Our Project
SAND RIVER GOLD PROJECT
102 Million tonnes 17,63 Moz of gold at 5,38 g/t at a cut-off grade of 250 cmg/t
15,49 Mlb of U3O8 at 0,07 kg/t
The advanced-stage Sand River Gold Project is situated in the world-renown Witwatersrand Basin of South Africa. Approximately 40% of all gold ever mined by man originates from this ancient basin, the same geological horizons in which the Sand River Gold ore bodies are located. Six gold and uranium bearing reefs are present at depths from ±900 m on three farm properties, next to historical and current gold mines in the southern Welkom Goldfield.
During 2015, Sunshine’s geological team investigated the Southern Free State Goldfield, which is surrounded by major gold mines and prospecting rights, looking for individual farms that may hold potential, after scrutinizing hundreds of boreholes logs and masses of historical data and reports, an outline of a unmined area emerged, unknown at the time to the team that back in the 80’s this area was the Anglo American/ Freddevs Proposed Brand 6 Project.
On 23 August 2016, Sunshine’s first application was successfully submitted, and over a 7-year period the gold and uranium rights over the entire project area were systematically obtained in one of the last remaining high-gold-potential areas of the Welkom Goldfield.
THE HISTORY
The Sand River Gold Project area was originally held by Free State Development and Investment Corporation Ltd (Freddevs) by way of a mining right. On the 5th of November 1986, after the completion of a positive feasibility study over the project area, an agreement was signed between Freddevs and Anglo American Corporation of South Africa with the view to mining the Project area, The project was then named the Proposed Brand 6 Project. In 1987 commencement of sinking operations of the major Brand 6 Twin Shaft complex, as well as the development of the Twin Tunnel System from St. Helena 10 Shaft to Adamson Vley, where well on their way. However the price of bullion started to spiral downwards from 1988 to 1999 to an eventual all-time low of $252/oz. It is believed, in the early 90’s the operations was put on hold and eventually towards the mid 90’s the project was discontinued.
However the two cementations holes for the Proposed 6 Shaft where completed in the centre of the project area. and the Twin Tunnel system stopped less than 450 meters short of the project area after completing up to nearly 3kms of tunnel development.
Sunshine recently successfully consolidate the three farms back to the original Proposed Brand 6 Project area. Now called the Sand River Gold Project.
Major Gold and Uranium Resources
Sand River Gold’s Mineral Resource Statement is based on historical exploration (valued at >US$34,7M) such as diamond drilling, seismic surveys, resource estimations, geological documents, cross sections, etc. More than 90 km of drilling (41 boreholes, ±408 deflections and >1 500 reef intersections), as well as 58 boreholes on neighbouring properties were utilised for geological modelling and code compliant resource estimations. In another major development Sunshine recently obtained ±190 000 of additional chip sampling data points from the four abutting gold mining operations.
SAMREC compliant resource estimations were conducted for the well-known Basal, Leader, B, BPM, Aandenk and VS5 reefs. On 31 August 2023, Sunshine declared combined Indicated and Inferred resources of 17,63 Moz at an average grade of 5,38 g/t of gold for a massive 102 million tonnes of ore, at a cut-off grade of 250 cmg/t. The uranium by-product resource is 15,49 Mlb of U3O8.
At the current price of US$2470/oz for gold and US$81/lb of U3O8, the value of the declared resources on the Sand River Gold Project is approximately US$45Billion.
Increased Gold Grades in Leader Reef
Of great significance is that the main orebody, the Leader Reef, shows significant elevated gold values in the areas beyond the subcrop of the Basal Reef. This is due to gold scavenging from the latter reef and has been proved by historical mining to the east of De Bron Fault. Here, ±79% of the enriched Leader Reef was mined out. However, this enriched zone was never touched by mining in the areas to the south of the Merriespruit Thrust Fault and to the west of De Bron Fault. The very successful historical mining of the Leader Reef is major proof of its potential in the unmined areas. Sand River Gold is even better positioned as it is located in the mid-proximal fan zone where even higher grades can be expected than in the distal facies of the mined out areas to the east.
Depths of Ore Bodies
Attractive mining depths compared to most other operations in the Witwatersrand gold mining areas. Sunshine’s reefs start from a depth of circa 900 metres below surface in the northern portion, where the initial mining is expected to commence. In the southern parts, where high grade reefs also occur, maximum depths are ±2 000 m.
Configuration of Reefs and Mining Methods
Production is expected to support a high monthly tonnage rate and excellent Return on Investment at current gold prices. This is especially true for the relatively thick Leader Reef (ave. of 1,25 m), which contains >50% of Sunshine’s gold resources. Sunshine’s valuator has indicated that in large parts, where very thick Leader, BPM and VS5 reefs occur, low-cost and high-volume trackless mining could be applied.
Underground and surface infrastructure are potentially available to Sunshine, such as the 2 200 m-deep Brand 5 shaft (Needs Rehabilitating) , only 400 m from the Project boundary, and a major gold plant which is connected to the shaft by railway track. This will dramatically reduce the start-up costs and give quick and easy access to the reefs.
Prospecting activities have been fully concluded and quotes have been received for Concept to Definitive Feasibility Studies, infill diamond drilling from surface and a Mining Right application. A South African-based engineering company which will undertake the studies, will be designated by Sunshine shortly.
This advanced-stage gold Project is the third largest gold discovery between 2012 and 2021. The six distinct reefs on the Project Area are well-known in the southern Welkom Goldfield and have been extensively mined on abutting properties from the 1940’s, until today, which results in high confidence in estimations and in future mine planning. Mining on neighbouring gold mines have advanced to within several metres of the Sand River Gold Project Area.
For further information on the Project please contact:
Charlie Watts: info@ssmr.co.za
All SAMREC and SAMVAL compliant documents are available upon request
