Name of the Project
TGME underground project.

Location
Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
Theta Gold Mines.

Project Description
The project aims to restart historical underground gold mines in Mpumalanga, a prolific gold-mining region.

The project is targeting the Beta, Rietfontein and Frankfort, as well as Clewer-Dukes Hill-Morgenzon (CDM) mines.

In the base case, the project has a mine life of 12.9 years, delivering production of 1.24-million ounces of contained gold over the life-of-mine (LoM) at a processing rate of 540 000 t/y to initially recover 1.08-million ounces of gold.

The project aims to produce 30 000 t a month from the Beta mine, 15 000 t a month from the Rietfontein mine, 15 000 t a month from the Frankfort mine and 10 000 t to 20 000 t a month near the end of the CDM mine’s LoM. The existing mining infrastructure will be used, with the addition of new accesses, underground development and predevelopment of the mining grids to access the planned mining areas at Beta, Frankfort and CDM.

At Rietfontein, the existing adits and underground development will be used, with the addition of new development ends, a new decline and the extension of an existing decline.

The mining strategy for the underground operations is to apply mechanised longhole drilling to narrow-reef mining to selectively mine out only the reef channel, with minimal dilution at Beta, Frankfort and CDM.

Rietfontein will be mined conventionally using shrinkage stoping, with hybrid loading methods between trackless load-haul-dump and rail-bound locomotives.

The processing plant will have a feed capacity of 45 000 t a month.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
In the base case, the project has a net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of $324-million at an average $1 642/oz and an internal rate of return of 65%. Based on these figures, the project has a forecast after-tax payback period of 31 months.

Capital Expenditure
The estimated development capital or peak funding requirement is $77-million.

Planned Start/End Date
First gold production is targeted for the second quarter 2024. Beta is scheduled as the first operation to start production, followed by Rietfontein and then the CDM and Frankfort mines, which will start production simultaneously.

Latest Developments
Theta Gold Mines has changed its strategy on the project funding structure for the project, chairperson Bill Guy has said.

The company has opted to fully redeem its A$6-million secured bonds with 2Invest, freeing up its project interest to be available as collateral for future potential project funders.

Theta will use funds from an $8-million private placement to redeem the bonds. The company has received $6-million from the first tranche of a two-tranche, $10-million placement from Hong Kong Ruihua Investment (HRIM), along with a commitment for an additional $2-million from institutional investors.

Theta has said that HRIM remains committed to the second tranche of the placement for $4-million.

Theta has also decided not to proceed with the streaming transaction initially proposed with Sprott Streaming and Royalty. Instead, the company is now concentrating on negotiations with Yellow River, a subsidiary of Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina). 

The discussions are focused on  a proposed engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreement, which includes 70% deferred payment terms for the construction of Stage 1 of its TGME gold plant and tailings storage facility (TSF).

Theta is also engaged in advanced talks with multiple project financiers to secure the additional funding necessary to complete the capital expenditure required for the project.

The company is focusing on the construction and financing of a new gold processing plant within its approved footprint at the TGME plant.

It completed a feasibility study released to the ASX two years ago, for the first four mines - Beta, CDM, Frankfort and Rietfontein. The base case comprises a 12.9-year mining operation and delivering 1.24-million ounces of contained gold. 

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Met63 (detailed design and costing of the processing plant designed for a feed capacity of 45 000 t a month): and YRC (construction of gold plant, TSF and wastewater dams).

Contact Details for Project Information
Theta Gold Mines, tel +61 2 8046 7584 or email info@thetagoldmines.com.