TGME EXPLORATION, RIETFONTEIN AND PROJECTS...
Transcript of TGME EXPLORATION, RIETFONTEIN AND PROJECTS...
Stonewall Resources Limited ABN 30 131 758 177 Level 18, 111 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060 Tel: (02) 9460 2021 Email: [email protected] www.stonewallresources.com
26 March 2018 Australian Securities Exchange Level 5, 20 Bridge Street SYDNEY NSW 2000
ASX ANNOUNCEMENT
TGME EXPLORATION, RIETFONTEIN AND PROJECTS UPDATE Stonewall Resources Limited (ASX: SWJ, ASX: SWJO) (“The Company”) is pleased to provide an exploration update to the market regarding ongoing work at the TGME project in South Africa.
In Summary:
Diamond drilling at Theta Hill open cut project is expected to be completed in late April 2018, with a second diamond rig expected to arrive on site in early April 2018.
The annual JORC Resource review and update of the Company’s resources being undertaken by independent geologists Minxcon is proceeding well and is expected to be completed by late April 2018.
Pre‐feasibility study (“PFS”) activities continue at Rietfontein to include extending access now to the mine Level 4 Adit for sampling and bulk metallurgical samples.
Onsite legal and environmental planning work has been ongoing for the last 18 months, as part of converting the remaining Prospecting Rights (PR) to Mining Rights (MR). All of our core projects such as the Project Bentley open cut areas at Theta Hill and Columbia Hill and the Rietfontein and Beta underground projects are already covered by Mining Rights except for Vaalhoek which is covered under this PR to MR conversion process. The Vaalhoek PR to MR conversion process is proceeding well.
Site engineering visits to the Company’s TGME CIL plant have been completed by various South African engineering contractors to review and recommend a plant refurbishment program and cost.
As part of getting ready for planned near‐term mine development, all Environmental Compliance requirements are being regularly monitored and maintained up to date.
The Company is also continuing to engage with the local communities and BEE partners on potential recommencement of operations.
MD Rob Thomson commented, “We have been increasing the level of activities at the TGME project in recent months, with an acceleration of mine planning work ahead of our aim to declare maiden open‐cut reserves in 2018. With all mine approvals expected to be granted, and detailed costs estimates prepared, we are removing impediments to a quick resumption of gold production for the group. In addition, work on gaining underground access to Rietfontein for the purposes of resource/reserve drilling and metallurgical sampling is also continuing. This is an exciting time for shareholders of SWJ as we get closer to production, with the high level of activity and news flow expected to continue in 2018”.
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Theta Hill Drilling
The diamond drilling at Theta Hill is targeting shallow open cut resources to add to the existing open cut resources at the Vaalhoek Mine. The diamond drilling is being used to complete those RC holes which did not reach target depth and to confirm geology, structure and support RC compilation and modelling of a mineral resource.
This phase of diamond drilling is expected to be completed by the end of April 2018 with a maiden resource on the northern section of Theta Hill expected by the end of April and a further resource update on the remaining sections of Theta Hill expected in late May.
All the drilling taking place on Theta Hill is on an existing mining right.
JORC Resource 2012 Update
The Company in conjunction with independent geologists Minxcon is currently completing an annual full resource review with the intention of bringing all the resources up to date and ensuring compliance under the JORC 2012 code. There were a number of resources under the JORC 2004 code and this large body of work for the JORC 2012 update was commissioned in January 2018. This work is proceeding well and is expected to be completed by late April 2018. This JORC review will however not include the current Theta Hill drilling and therefore there will be later separate JORC announcements about Theta Hill expected in late May and thereafter as the Theta project develops.
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As part of this JORC 2012 update the Company and Minxcon are also completing internal studies assessing other various Project Bentley style open cut opportunities that have been progressively identified within the Company’s 620km2 tenements. .
Rietfontein PFS Activities
The Company has been progressing PFS level activities at the Rietfontein underground mine to ensure that this important high‐grade resource continues to be developed towards production in a complementary process to the potential open cut activities. Access into the internal workings of Rietfontien has been achieved from the original production level Adit 3 in the north, reopening Adit 1 above Adit 3 and from reopening Adit 19 some 3kms to the south at a level 2 position ‐ with these access areas confirming that the Rietfontein Scoping Study assumptions on mine conditions and proposed mining methods appear to be correct. While opening up on Level 3 we found that an internal production and men and materials decline from Level 3 to Level 4 remains in good condition however the decline was partially flooded to above Level 4.
Figure 1: Rietfontien, historical production Adit 3 in northern extent of mine.
Reviews with our consultant mining engineers Bara Engineers, to confirm the scoping study geological model and then to convert resources to reserves, has determined that it will be far more timely and cost effective to drill mainly from an underground position rather than the original plan to mainly drill from the surface.
The revised drill plan is now to access Level 4 via this internal decline from level 3, establish cross cuts into the hanging and footwalls and fan drill above and below this level to establish initial mining resources and to provide both drill samples for metallurgical and geotechnical testing.
Level 4 is also a 4km long reef drive, i.e. historically this production drive was constructed within the mineralised orebody so nowadays sampling can be readily extended to collect both reef grade and bulk metallurgical samples as well as from drilling and collecting samples from above and below this level.
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Figure 2: Rietfontein, location of Adit 19 in southern extent of mine
Figure 3: Rietfontein, location of decant points opened up at Level 4, northern extent of mine
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Figure 4: Rietfontien, decant point level 4 at northern extent of mine
Figure 5: Rietfontien, second decant point being opened up at northern extent of mine
Prospecting Right to Mining Rights Conversion
Stonewall Mining (South African subsidiary) has had legal and environmental teams onsite for the last 18 months converting the Company’s last 6 Prospecting Rights to Mining Rights. This is a long and detailed process, which in effect is done at a feasibility study level. The conversion process has included several detailed internal and external expert studies including the compilation of Mine Work Plans (MWP),
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transport studies, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Water Use Licensing (WUL), and an extensive Public Review process
The Company has seven approved mining rights and once the conversion of these last 6 Prospecting Rights into two separate mining rights is completed, the whole 620 km2 of land package owned by the Company will be covered by approved mining rights.
All of our core projects such as the Project Bentley open cut areas at Theta Hill and Columbia Hill and the Rietfontein and Beta underground projects are already covered by Mining Rights except for Vaalhoek which is covered under this PR to MR conversion process. The Vaalhoek PR to MR conversion process is proceeding well and has completed the final Public Review process and is in its final stage of PR to MR conversion.
Figure 6: PR to MR Consultation process with interested and affected parties
Engineering Companies Review of TGME Plant Refurbishment
The Company has had several process engineering companies visit the fully permitted CIL plant and tailings dam to complete a first pass review of expected cost and timelines to bring the plant back into operation.
The general approach is to have a low capital cost and short timeline refurbishment approach to accommodate oxide ores from the Project Bentley open cut mines.
The Company expects to have this review completed in 2Q’ 2018 at which time the company will provide an update to shareholders
Environmental Compliance
The Company continues to keep all of its environmental compliance activities up to date with Environmental Compliance in a state of “ready for an immediate TGME plant start up”.
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Figure 7: Regular Environmental Monitoring
Social and Labor Plan
The Company has continued to honor its commitments to the Social and Labor Plan even after the TGME operations closed in 2015 to ensure that the “Social license” remains in place. The main activity at present is the ongoing assistance to the local school through the payment of teachers and a secretary at the school as well as the provision of printing facilities. The Company also assists with repairs to the school and sporting groups and this activity continues. The assistance that the Company has provided to the school is part of the reason why the Company enjoys a good relationship with the local community. In addition, the Company works closely with the DMR to ensure compliance with the Social and Labor Plan as it is a requirement from the DMR in order to keep the Company’s Rights intact.
Figure 8: Social and Labor Plan: Teachers are financially supported by the Company at a local Pilgrim's Rest school and showing a visit by a Company representative
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ABOUTSTONEWALLRESOURCESLIMITED Stonewall Resources Limited (ASX: SWJ) is a gold development company that holds a range of prospective gold assets in a world‐renowned South African gold mining region. These assets include several surface and near‐surface high‐grade gold projects which provide cost advantages relative to other gold producers in the region.
Stonewall’s core project is TGME, located next to the historical gold mining town of Pilgrim’s Rest, in Mpumalanga Province, some 370km east of Johannesburg by road or 95km north of Nelspruit (Capital City of Mpumalanga Province).
Following small scale gold production from 2011 – 2015, the Company is currently focussing on the refurbishment of the existing CIL plant and nearby mines with the intention of resuming gold production.
The Company aims to build a solid production platform to over 100kozpa of gold production, based around developing open cut and shallow, adit‐entry underground mines. Stonewall has access to over 43 historical mines and prospect areas that can be accessed and explored.
For more information please visit: www.stonewallresources.com , or contact: General Enquiries Investor Enquiries Rob Thomson, Managing Director Bill Guy, Director Stonewall Resources Limited or Stonewall Resources Limited M: +61 409 843 963 M: + 61 408 345 378 [email protected] [email protected]