https://newsletter.mw.creamermedia.com
Africa|Building|Copper|Exploration|Gold|Mining|Paper|PROJECT|Projects|Resources|Safety|Storage|Technology|Underground|Water|Drilling
Africa|Building|Copper|Exploration|Gold|Mining|Paper|PROJECT|Projects|Resources|Safety|Storage|Technology|Underground|Water|Drilling
africa|building|copper|exploration|gold|mining|paper|project|projects|resources|safety|storage|technology|underground|water|drilling

Developer bolsters exploration for growth

a full view of Pan African Resources Gold operations and solar installation

BOLSTERING SUSTAINABILITY Pan African Resources is bolstering its Evander gold mine's sustainability metrics with a big solar installation to reduce the mine's reliance on grid power

13th September 2024

By: Halima Frost

Senior Writer

     

Font size: - +

In its constant drive to bolster its portfolio and remain a relevant miner in Africa, midtier gold producer Pan African Resources (PAR) continues to implement and develop its exploration portfolio throughout Africa, says investor relations head Hethen Hira.

“We are constantly looking at new opportunities and are assessing each one on its own merits,” he says, adding that the Arabian-Nubian shield, in north-east Africa, has displayed great geological potential.

The shield is a relatively unexplored territory, mainly as a result of the adverse political climate in some of the countries that host the geological anomaly.

“However, if managed carefully, one can operate through these disruptive periods, as is currently the case with our projects in Sudan,” he adds.

Hira highlights that Sudan has the potential to, once again, be one of the largest gold-producing regions in Africa.

Importantly, PAR has other opportunities on its radar that can be advanced, should these projects not meet the company’s specific investment criteria.

PAR has developed “stringent criteria for new investments”, and while unforeseen circumstances always carry a risk, the company’s “first and foremost priority” is to ensure the safety of its personnel, he explains.

Exploring the Options

Hira says PAR constantly assesses the optimal use and application of its existing exploration technologies and methodologies.

“One such technology is the interpretation and re-interpretation of LANDSAT 8/9 OLI Level 1 and Level 2 images.”

Some of these re-interpretations include different colour band ratio compositing, as has been identified from PAR’s Block 12 exploration project in Sudan.

This technique has been used successfully to identify and highlight different geological alteration signatures, which can be used to target on-the-ground exploration activities.

Further, quadcopter drones are used to capture high-resolution aerial photographs and thermal imagery, which PAR uses for mineralisation interpretation and structural mapping.

“The thermal imagery is also employed at our tailings storage facilities to monitor and manage the water content for safety reasons,” adds Hira.

PAR has also implemented deep-level, long-inclined drilling techniques, known as LIB drilling, underground at the lower levels of its Evander gold mine in Mpumalanga.

These techniques entail using and modelling the natural tendency of a borehole to deflect from its starting point to intercept and derisk the ore that is targeted for mining in the medium term.

“PAR employs these techniques as and when required to optimise its exploration strategy and derisk exploration capital expenditure,” he enthuses.

This includes feeding historic paper-based data, accumulated over many years of mining, into an electronic database to enable PAR’s modern software packages to assist in interpreting the acquired data and orebody modelling.

Although most of the technologies used by PAR are not new, they have been improved to be more precise and reliable.

Hira adds that the company also focuses on the continued optimisation and enhancement of its exploration toolkit, building on it to gain as much information as possible.

Going Forward

PAR is currently anticipating the commissioning of its newly developed Mogale Tailings Retreatment plant, on the West Rand of Johannesburg, which will reduce the group’s overall costs and increase its yearly production by about 25%, consequently taking it closer to its 250 000 oz/y target.

“This operation will have a 21-year life and will improve the sustainability of the area by infilling historically mined areas and rehabilitating the footprints of the old tailings storage facilities.”

Hira adds that, a

s a primary gold producer, PAR will continue to focus on new gold opportunities; however, where there is a valuable by-product, such as copper, which has good long- term fundamentals, “we will certainly investigate its potential”.

Edited by Donna Slater
Features Deputy Editor and Chief Photographer

Comments

Latest Multimedia

Photo of Martin Creamer
On-The-Air (04/10/2024)
Updated 2 hours 51 minutes ago By: Martin Creamer

Showroom

GreaseMax
GreaseMax

GreaseMax is a chemically operated automatic lubricator.

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East

Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Magazine round up | 04 October 2024
Magazine round up | 04 October 2024
4th October 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.242 0.322s - 131pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now