Blyvoor

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Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mining Company Limited (Blyvoor) has underground and surface operations and is situated on the north-western edge of the Witwatersrand Basin, to the south of the town of Carletonville in North West Province. Established in 1937, it was the first mine on the West Wits line. Production started here in 1942 and Blyvoor has been an operation of DRDGOLD since 1997.

Blyvoor has two main gold-bearing horizons: the Carbon Leader Reef (CLR), which is one of the principal orebodies of the Carletonville goldfield; and the Middelvlei Reef, which is some 75 metres above the CLR horizon. At present, mining is concentrated on No 4 and No 6 Shafts with some mining taking place from No 5 Shaft.

Blyvoor also treats gold-bearing slimes dams and waste rock dumps. The mine’s carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant is currently processing some 300 000 tonnes of slimes per month.

Growth projects

The Way Ahead Project (formerly known as Phase 2 of the No 2 Sub-shaft Project) – to access the orebody between 27 and 35 levels from No 5 Shaft – began in July 2006. The first raise borehole between 31 and 33 levels was completed in FY08 with work on the second, between 27 and 31 levels, scheduled for completion during the first quarter of FY09 when first production will start. Production from the Way Ahead Project is expected to rise to 3 100 ounces in the fourth quarter of FY09.

At No 6 Shaft, work began on the 15/29 Incline Project to open up the Main Reef and CLR reserves of some 540 000 square metres with a recovered grade averaging 4.8g/t. Production is expected to begin in the second quarter of FY09 at a rate of 1 000 tonnes per month, rising to 12 000 tonnes per month over the next 12 months. This project has an estimated life of 10 years.

Blyvoor, which has plant capacity of around 400 000 tonnes a month, produced 141 172 ounces in FY08. The mine employs some 4 500 people including contractors.

Blyvoor: Underground plan