Work has started on bringing one of South Africa’s oldest gold mining regions back to life.

Australia Securities Exchange-listed Theta Gold Mines has announced it has started pre-construction work on a new gold processing plant on the former Transvaal Gold Mining Estates (TGME) near Pilgrim’s Rest in Mpumalanga, and is decommissioning an old processing plant on the site, according to Engineering News. Gold mining first started in Pilgrim’s Rest in the late 19th century.

‘Theta is nearing build-ready with a fully designed, engineered and permitted gold processing facility,’ said Theta chair Bill Guy. ‘The transition from planning to action has begun with the decommissioning of the old plant and site preparation well under way.’

Bulk earthworks is expected to start immediately once project approval is finalised, while key contracts will be executed in the second quarter of 2025. It has already contracted consultant RM Process to oversee the final design and cost estimates, and to further refine existing feasibility studies.

The miner plans to process about 174 000 oz of gold from tailings dams and surface rock dumps, as well as ore from underground, to produce gold doré for refining.

According to Theta’s website, the TGME project portfolio ‘has more than 43 historical mines across the large tenement area of 62 000 hectares’.

‘In addition to the 6 Moz [6 million ounces] in resources, the area has a number of underexplored old mines and shallow exploration targets containing gold-bearing ore left over from almost a century of mining,’ Theta adds.

6 May 2025
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