Southern Free State Goldfield
Four exploration projects have been delineated in this region, based on a combination of the regional geology and distribution of the prospecting rights held by Wits Gold.




De Bron Project

Situated adjacent to the Bloemhoek Project, the gold bearing reefs in the De Bron area occur at shallower depths of between 500 - 1000m due to the presence of the De Bron Fault. Synergies of mining the De Bron and Bloemhoek areas using a common infrastructure will be investigated during the Bloemhoek pre-feasibility study.


Robijn Project

The principal exploration target is the Beatrix Reef that subcrops at a depth of some 550 metres towards the southeast. The Beatrix Reef dips northwestwards where it occurs at depths of up to 2,000 metres below surface.


Bloemhoek Project

Wits Gold has received a positive scoping study on its Bloemhoek Project situated adjacent to the Beatrix Gold Mine in the southern Free State Goldfield. This independent study was based on an indicated mineral resource of 52.3Mt at an average grade of 6.7g/t, containing 11.3Moz of gold. This 43-101 compliant mineral resource is hosted by the Beatrix, Kalkoenkrans and Leader Reefs that occur at depths of 1300 – 2400 metres below surface. It is anticipated that exploitation of the Bloemhoek orebody will require the sinking of a twin shaft system to 2000 metres with the deeper areas being accessed by declines. These declines will only become necessary towards the end of the mine’s thirty year life.


It is anticipated that the Bloemhoek mine will require a capital expenditure of R8 094 million (equivalent to US$ 1bn at R8/$) and take eight years to enter production. Following a further five year ramp up period, the mine will operate at full production for 23 years with an annual production of 380 000 oz of gold. Cash costs are estimated at US$438/oz.


Using a gold price of $900/oz, an exchange rate of R8.00 per US$ and a state royalty of 1.5% on revenue, the project has an IRR of 11.3% and an NPV (5%) of US$725 million. A sensitivity analysis of the major input variables indicates that the financial model for Bloemhoek is most sensitive to gold price and grade. Consequently, the possibility of mining a smaller but higher grade deposit will be evaluated during the pre-feasibility study that has recently commenced.



Hakkies Project

The principal exploration targets in this northern area are the Leader and Upper Leader Reefs that occur at depths of 1,350 to 2,200 metres below surface. Lower grade reefs dominate the northern sector of the project area, with grades increasing towards the south.



Floriana Project

Recently drilling by Wits Gold in the Company’s De Bron Project suggests that the Floriana area may host supplementary reserves on the Beatrix and Leader Reefs at depths of the order of 500 – 1000 metres below surface.


Beisa North and Beisa South

Prospecting rights to the immediate north and south of the dormant Beisa Uranium Mine were recently granted to Wits Gold in the southern Free State Goldfield. The Company is currently reviewing the geology and historical data from these projects where both the Beatrix and Beisa Reefs have previously been intersected. Following this review, further exploratory drilling will commence in order to estimate the mineral resources contained within these projects.