Record prices spur drive to get more “dumped” gold

(Reuters) – The vast majority of South Africa’s gold lies deep underground but atop the mine dumps scattered around Johannesburg, you can actually walk on the stuff.

“You’re standing on gold right now,” said Charles Symons, chief operating officer for DRDGold, as he surveys a yawning crater 30 meters (90 feet) deep and 250 meters long blasted out of the Elsburg dump to the south of Johannesburg.

“But the specks on your shoe wouldn’t buy you a piece of bubble-gum,” he says with a laugh as a water cannon in the distance blasts more dirt from the side of the crater.

For decades, South African miners have been extracting residual gold from the dumps, comprised of crushed rock and other waste material pulled out of mines in tunneling and blasting operations.

Some of the mines date back to the original gold rush that gave birth to Johannesburg more than a century ago and would have been dragged there by mules. Since extraction methods were also primitive, a lot of gold also got tossed into the rubbish.

Sophisticated chemical methods have enabled companies to “re-mine” the dumps, Johannesburg landmarks that resemble giant hills of sand. But even 21st century technology only enables them to get around a third of the residual gold.

Gold’s record run means there are fat profits to be had if you can squeeze more gold out, and companies like DRDGold are on a scientific quest to do just that.

1 2 3 4

Tags: Gold analysis, Gold future prices, Gold futures, Gold investment, Gold news, Gold price, Gold price forecast, gold prices, Silver price, silver prices

Posted by VBN on Sep 24 2011. Filed under Gold. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry