26th Jun 2014 08:45
LONDON (Alliance News) - Central Rand Gold Ltd Thursday said the water level within its Central Basin mining area in South Africa has started to fall, as the performance of its high density sludge plant has improved, opening the possibility to resume mining in areas that had been flooded.
The South Africa-based gold mining and exploration company said that the reduction in the water level provides the first substantive evidence of the ability of the submersible pumps and the high density sludge plant to drain water from the entire Central Basin, which hosts the company's significant resource base and exploration target.
"This is the first time since 2008, when the previous pump station was flooded, that the rising water table in the Central Basin has been halted. The drop in the water table is a positive indication that the company's large remaining resource within the Central Basin can still be realistically de-watered and accessed," said Chief Executive Johan du Toit in a statement.
At the end of last month, Central Rand Gold said that the Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority had commenced pumping and treatment operations of its high density sludge plant.
The company said Thursday that during the commissioning phase, no "fatal flaws" in the design of the high density sludge plant were identified.
"With the high density sludge plant now able to operate at full capacity, it is further hoped that we will see an acceleration in the drop of the water table so that the mining operations can re-access some of the mining areas which were abandoned due to the rising water table," Johan du Toit added.
Central Rand Gold shares were trading 3.6% higher Thursday morning, at 10.10 pence.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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