Central Rand Gold buys mine waste dump to increase revenue streams

AIM-listed miner Central Rand Gold has bought mine waste dump material close to the company’s metallurgical plant in South Africa in order to diversify and expand its revenue stream.

Central Rand, which conducted a drill programme, 3D-modelling, gravity concentrator trial processing and metallurgical tests over the past nine months on the waste dumps, confirmed that the phase one mine waste dump contains 2.3m tonnes of gold-bearing material. It said there was an average grade of 0.7 grams per tonne of gold, which can be upgraded to gold grades between 2.5 to 5 grams per tonne.

Metallurgical tests found recovery outcomes ranging from 88% to 97%, but these results were found from tests conducted on a small scale and further work is needed, the company said.

The mine waste dumps, located about 10km from Central Rand’s plant, are jointly owned by a South African company and its black economic empowerment partner and are a result of mining operations that took place in the area in the late 1890s.

Under the agreement, Central Rand will be responsible for the managing of the mine, including transportation, smelting and gold refining of the waste dump material, and will pay the vendor a nominal rand per tonne fee and a percentage of the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

The company said the research and development carried out at Central Rand Gold South Africa by Zhejiang Golden Machinery Plant will be “crucial” in the processing of the waste dumps material, while also considering a variety of processing alternatives for the material, but will maintain its current arrangement with the existing third party supplier of ore to its plant.

Shares in Central Rand Gold were up 3.2% to 1.29p at 0812 BST.