Description

ERPM is a historic mine that opened in 1896 and operated continuously until it was closed in 2008. It produced 43 Moz of gold at an average recovered grade of 8.1 g/t. ERPM’s remaining deep underground resources are massively significant with > 51 Moz at an average grade of 7 - 8 g/t. 

Cradle Gold has identified significant shallow underground resources that were previously overlooked due to the lower gold price and ERPM’s high working costs.

The vast quantities of historic data have highlighted two primary shallow targets that meet our project criteria namely depth, grade and capital and operating cost efficiencies.

Description

Middelvlei open pit operations will ramp up to approximately 25 000 oz per annum to create early cash flows and the depleted pit will provide optimal access for the underground mine. The shallow underground mine will exploit two prolific gold reefs - the Ventersdorp Contact Reef (VCR) and Middelvlei Reef. Open pit production will exploit the Black Reef, VCR and Middelvlei Reefs with a maximum target depth of 70m. Mining commenced in June 2019.

The shallow underground resource on the VCR and Middelvlei Reef contains 1.3 Moz from the lower limit of the open pit to a depth of 900m below surface. Infill drilling to inform a DFS is scheduled to commence Q1 2020.