GOLD MINING: Junior sets its sights on Soweto
Soweto is getting its own mine, or series of pits, as an Australian junior revisits former gold mine lease areas nearby
Though Soweto wasn’t designed to house mineworkers, who dwelt in mine compounds, its proximity to the massive gold mines on the western arm of the Witwatersrand gives it many historic links to the industry. Now it has lent its name to the Soweto Cluster Gold Project being developed by an Australian junior, West Wits Mining, on previous mine lease areas between Soweto’s borders and those of Roodepoort. West Wits is not the first to revisit the old mining areas around Johannesburg. DRDGold, Central Rand Gold and Mintails have all done so, with greater or lesser degrees of success. West Wits has projects in SA and Indonesia. Its SA projects are already producing, but its Derewo River project, though in a highly prospective area near established mines like Grasberg and Ok Tedi, has encountered various hurdles including illegal mining. The company is 10.5% owned by DRDGold, whose CEO Niel Pretorius is a nonexecutive director. West Wits GM of investor relations Tim Chapman says DRDGold so...
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