First funds received from Sol Plaatje West Wits Mining Limited...

First funds received from Sol Plaatje

West Wits Mining Limited (“West Wits” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce that it has received its first payment from the mining contractor from the sale of ore extracted from the Sol Plaatje Project (“SPP”) which forms part of the Soweto Project Cluster Gold Project, Gauteng Province, South Africa.
Michael Quinert, Chairman commented, “The first payment from SPP is a major milestone for West Wits as it marks the commencement of commercial recoveries from the Soweto Cluster Gold Project. We look forward to a continued ramp up of production at SPP which will provide an excellent platform to develop further surface operations and expand the Company’s significant 1.374 Moz JORC statement.1”
Production from SPP is now generating surplus cashflow after allowing for start-up and ongoing costs and is performing in line with expectations. West Wits received an initial payment of circa ZAR 710,000 or circa AUD$70,000. This amount represents payment for approximately 2,200 tonnes of the circa 15,000 of ore supplied from SPP to date. Under the agreement West Wits will be paid 0.6 grams of gold (approx. US$23 on current gold prices) for each tonne of ore mined. Further payments are expected after monthly reconciliations of production results.
The head contractor has now engaged a second and larger mining contractor for SPP. This appointment significantly increases the mining fleet and will support a major increase in production rates over the next two to three months. To date approx. 15,000 tonnes of ore have been extracted with the mining contractor projecting a steady rise of ore tonnage to approx. 14,000 - 15,000 tonnes per month. However there is now capacity to increase this scheduled production rate even further based on the increased and improved mining fleet.
Currently 130,000 tonnes is scheduled for extraction in Stage 1, over 12 months with a further 50,000 tonnes scheduled in Stage 2 over a further 6 months. The Company is now also working on finalising the mining plan for a further stage, comprising pit 3 at SPP which could add approx. a further 90,000 tonnes to the operation.
The Company will continue to provide further operational updates for SPP as production continues to increase and further tonnes are processed.