South Africa’s top gold miner names Nel new CEO amid copper pivot
Harmony Gold appointed Beyers Nel as chief executive officer.
Troilus Gold has received a Certificate of Authorization from Quebec’s ministry of sustainable development, environment and fight against climate change (MELCC) to dewater the Z87 and J4 pits at the past-producing Troilus project.
“Obtaining the Certificate of Authorization from MELCC to dewater the J4 and Z87 pits is an important milestone for the company,” Justin Reid, the company’s CEO and director, said in a release.
“Our environmental team carefully studied the physical surroundings and engaged with the local community to develop a dewatering plan that will leave minimal impact on the surrounding environment and once complete, allow our technical team to safely engage in further drilling in the area.”
Last month, the company released an updated resource for the Troilus site, with 177.3 million indicated tonnes grading 0.75 g/t gold
A water treatment and pumping facility, to support the dewatering work, has been installed at the site.
The former Troilus mine generated over 2 million oz. of gold and 70,000 tons of copper between 1996 and 2010. Once the operations wound down, the two pits filled up with water from rain and snow melt. Dewatering of the two pits is expected to allow additional exploration work at the site.
In addition, on Aug. 5, Troilus announced that it is the first exploration company to receive the Ecologo certification, based on a standard launched by Quebec’s Mineral Exploration Association (QMEA) in November 2019.
The Ecologo program is aimed at recognizing and promoting environmental, social and economic best practices, and is the first certification of this type for explorers.
The QMEA standard was then adapted by Underwriters Laboratories (which is accredited by the Standards Council of Canada) to create the Ecologo certification.
Last month, the company released an updated resource for the Troilus site, with 177.3 million indicated tonnes grading 0.75 g/t gold, 0.08% copper and 1.17 g/t silver, as well as 116.7 million inferred tonnes at 0.73 g/t gold, 0.07% copper and 1.04 g/t silver.
The indicated resource contains 5 million gold-equivalent oz. and features a gold-equivalent grade of 0.87 g/t; the inferred portion features 3.2 million gold-equivalent oz., based on a 0.84 g/t gold-equivalent grade.
Troilus plans to complete a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the project, which is expected towards the end of the third quarter of this year.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
