Through continuous investment in infrastructure and technologies, midtier gold producer Pan African Resources (PAR) ensures improved performance at its tailings storage facility (TSF) remining operations, in Mpumalanga and on the West Rand of Gauteng, says PAR investor relations head Hethen Hira.

These tailings handling improvements include the construction of a new pumpstation at PAR’s Winkelhaak TSF in Evander, Mpumalanga, which started in July 2025 and is set to feed the plant by its commissioning in 2027.

The water recycling plant will maintain the TSF plant for the life-of-mine (LoM) to 2037.

PAR’s Mogale Tailings Retreatment (MTR) plant, on the West Rand of Johannesburg, has been also fitted with additional reactors, which will further improve recoveries.

“These reactors are in addition to two carbon-in-leach (CIL) leach tanks that will increase capacity and result in production increasing from 50 000 oz/y to 60 000 oz/y during the 2026 financial year,” says Hira.

PAR is also undertaking feasibility studies for the Soweto Cluster TSFs that were bought as part of a transaction – and finalised in October 2022 – with historical tailings miner Mintails.

“These studies were completed in September and are being optimised prior to release of the results, which will entail the construction of a new processing plant to mine the Soweto Cluster TSFs,” he notes.

The Soweto cluster is reported to contain resources of 108-million tonnes at about 0.28 g/t for 980 000 oz of gold, as detailed in PAR’s recently released 2026 financial year mineral reserves and resources report.

From the 2026 financial year onwards, production at the Barberton Tailings Retreatment Project (BTRP), in Mpumalanga, is estimated at about 15 000 oz/y for the next six years, while its Elikhulu operation is expected to average 50 000 oz/y.

The MTR plant is expected to increase to 60 000 oz/y following plant expansions.

Owing to the low gold grades at the three tailings retreatment sites, cost efficiency is ensured through the sheer volume of material processed, as TSFs can be mined much quicker and more safely than conventional, hard-rock underground mining using less equipment, explains Hira.

An average of one-million tonnes a month is mined at the Elikhulu and MTR plants to efficiently extract the gold from tailings, which grade at about 0.3 g/t.

The MTR and Elikhulu operations use hydraulic tailings remining methods, while the material is processed using CIL plants that extract residual gold from historical tailings using chemical and physical processes.

The amount extracted is further increased by using planning software which enables careful control or blends of areas being mined in terms of grade profiles, he says.

Green Investment

PAR has invested in water recycling plants at Elikhulu and MTR, where underground water is recycled for use in the processing plants.

The plants reduce reliance on municipal water, which significantly reduces operational costs, says Hira, adding that this also frees up capacity at the municipal water boards to provide adequate water for the growing surrounding communities.

The company has also established solar PV plants at Elikhulu and BTRP, which reduce energy costs and lower the operation’s cost of production while reducing the burden on the national grid.

It has also signed electricity wheeling agreements with private producers to reduce reliance on expensive grid power, whose above-inflation yearly tariff increases are negatively impacting on production costs.

“PAR has successfully rehabilitated the environment during construction, restored wetlands, curbed acid mine drainage and reduced dust pollution while also remediating areas around the TSFs so as not to endanger communities,” he adds.