West Wits reaches toll agreement with SA’s Ezulwini Mining Company
South African miner, Ezulwini Mining Company, has reached an agreement with Junior West Wits for toll-treating ore from the Witwatersrand Basin project. Information gathered by BusinessTech Africa suggests that under the terms of the agreement, West Wits will supply Ezulwini, which is a subsidiary of Sibanye-Stillwater, with 15 000 t a month of gold-bearing material.
West Wits reaches toll agreement with SA’s Ezulwini Mining Company
South African miner, Ezulwini Mining Company, has reached an agreement with Junior West Wits for toll-treating ore from the Witwatersrand Basin project.
Information gathered by BusinessTech Africa suggests that under the terms of the agreement, West Wits will supply Ezulwini, which is a subsidiary of Sibanye-Stillwater, with 15 000 t a month of gold-bearing material.
It is reported that over time, this volume would increase to up to 54 000 t a month and the companies, West Wits, and Ezulwini have confirmed.
“Securing a tolling treatment agreement with a subsidiary of a major mining house, Sibanye-Stillwater, after extensive negotiations gives great confidence in the Witwatersrand Basin project’s project credentials and provides the catalyst to ramp up development,” said West Wits MD Jac van Heerden.
“In March this year, we paused our mining operations at the Witwatersrand Basin project with the objective to rearrange our mining and equipment supply contracts, with these initiatives completed in June 2022. Operationally, we have completed all essential infrastructure and established access to the orebody face, ready to commence mining.
“The toll treatment agreement has now provided the green light to proceed with the primary debt funding initiative to secure project finance and execute West Wits’ development strategy.”
As reported by Mining Weekly, West Wits anticipates the primary funding options to be significantly advanced by the end of the fourth quarter of this year.
The funding will enable the company, West Wits, to mobilise mining equipment and the mine contractor’s workforce in the first quarter of 2023 to execute the revised definitive feasibility study released in August 2022.
“The plan is to build up a stockpile of up to 30 000 t and to start delivering the ore to Sibanye-Stillwater at a constant rate of 15 000 t a month before building to 20 000 t a month and 54 000 t a month at peak production within three years,” reports the mining portal.
Main Image: Ezulwini Mining Company/Mining Review Africa
