SHOWCASE MINE OF THE WEEK - DRIEFONTEIN MINE!!

The Driefontein mine, owned by Sibanye Stillwater, is located near Carletonville in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. The mine lies within the West Wits Line Goldfield of the Witwatersrand Basin. It is currently the fourth deepest mine in the world with its depth extended up to 3.4km. The Driefontein mine operation could be traced back to 1952. The mine consists of eight producing shaft systems extracting ore from three reefs, namely Ventersdorp Contact Reef (VCR), Carbon Leader Reef (CLR) and the Middelvlei Reef. Driefontein uses a combination of longwall and scattered mining methods. The mine produced 709,800oz of gold during 2010. The mine site includes three metallurgical plants, along with a recovery plant for ore processing. The estimated ore reserve at Driefontein as of December 2012 was 4.369Moz - Mining Technology.