Ezulwini Gold Mine

 mine, gold mine

his is the mining right for the Ezulwini Gold Mine which is also known as Cooke 4 and is part of the West Rand area located to the west and southwest of Johannesburg, and as of August 2016 ceased operations and was scheduled for re-watering. Ezulwini/Cooke4 has a long history starting in 1961 as the Waterpan Gold Mine, then over time it was owned by several mining companies until its closure.

Gold exploration started in the West Rand in 1886 and in 1889 the Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Company Limited (REGM) was established. In 1961 the Waterpan Gold Mine was registered by Western Areas Gold Mining Company and in 1971 Randfontein Estates established the mines/shafts: Cooke 1 in 1971, Cooke 2 in 1974, and Cooke 3 in 1981. Both operations operated separately and adjacent to each other until 1997 when Western Areas was purchased by Randfontein Estates who renamed the operation to Cooke 4.

In the second half of 2000 Harmony Gold acquired Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Company Limited but in 2001 ceased both mining and pumping operations and put the mine under care and maintenance. In 2003 the South Deep mine, which is adjacent to the south of Ezulwini and owned at that time by Placer Dome Western Areas Joint Venture, took over pumping operations as the rising water could affect their mining operations which are at a lower elevation. However, those pumping operations were ceased in 2005 and the mine was allowed to flood which led to the Department of Minerals and Energy terminating the mining right.

In 2005 Simmer and Jack Mines Limited received approval from the Department of Minerals and Energy for its application for a New Order Mining Right that would be held by its subsidiary Ezulwini Mining Company (Propriety) Limited. That mining right covered the Cooke 4 operations and in 2006 that order was officially registered. Simmer and Jack proceeded to start dewatering the mine and construction of a new Gold and Uranium Plant. The gold plant was commissioned 2008 and the uranium plant in 2009.

In 2011 Gold One International Limited acquired Rand Uranium which owned Cooke 1, 2, and 3. Gold One then acquired Ezulwini Mining Company to amalgamate with its current Cooke operations and recommissioned the uranium plant in 2014. Sibanye then became the current owner after acquiring Rand Uranium and Ezulwini from Gold One where Gold One would merge its 74% interest in Rand Uranium and Ezulwiniinto Sibanye in exchange for a 17% interest in Sibanye.

Sibanye then progressed with mining but in August 2016 stopped operations at the mine and in 2017 planned to cease pumping operations and allow the mine to flood. However, part of the re-watering of the mine included an agreement with South Deep to create a plug between the connected workings so that South Deep workings would not be affected by water ingress from Ezulwini.

Ezulwini mined the Upper Elsburg Reef for gold and the Middle Elsburg Reef for uranium at depths around 1000 m using a single shaft for access and hoisting, and a shaft for ventilation and emergency egress, as well as secondary access. The main shaft has a diameter of 8 m and a depth of 1519 m and the ventilation shaft, situation 40m to the NE, has a depth of 1102 m. Both shafts are in the same shaft pillar which has a elliptical shape approximately 480m on strike and 450m on dip. The stratum is east - west and the strata dips at an average inclination of 16 degrees to the south.