JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The new elution circuit and smelt house facility at DRDGOLD's Far West Gold Recoveries is performing to specification.

“The initial capital estimate was met, and we came in on time and within budget,” DRDGOLD CEO Niël Pretorius reported during a webinar in which DRDGOLD CFO Henriette Hooijer and DRDGOLD COO Jaco Schoeman also participated to provide an update on the progress of Vision 2028, DRDGOLD's five-project programme involving a capital expenditure of R10-billion. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

The new facility was commissioned on Tuesday, July 14, when the first doré gold bar was poured.

A doré bar is a semi-pure, unrefined alloy of gold produced directly at a mine site.

Once fully ramped up, the new facility will increase monthly plant throughput to 1.2-million tons a month and contribute 16 years of mine life at that rate.

Over the next few weeks – and in the months to follow before the rest of the Far West Gold Recoveries infrastructure is commissioned – the plan is to commence the processing and treating material at the new carbon-in-leach circuit, while concurrently conducting a full service of the existing circuit that has been in operation since 2018.

Up to now, Far West Gold Recoveries personnel have had to send away their output without ever seeing its conversion to gold.

But all that changed this week when a beaming plant manager held aloft gold that weighed just over 17 kg – and the appreciative workforce witnessed end product being produced before their eyes.

“It was a good event for us,” an upbeat Pretorius remarked during the webinar covered by Mining Weekly.

After the smelt, the gold bar was whisked away by helicopter, roughly four minutes after the above picture was taken, which is the nature of the gold transportation logistics being deployed.

The helipad next to the smelt house is also fully walled, which means that security, logistics and the flow of material played a big part in the facility’s design and construction.

Four years ago, DRDGOLD, as part of its ongoing commitment to optimising its portfolio of assets, initiated a capital investment programme aimed at structurally reconfiguring the cost profile of Ergo, the gold-from-waste operation on Gauteng’s East Rand, and developing the infrastructure required to extend its life-of-mine, while increasing both throughput and production capacity.

It was a two-part programme, the first involving the construction of a 60 MW solar plant and a 187 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at Ergo.

Construction started in financial year (FY) 2022 and the project was commissioned in FY 2025.

This investment has fundamentally reset Ergo’s cost profile, strengthening energy security, reducing its carbon footprint, and demonstrating how investment in strategic infrastructure can improve both operational resilience and financial performance.

Currently, the solar and BESS plant supplies around 47% of Ergo’s electricity requirements for around 12 hours a day. 

The second part, the R10-billion capital infrastructure investment programme involving five projects, was aimed at establishing tailings storage and plant throughput capacity capable of lifting combined throughput from the company’s two operations, Ergo and Far West Gold Recoveries, from around 2.15-million tonnes a month to three-million tonnes a month, and growing annual gold production to six tonnes by 2028, through the programme dubbed Vision 2028, on which construction started in FY 2024.

Now, that vision is being realised with its first major milestone being the resumption of deposition on to the Daggafontein tailings storage facility (TSF).

On June 25, water was first pumped to the facility and the first deposition of tailings followed on July 6. This project adds 120-million tonnes of tailings storage capacity to the operation, and represents the first completed Vision 2028 project.

At Far West Gold Recoveries, commissioning is now underway on the expanded Driefontein 2 (DP2) plant, where the new elution circuit and smelt house were commissioned this week, with the plant pouring its first gold on the same day. Once fully ramped up following commissioning, DP2 will increase throughput to 1.2-million tonnes a month from 500 000 tonnes a month.

Supporting this expansion is the 95%-complete 135 km pipeline network, which links DP2, the large regional tailings storage facility (RTSF) and the Libanon reclamation area.

Construction of the Libanon reclamation pump station will start once the required water-use licence has been received, completing the final link in the system.

Designed as an 800 ha lined RTSF, it remains the centrepiece of Vision 2028. It will initially receive 1.2-million tonnes of tailings a month, with capacity to double up to 2.4-million tonnes a month.

Once fully developed, it will accommodate up to 800-million tonnes of tailings, underpinning Far West Rand Gold’s long-term production profile for decades to come.

The final project in the sequence is Ergo’s Withok TSF. Once regulatory approvals have been secured, which is expected by December 2027, and following an estimated two years of construction, Withok will add around 310-million tonnes of deposition capacity, providing additional operational flexibility and extending Ergo’s long-term optionality.

Taken together, Daggafontein, DP2, the pipeline network and RTSF are designed to increase DRDGOLD’s throughput capacity to around 2.85-million tonnes a month, and an estimated gold production profile of between 185 000 oz and 195 000 oz a year, depending on throughput and extraction efficiencies. 

Once Withok is commissioned, another 150 000 t of deposition capacity is added, to take total throughput capacity to three-million tonnes a month.

The programme has been designed so that commissioning follows a managed sequence with each project unlocking the next. This protects operational continuity, progressively increases throughput and positions the business for sustainable long-term growth.

“We’re now seeing years of planning and investment translate into operating assets,” said Pretorius, while pointing out that Vision 2028 is creating the infrastructure that will support the next generation of DRDGOLD.

“As each project comes online, we’re not simply adding capacity, we’re strengthening the resilience of the business, improving our ability to generate free cash flow and creating a platform for long-term shareholder value,” added Pretorius. 

Capital expenditures on the five projects delivering Vision 2028 are:

• R0.5-billion for the Daggafontein TSF at Ergo;
• R1.9-billion for the DP2 expansion at Far West Gold Recoveries;
• R1.2-billion for the 135 km of pipeline required by DP2, RTSF and Libanon;
• R3.4-billion for RTSF at Far West Gold Recoveries; and
• at R2.5-billion for Withok TSF at Ergo.