It’s hard to believe that we were standing on the historic Mogale mine dump, west of Johannesburg, only 14 months ago, reimagining the future of an area scarred by the remnants of years of historic mining. It was beset by social evils and environmental hazards and liabilities.
But at Pan African Resources we’ve always known that South Africa holds untapped potential and we’ve always believed in seizing the opportunity to turn that potential into success. With the launch of the Mogale Tailings Retreatment or MTR operation we are proving that investing in South Africa can still deliver extraordinary results.
The landscape has already been positively impacted and the outlook for the community significantly improved as we embark on our long-term commitment to deliver sustainable value to all our stakeholders.
It is remarkable how a project situated just an hour from our Johannesburg office can bring 1.1 million ounces of gold to life, acquired for just over $1 per ounce in the ground, and with that we have achieved something exceptional.
The MTR project came in below its R2.5bn development budget and was completed ahead of schedule in just 14 months. Efficiency, innovation and success, delivered ahead of time.
With gold prices at $2,600/oz and at all-in sustainable cost of under $1,000/oz our payback period is set between just two to three years. This operation is a testament to low cost, high reward surface remining strategy that now makes up a significant part of Pan African’s quality ounce portfolio.
Our operations at MTR are projected to produce between 50,000 to 60,000 ounces of gold annually, contributing to over 100,000 ounces from our combined surface remining operations. This strengthens our overall gold production which is expected to hit 215,000 ounces per year by the end of our 2025 financial year from our current portfolio of assets.
MTRs impact goes far beyond gold production, originally projected to create 700 jobs during construction and 300 when operational. We’ve exceeded those expectations currently providing 1,600 jobs with 500 to be active long-term. Over 1,000 of these jobs have gone to local workers proving our commitment to community development.
We’re not only mining for gold, we’re also cleaning up the environmental legacy left behind.
MTR was once an environmental headache with unfunded liabilities, but through advanced technology, responsible practices while mining, we’re reducing that liability, improving water quality and repurposing land for future developments.
As pioneers of renewable energy we’ve already commissioned utility scale soda plants at Evander and Barberton. Now we’re looking at a 20MWT renewables plant for MTR further driving our decarbonisation strategy and lowering operational costs in the longer-term.
Our goal is to make MTR a beacon of sustainable mining.
Pan African is proud to deliver success at Mogale, from rapid payback and job creation, to environmental restoration and renewable energy, this is more than just mining, its mining for a future and this, is only the beginning.
Cobus Loots is CEO of Pan African Resources.
