Caledonia dusts of Barbrook, Eersteling in the wings

With the price of gold on the rise again, Caledonia Mining (CAL-T) reports that it has completed a geological re-evaluation of the Taylor’s section of its Barbrook gold mine in South Africa, with the aim of resuming commercial production.

Production at Barbrook was suspended and the operation placed on care and maintenance in the summer of 1997 thanks to a drop in the price of gold. At the time, the operation was producing about 17,000 tonnes of ore per month, averaging 4.26 grams gold per tonne. Gold recoveries were running about 65%.

However, the mining rate came at the expense of gold grade dilution, and so under its new plan Caledonia will initially begin mining and processing at 3,000 tonnes per month to ensure higher feed gold grades to the plant. The rate will be gradually increased to 12,000 tonnes per month or possibly higher.

Caledonia also plans on using its new pre-ox process in combination with Mintek’s resin gold recovery process. Test work has indicated a 20% boost to recovery rates. Mintek is currently looking at converting Barbrook’s existing carbon-in-leach circuit into a resin-in-leach system. Also, the existing complex and expensive operation of the carbon elution and regeneration section would be replaced by a simpler and cheaper resin operation.

At the time operations were suspended, measured and indicated reserves at Barbrook stood at 1.7 million tonnes grading 6.25 grams gold.

Caledonia is preparing production schedules and mine plans, and re-commissioning work has begun on both the underground workings and the metallurgical plant. Production is slated to resume later this year. More detailed plans will follow in September.

Caledonia says it will also look at resuming production at its 96%-owned Eersteling Gold mine in the Northern Province of South Africa after Barbrook reaches commercial rates.

Eersteling contains a reported ore resource of 2.6 million tonnes running about 7 grams gold per tonne for 530,000 contained oz. of gold. Less than 10% of the properties mineral rights have been explored. The mine comes with a 25,000-tonne-per-month metallurgical plant and five fully equipped shafts.