Nigel Gold Mine

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The East Rand Mining Operations (“ERMO”) cover a large area of the East Rand Basin (“ERB”) on the East Rand, Gauteng. The mining licence areas together measure approximately 36km from north to south and approximately 20km from east to west. The ERMO consists of three main areas and a processing plant, namely:

Consolidated Modderfontein Mines 1979 Ltd (“Cons Modder”), which is situated in the north of the ERB. The lease area of Cons Modder is 10,927ha in extent. Up until January 2005, when open pit operations were suspended, Cons Modder was host to all the company’s active open pit operations, and was the main exploration target area for additional open pit resources. There are three equipped underground shafts at Cons Modder, which are all actively producing.

Grootvlei Proprietary Mines Ltd (“Grootvlei”), which is situated in the eastern portion of the ERB near the town of Springs and borders on the eastern side of Cons Modder and the northern end of Nigel. The total extent of the area is 5,357ha and consists of three producing shafts and a dedicated pumping shaft that is centrally situated to keep the water level in the ERB at the minus 737mbs level by pumping 65 to 80Ml of water out of the basin per day.

Nigel Gold Mining Company (Pty) Ltd (“Nigel”) is located in the southern portion of the ERB extending over an area of 11,945ha. There is currently only one operating shaft, Marievale #2, in this section. Nigel was host to a small open pit operation in the past, which has been suspended and rehabilitated.

The processing plant, tailing facilities and main offices are located on the Grootvlei property.

About Ndlovu Shaft:
The shaft is situated at the Consolidated Modderfontein mine, East Rand.
North West Shaft as it was previously known, has been renamed ‘Ndlovu’, a
nguni word for elephant (which represents resilience, wisdom, power,
dominance).
The shaft (rectangular unlined) is 3 x 13 metres; the number of compartments
following the new configuration, have been reduced from 6 to 3.
About Consolidated Modderfontein Mine:
The mine closed down in 1962 due to a harsh economic climate: gold price,
exchange rate and working costs.
One million tons of ore at 7.6 g/t remained at the shaft when operations
ceased in 1956.
The envisaged output levels are estimated between 30 000 & 32 000 tonnes
per month: that is both ore and waste.
Mining is scheduled to begin immediately with the hoisting of 15 000 tonnes
of ore by November; the shaft is expected to operate at full capacity by the
end of 2009.
Planned reserves are available up to the year 2015 while there are additional
areas within the mine set to boost production for an added period of 4 years
of mining.
Three hundred and fifty people (350) will be employed for the operation.

General Project Description and Location
ERMO is a gold mining operation, positioned on the East Rand Basin (“ERB”) of the Witwatersrand Gold
Field, located approximately 40km east of Johannesburg, centered around the town of Springs, Gauteng
Province, South Africa. The ERMO are made up of three underground mining areas, namely:-
• Consolidated Modderfontein Mines 1979 Ltd (“Cons Modder”). The operations are situated in the
north of the ERB. There are three equipped underground shafts at Cons Modder, which are all
actively producing, namely 14 Shaft (“#”), 9# and NW#;
• Grootvlei Proprietary Mines Ltd (“Grootvlei”), which is situated in the eastern portion of the ERB
near the town of Springs and borders the eastern side of Cons Modder and the northern end of
Nigel. It consists of four producing shafts (4#, 6# 1# and 8#) and a dedicated water pumping shaft
that is centrally situated (3#); and
• Nigel Gold Mining Company (Pty) Ltd (“Nigel”) is located in the southern portion of the ERB. There
is currently only one operating shaft, namely Marievale 2#, in this section.
The processing plant, tailing facilities and main offices are located on the Grootvlei property.

History
Gold production on the ERB commenced in 1888, when the Nigel Gold Mine came into operation, followed
by the Van Ryn Estates in 1892. The three ERMO mines have not always belonged to the same owners, and
have undergone many boundary changes since mining began in the area.
In December 2006, Pamodzi Gold acquired the Grootvlei, Cons Modder and Nigel Operations through a
merger agreement with Bema.
Geology
The ERMO occurs on the edge of the ERB of the Witwatersrand Basin. The ERB extends from southeast of
the town of Benoni southeast towards Nigel and Heidelberg. The ERB has been the most productive
goldfield to date within the Witwatersrand Basin, having produced over 9,500t of gold, as well as being an
important producer of uranium (UK9A Reef). Geologically, the East Rand Gold Field is an extension of the
Central Rand Gold Field and contains all the same units.
The conglomerate reefs mined at ERMO include the Kimberley, Black, C, MK and Main Reefs. All these
reefs are only mined for their gold content, although the Kimberley Reefs also contain uranium.
The geology on the mine is well understood as mining has been carried out on the shafts over a long period
of time. All of the current information is available on the stope and development sheets, although some
of the historical information has gone missing over the years as the mine has changed ownership.

Reference for information:
pamodzigold-online.co.za/operations_east.php
pamodzigold-online.co.za/pdf/pr/pr_120508.pdf
pamodzigold-online.co.za/pdf/other/cpr_300708.pdf

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