Driefontein

Overview

Driefontein started production in 1952 and has historically produced more than 108Moz of gold.

Driefontein is located in the West Wits Line of the Witwatersrand Basin, near Carletonville, approximately 70km west of Johannesburg in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Topography is characterised by moderately undulating plains, classified as Bankenveld, consisting of grassland with livestock farming widespread in the surrounding areas.

Driefontein is a large, established, shallow to ultra-deep-level gold mine The current mine infrastructure consists of six producing shaft complexes that mine open ground and pillars (white areas) with the deepest operating level currently some 3,420m below surface (50 Level at 5 Shaft) and three gold processing plants. The principal mining takes place on the Carbon Leader Reef (CLR), which constitutes almost 62% of the Mineral Reserves, the VCR 32%, the Middlevlei Reef (MVR) 6% and the remainder from surface sources.

In 2017, underground production at Driefontein of 13,262kg; 426,400oz (2016: 13,920kg, 447,600oz) was 5% lower year-on-year, due to an 8% decline in yield partially offset by a 4% increase in throughput. The decrease in grade was primarily due to lower grades at the Driefontein 5 and 8 shafts, which were expected and in line with plan. Gold production from surface sources decreased by 21% to 1,742kg (2016: 2,210kg), in line with the decline in yield owing to depletion of the higher-grade surface resources. Surface throughput remained steady at 3.9Mt.