South Africa police standoff with illegal gold miners escalates
The police sealed off access to the Buffelsfontein gold mine in Stilfontein several weeks ago to deny the miners access to food and other essentials.
Astra Mining, an Australian diversified mining company, has signed an option agreement to fund the acquisition of an operating gold mine in Cambodia which presently has an exploration licence.
The agreement provides Astra with a majority interest in Petone Mining (Asia) which has the acquisition agreement for the mine. A mining licence will be applied for prior to production expansion of the mine.
The first report on the gold exploration license has been received showing the 222 square kilometre lease in the Ratanakiri Province has the potential to host a significant gold deposit.
Astra Mining CEO Dr Jaydeep Biswas says while the report is preliminary and assay data from samples collected in the field are yet to be received, early indications are that a small tonnage of high-grade ore is immediately accessible for processing.
