW, 4.3 m by 4.9 m, Veecor regrind mill was constructed in record time by Barberton Mines, with New Concept Projects as the main subcontractor to DRA Global, which was responsible for the mill refurbishment and installation.

Pan African Resources has concluded the Section 189 process in terms of the South African Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995 and signed a retrenchment agreement with the recognised unions of Evander Mines. The retrenchment cost will be approximately R160 million and will be funded from the Group’s existing debt facilities and internal resources.

As previously communicated, the retrenched employees will be provided with opportunities for reskilling and the Group is in the process of identifying employment opportunities for retrenched employees, both internally and with potential external employers.

Separately, the Group is at an advanced stage of reviewing the technical and commercial merits of mining the remainder of Evander’s 8 shaft pillar.  This may extend the final closure date of the shaft, generate positive cash flows and assist with further employment opportunities for those affected by the Section 189 Process.

The construction of the Elikhulu project remains ahead of schedule, with first gold production expected in August 2018, and full commissioning at the end of September 2018. Elikhulu’s capacity will be increased by 200,000 t to 1.2 Mt/month with effect from December 2018, by incorporating the existing Evander Tailing Retreatment Plant (ETRP) throughput with the associated economies of scale and enhanced recovery benefits.  The increase in processing capacity will not affect the original construction schedule or first gold production expectations. In conjunction with the ETRP throughput, these two surface operations, once in full production, are expected to produce more than 70,000 oz/annum.

Pan African’s Barberton and surface tailings operations uniquely position the Group as a relatively low-cost producer with long-life, quality assets and attractive organic growth prospects.