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Australia-based mining company West Wits Mining has produced its first gold ore at its Witwatersrand Basin Project (WBP) in South Africa.
The company said the ore had been extracted as part of the Early Mining Initiative, a project meant to utilise the areas already exposed by surface operation at the WBP.
It also said that the ore tonnes from the Early Mining Initiative would supplement the tonnes from the more significant mining operations at the WBP; surface works began in September 2021.
The mine is expected to produce between 5,000 tonnes and 8,000 tonnes of gold ore during the Early Mining Initiative. Stage 1 of the larger project will increase capacity to 53,0003 ounces per annum, with total production rising to 95,0003 ounces per annum.
Jac van Heerden, managing director of West Wits Mining, described ore extraction as "a historic moment" for the company and said it had created a benchmark for how the remainder of the project would be executed.
