Richard Floyd

Blyvoor, which mined its first ore in 1942, is situated on the north-western edge of South Africa's Witwatersrand Basin, to the south of the town of Carletonville and 70km south-west of Johannesburg, in North West Province. The mine has both underground mining and surface tailings retreatment operations and a carbon-in-leach gold plant with the capacity to treat some 400 000tpm. 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 Main Reef, which is some 75m above the CLR horizon. The reefs vary in thickness from 5cm to 20cm. Recently there has been a shift in focus to mining the Main Reef for greater flexibility. Although not as consistent in grade, the Main Reef is less seismically active, offers greater potential for higher volumes and maintained real cost, and can be accessed through development of the mine’s existing infrastructure. Ore is mined from three underground shaft systems using the traditional narrow-reef, drill, blast and scape methods. Gold recovered from surface tailings retreatment accounts for approximately 27% of Blyvoor’s total production. While Blyvoor's life of mine is projected until 2030, its resource is widespread and production could extend for many years beyond this, depending on gold price and exchange rate performance.