The Driefontein operation is a mature, deep to ultra-deep level gold mine, located near Carletonville, approximately 70km west of Johannesburg, in the Gauteng province of South Africa.
Statistics as at 31 December 2025
Life of mine
![Life of mine [icon]](https://www.sibanyestillwater.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/icon-gold-lom.svg){kind=icon}
2036
![Gold production [icon]](https://www.sibanyestillwater.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/icon-gold-production.svg){kind=icon}
Gold production
232,000oz
![All-in sustaining cost [icon]](https://www.sibanyestillwater.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/icon-pgm-costs.svg){kind=icon}
All-in sustaining cost
US$2,509/oz
![Workforce [icon]](https://www.sibanyestillwater.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/icon-pgm-workforce.svg){kind=icon}
Workforce
9,456
employees and contractors
For up-to-date quarterly production figures, please refer to the latest results booklet.
Driefontein was one of the assets acquired when Gold Fields unbundled its South African operations in February 2013. Mining operations have been carried out in the Far West Rand goldfields since the late 19th century and at Driefontein since the 1930s.
At 31 December 2025, Driefontein had total gold Mineral Reserves of 2.4Moz and gold Mineral Resources of 9.8Moz.
A closer look
- Exploration activities from 1933 to 1939 culminated in the registration of West Driefontein Mining Company in 1945
- West Driefontein started milling ore in 1952 following shaft sinking
- Further exploration lead to the adjoining East Driefontein Gold Mining Company Limited in 1968, with first production in 1972
- In 1981 East Driefontein Gold Mining Company Ltd became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Driefontein Consolidated Ltd
- In 1999, Gold Fields Limited obtained full control of Driefontein Gold Mine by buying AngloGold Ashanti Limited’s 21.5% shareholding
- In 2012, the conventional South African assets of Gold Fields Limited were unbundled into Sibanye Gold Limited
- In 2014, Sibanye-Stillwater completed the PFS of the Driefontein No. 5 Shaft Drop-down Project and drop-down development commenced. This decline project was deferred in 2018
- In 2019 the No. 4 Shaft Pillar extraction project commenced
- The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated national lockdown halted all production from April to the middle of May 2020, at which point a gradual build-up in production was initiated
- In 2021, successful exploration of the secondary VCR at No. 1 Shaft and No. 5 Shaft increased Mineral Reserves by >0.3Moz. Ongoing success has resulted in an extension of LoM to 2036
Driefontein consists of four vertical operating shafts, No. 1 Shaft, No. 4 Shaft, No. 5 Shaft and No. 8 Shaft, extending down to 50 Level (the lowest working level) at No. 5 Shaft, approximately 3,300m below surface.
Ore from all the shafts is processed at the Driefontein No. 1 plant to produce doré (a semi-pure alloy of gold and silver) that is subsequently refined at Rand Refinery Proprietary Limited (Rand Refinery)
Apart from the producing shafts, the Driefontein operation also has three shafts dedicated to pumping fissure water and one dedicated to rock hoisting only.
The Driefontein operation has been in production since the 1950s with the last shafts being commissioned in the late 1990s. The underground development is extensive, as can be expected of a mature mine of this size.
All footwall access development is mined using mechanical rail-bound methods that are well understood. All stoping is completed using conventional, narrow tabular methods and as such is relatively labour intensive.
The Driefontein operation is operated in terms of a converted mining right held by Sibanye Gold (Pty) Ltd under DMPR reference number GP30/5/1/2/2(51) MR (Driefontein MR), valid from 30 January 2007 to 29 January 2037, for gold and associated minerals, in respect of a mining area totalling 85.61km².
There are two active TSFs, Driefontein TSF1 and Driefontein TSF2, both of which are being fed with fresh underground tailings:
- Driefontein TSF2 has available capacity of 10.2Mt, with an estimated LoM depositional requirement of 8.5Mt, resulting in surplus capacity of 1.7Mt
- Driefontein TSF1 has available capacity of 10.3Mt, with an estimated LoM depositional requirement of 8.5Mt, resulting in surplus capacity of 1.8Mt
The exploration of the VCR (a secondary reef to the primary Carbon Leader reef that historically comprised the bulk of mining) at No. 1 shaft and No. 5 shaft continues to yield positive results with the VCR currently comprising 62% of the total mining planned over the LoM.
No. 1 shaft is at present mining primarily on the VCR. Continuous exploration drilling of the VCR at No. 1 shaft and No. 5 shaft is key to securing LoM extensions at these shafts due to the depletion of the Carbon Leader reef. Significant exploration drilling is planned to the west of the current payable areas at both No. 1 and No. 5 Shafts in 2026 and 2027.
Reference
- Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves report 2025
- Integrated report 2025: Performance and strategy
- Fact sheet: SLPs: Summary of projects in South Africa
- Driefontein Social and Labour Plan 2017-2021 (English)
- Driefontein Social and Labour Plan 2017-2021 (isiXhosa)
- Driefontein Social and Labour Plan 2017-2021 (Setswana)
