South Africa’s Gold mining company AngloGold Ashanti is set to unleash a new technology to be used in the gold industry in 2015.
The technology involves the dispensing of conventional drilling and blasting and backfills cavities with ultra high strength cement.
AngloGold CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan (Venkat) said that the board had been taken to view the roll-out and a presentation on the new technology which might be implemented by the company next year.
“We are seeing a lot of interest come through from investors in our stock on what this can unlock for our South African operations,” Venkat said.
An update which was made during one of the presentations stated that the new technology was in the first stages of commencement of production from its trial gold mining sites and it had progressed beyond pure technology trials.
The presentation also stated that at the Moab and Kopanang gold mines, eleven new test holes had been drilled in test sites and rigs were being specially made. The average drilling rate had been increased from 12.7 m/hr to 13.3 m/hr, with accuracy advancements being pursued.
In August this year, Anglo Gold announced that it would resume gold mining on mines affected by seismic activity.