Caledonia dusts off Barbrook gold mine

With the price of gold on the rise, Caledonia Mining (CAL-T) is re-evaluating the geology at its Barbrook mine in South Africa, hoping to resume production.

Production was suspended in the summer of 1997 following a drop in the gold price. At the time, Barbrook was producing 17,000 tonnes of ore per month, averaging 4.26 grams gold per tonne. Gold recoveries were about 65%.

Under its new plan, Caledonia will begin mining and processing at the monthly rate of 3,000 tonnes, and this will gradually be increased to 12,000 tonnes per month.

Caledonia plans to use its new “pre-ox” process in combination with Mintek’s resin gold recovery process. Tests indicate a 20% boost to recovery rates. Mintek intends to convert Barbrook’s existing carbon-in-leach circuit into a resin-in-leach system.

At the time operations were suspended, measured and indicated reserves at Barbrook stood at 1.7 million tonnes grading 6.25 grams gold.

Caledonia is preparing production schedules and mine plans, and recommissioning work has begun on both the underground workings and the metallurgical plant. Production is to resume later this year.

Caledonia is also considering a return to production at its 96%-owned Eersteling gold mine in the South Africa’s Northern Province. Eersteling contains a resource of 2.6 million tonnes grading 7 grams gold per tonne, equivalent to 530,000 contained ounces of gold. Less than 10% of the property’s mineral rights have been explored. The mine comes with a 25,000-tonne-per-month metallurgical plant and five fully equipped shafts.