【出版时间及名称】:2010年2月南非黄金行业研究报告
【作者】:加拿大皇家商业银行
【文件格式】:pdf
【页数】:40
【目录或简介】:
PGMs & South African Golds
Trip Notes - Who Needs What When
Event
RBC visited several South African PGM and gold projects around the Indaba
Conference. A common theme we discerned was a need to raise funds for
projects; on pages 3-4, we summarise our estimates of each company's
requirements.
• Kroondal vs Crocodile River: Successful Contrasts - Aquarius
Platinum's Kroondal and Eastern Platinum's Crocodile River are shallow
UG2 mines that are doing quite well relative to many other PGM
operations. Yet, the two are virtually chalk-and-cheese operationally. At
Kroondal, Aquarius has taken an innovative approach, mechanically-mining
a wide cut and using a Dense Media Separator. Heavily-faulted Crocodile
River is much steeper-dipping, requiring conventional mining. In our view,
good management of dilution, ground conditions and development have
been the keys to success here, achieved in the face of a host of detractors
and nay-sayers.
• Fiery Innovation At Jubilee & Sylvania - Jubilee's ConRoast smelting
technology could potentially revolutionise the PGM industry. Intriguingly,
the company is investigating a still-secret "third" downstream refining
technology that could apparently see much higher payabilities than the
more-conventional converting and leaching routes. Jubilee and Sylvania
recently agreed to pool their smelting and tailings retreatment expertise to
exploit resources previously deemed uneconomic (typically low grade
and/or high chrome).
• Consolidation Opportunities Abound Around The Pilanesberg -
Rooderand could potentially be much bigger for Platinum Australia than
current flagship Smokey Hills. To us, consolidation of the various
properties in the northern Pilanesberg area would make economic sense;
myriad deal combinations seem possible, if the parties can agree terms.
• New Gold Kids Modder East & Burnstone vs South Deep-zilla - Gold
One's Modder East is a new gold mine in ramp-up; the current mine life is
short, but there are potential life-extending resources to be explored on the
property and around it. Great Basin's larger Burnstone project, soon to
commence production, is trialling longhole stooping. This, if successful,
could yield a range of potential benefits. These mines are relatively-small,
shallow (<500m), low-risk operations compared to Gold Field's
challenging, mammoth South Deep. The mine is targeting 300 koz in FY10
(almost as much as Modder East and Burnstone at steady-state combined)
and >750 koz by FY14. Unusually, South Deep will be applying
mechanised longhole and drift-and-fill methods at depths of 2.5-3 km(!).
• The Golden "Oldies" - Last but not least, we also visited DRDGOLD's
ErgoGold, Central Rand Gold's CMR and Pan African's Barberton.
ErgoGold and CMR are mining "old" Witswaterand gold resources, except
that ErgoGold is a large-scale low-risk surface tailings retreatment
operation whereas CMR is trialling innovative mining and processing
techniques virtually under Johannesburg. Barberton, meanwhile, is an old
greenstone belt mine that just keeps on going.