Heritage Cases

West Wits is proposing to establish a mining operation in an area located south of Roodepoort and to the north of Soweto in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng. West Wits has applied for a mining right in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (No. 28 of 2002) (MPRDA) as amended, for gold, uranium and silver over various portions of the farms Roodepoort 236 IQ, Roodepoort 237 IQ, Tshekisho 710 IQ, Uitval 677 IQ, Vlakfontein 238 IQ, Vogelstruisfontein 231 IQ, Vogelstruisfontein 233 IQ, Witpoortjie 245 IQ, Glenlea 228 IQ (‘the project’). West Wits currently holds a prospecting right (GP 30/5/1/1/2/10035 PR) over a number of farms including the above listed farms. The prospecting right (MPT No. 29/2016) was ceded from Mintails SA Soweto Cluster (Proprietary) Limited to West Wits. Consent for the transfer of the prospecting right in terms of Section 11(2) of the MPRDA was granted by the DMR in 2018. In broad terms the proposed project would involve the development of five open pit mining areas (referred to as the Mona Lisa Bird Reef Pit, Roodepoort Main Reef Pit, Rugby Club Main Reef Pit, 11 Shaft Main Reef Pit and Kimberley Reef East Pit) and refurbishment of two existing infrastructure complexes (referred to as the Bird Reef Central Infrastructure Complex and Kimberley Reef East Infrastructure Complex) to access the existing underground mine workings. The project would also include the establishment of run of mine (ROM) ore stockpiles, topsoil stockpiles and waste rock dumps as well as supporting infrastructure including material storage and handling facilities (for fuel, lubricants, general and hazardous substances), general and hazardous waste management facilities, sewage management facilities, water management infrastructure, communication and lighting facilities, centralised and satellite offices, workshops, washbays, stores, change houses, lamprooms, vent fans and security facilities. Primary mineral processing will take place on site, where ore will be crushed prior to transportation off-site. All run-of mine material will be transported to an existing processing plant off-site for concentrating of minerals.