Glossary of terms

ABET
Adult Basic Education and Training

AS/NZ 4801
Australian occupational health and safety management standards

Backfill
Material generally sourced from mine residues and utilised for the filling of mined voids, to ensure long-term stability of excavations and minimise the effects of seismic activity

BEE
Black Economic Empowerment. Black Economic Empowerment seeks to ensure that black persons within South Africa gain a significant degree of control in the economy through the possession of equity stakes and the holding of management positions within an institution

Box hole
A short raise or opening drive above a drift for the purpose of drawing ore from a stope, or to permit access

Blasthole
A drill hole in a mine that is filled with explosives in order to blast loose a quantity of rock

Breast mining
A mining method whereby the direction of mining is in the direction of strike

Bulk mining
Any large-scale, mechanised method of mining involving many thousands of tons of ore being brought to surface each day

BVQI
Bureau Veritas Qualite International is a leading global and independent certification body that audits and certifies whether company systems meet the requirements of ISO standards

Carbon-in-Leach
The recovery process in which gold is leached from gold ore pulp by cyanide and simultaneously adsorbed onto activated carbon granules in the same vessel. The loaded carbon is then separated from the pulp for subsequent gold removal by elution. The process is typically employed where there is a naturally occurring gold adsorbent in the ore

Cut-off-grade
The grade of mineralised rock which determines as to whether or not it is economic to recover its gold content by further concentration

Decline
A surface or sub-surface excavation in the form of a tunnel which is developed from the uppermost point downward

Depletion
An accounting device, recognising the consumption of an ore deposit, a mine’s principal asset

Development
Underground work carried out for the purpose of opening up a mineral deposit, includes shaft sinking, cross-cutting, drifting and raising

Diamond drill
A rotary type of rock drill that cuts a core of rock that is recovered in long cylindrical sections

Dilution
Waste which is unavoidably mined with ore

Dip
Angle of inclination of a geological feature/rock from the horizontal

Drill-hole
Method of sampling rock that has not been exposed

Dyke
Thin, tabular, vertical or near vertical body of igneous rock formed by the injection of magma into planar zones of weakness

Elution
The chemical process of desorbing gold from activated carbon

Face
The end of a drift, cross-cut or stope at which work is taking place

Facies
A rock unit defined by its composition, internal geometry and formation environment

Hedging
Taking a buy or sell position in futures market. Opposite to a position held in the cash/spot market to minimise the risk of financial loss from an adverse price change

Hydrothermal
Process of injection of hot, aqueous, generally mineral-rich solutions into existing rocks or features

ICVCT
Informed Consented Voluntary Counselling and Testing

Indicated Mineral Resource
That part of a Mineral Resource for which tonnage, densities, shape, physical characteristics, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a reasonable level of confidence. It is based on exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill-holes. The locations are too widely or inappropriately spaced to confirm geological and/or grade continuity but are spaced closely enough for continuity to be assumed

Inferred Mineral Resource
That part of a Mineral Resource for which tonnage, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a low level of confidence. It is inferred from geological evidence and assumed but not verified geological and/or grade continuity. It is based on information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill-holes which may be limited or of uncertain quality and reliability

ISO 14000
International standards for organisations to implement sound environmental management systems

LDIFR
Lost Day Injury Frequency Rate. Number of lost day injuries expressed in million man hours worked

Lock-up gold
Gold locked as a temporary inventory within a processing plant, or sections thereof, typically milling circuits

Measured Mineral Resource
That part of a Mineral Resource for which tonnage, densities, shape, physical characteristics, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a high level of confidence. It is basedon detailed and reliable exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drillholes. The locations are spaced closely enough to confirm geological and grade continuity

Normal fault
Fault in which the hanging wall moves downward relative to the footwall

Nugget effect
A measure of the randomness of the grade distribution within a mineralised zone

NUM
National Union of Mine Workers

OHSAS
Management system standards, developed in order to facilitate the integration of quality and occupational health and safety management systems by organisations

Payshoot
Linear to sub-linear zone within a reef for which gold grades or accumulations are predominantly above the cut-off grade

Pillar
Rock left behind to help support the excavations in an underground mine

Probable Mineral Reserve
The economically mineable material derived from a Measured and/or Indicated Mineral Resource. It is estimated with a lower level of confidence than a Proved Mineral Reserve. It is inclusive of diluting materials and allows for losses that may occur when the material is mined. Appropriate assessments, which may include feasibility studies, have been carried out and including consideration of and modification by, realistically assumed mining, metallurgical, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social and governmental factors. These assessments demonstrate at the time of reporting that extraction is reasonably justified

Project capital
Capital expenditure which is associated with specific projects of a non-routine nature

Proved Mineral Reserve
The economically mineable material derived from a Measured Mineral Resource. It is estimated with a high level of confidence.
It is inclusive of diluting materials and allows for losses that may occur when the material is mined. Appropriate assessments, which may include feasibility studies, have been carried out, including consideration of and modification by realistically assumed mining, metallurgical, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social and governmental factors. These assessments demonstrate at the time of reporting that extraction is reasonably justified

Stripping ratio
The ratio of the amount of waste rock removed per ton of ore mined

Stratigraphy
The science of rock strata

Strike
Direction of line formed by the intersection of strata surfaces with the horizontal plane, always perpendicular to the dip direction

Sub-vertical shaft
An opening cut below the surface downwards from an established surface shaft

Surface sources
Ore sources, usually dumps, tailings dams and stockpiles, located at the surface

Tertiary shaft
An opening cut below the surface downwards from an established sub-vertical shaft

The Base Case
The Base Case as established as part of the Financial Models

TEBA
The Employment Bureau of Africa

Trade Union
An association of employees: whose principal purpose is to regulate relations between employees and the company, which has been registered; whose officials have been elected to represent the interests of employees within the workplace; and which is recognised for collective bargaining by the company

Total cash costs
All total cash costs are based on public quoted nominal production costs, include retrenchment costs, rehabilitation costs, corporate costs, by-product credits for silver, sundry revenues and exclude amortisation costs and inventory changes

Vamping
A mining method used to recover higher grade ore left in mined stopes

Carbon-in-Pulp
The recovery process in which gold is first leached from gold ore pulp by cyanide and then adsorbed onto activated carbon granules in separate vessels. The loaded carbon is then separated from the pulp for subsequent gold removal by elution

Capital expenditure
Specific project or ongoing expenditure for replacement or additional equipment, materials or infrastructure

Cash costs
Namely direct mining costs, direct processing costs, direct general and administration costs, consulting fees, management fees, bullion transport and refining charges

Channel
Water course, also in this sense sedimentary material course

Collective Bargaining Agreement
Collective Bargaining Agreement means a written agreement concerning terms and conditions of employment or any other matter of mutual interest concluded by a trade union(s) and the company

Co-morbidity
Medical term for diseases that commonly co-exist to increase the risk of morbidity

Comminution
The term used to describe the process by which ore is reduced in size in order to liberate the desired mineral from the gangue material in preparation for further processing

Concentrate
A metal-rich product resulting from a mineral enrichment process such as gravity concentration or flotation, in which most of the desired mineral has been separated from the waste material in the ore

Conglomerate
Sedimentary rock comprising eroded, rounded particles

Crosscut
A horizontal underground drive developed perpendicular to the strike direction of the stratigraphy

Fatality rate
Number of deaths per million man-hours worked

Fault
The surface of a fracture along which movement has occurred

Feasibility study
A comprehensive study undertaken to determine the economic feasibility of a project; the conclusion will determine if a production decision can be made and is used for financing arrangements

Filtration
Process of separating usually valuable solid material from a liquid

Flotation
The process by which the surface chemistry of the desired mineral particles is chemically modified such that they preferentially attach themselves to bubbles and float to the pulp surface in specially designed machines. The gangue or waste minerals are chemically depressed and do not float, thus allowing the valuable minerals to be concentrated and separated from the undesired material

Footwall
The underlying side of an orebody or stope

Gold equivalent
Gold plus silver or another metal expressed in equivalent ounces of gold using a conversion ratio dependent on prevailing gold and silver prices

Grade
The measure of concentration of gold within mineralised rock

Hanging wall
The overlying side of an orebody or slope

Haulage
A horizontal underground excavation which is used to transport mined ore

Head grade
The average grade of ore fed to a mill/plant

Milling
A general term used to describe the process in which the ore is crushed and ground and subjected to physical or chemical treatment to extract the valuable metals to a concentrate or finished product

Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA)
The South African Mine Health and Safety Act, No 29 of 1996

Mineral Resource
A concentration (or occurrence) of material of economic interest in or on the earth’s crust in such form, quality and quantity that there are reasonable and realistic prospects for eventual economic extraction. The location, quantity, grade, continuity and other geological characteristics of a Mineral Resource are known, estimated from specific geological evidence and knowledge, or interpreted from a well constrained and portrayed geological model. Mineral Resources are sub-divided in order of increasing confidence, in respect of geoscientific evidence, into Inferred, Indicated and Measured categories

Mineral Reserve
The economically mineable material derived from a Measured and/or Indicated Mineral Resource. It is inclusive of diluting materials and allows for losses that may occur when the material is mined. Appropriate assessments, which may include feasibility studies, have been carried out, including consideration of and modification by, realistically assumed mining, metallurgical, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social and governmental factors. These assessments demonstrate at the time of reporting that extraction is reasonably justified. Mineral Reserves are subdivided in order of increasing confidence into Probable Mineral Reserves and Proved Mineral Reserve

Mineralised
Rock in which minerals have been introduced to the point of a potential ore deposit

Minerals Act
The South African Minerals Act, No 50 of 1999

Reef
Gold bearing sedimentary horizon in the Witwatersrand Basin

SADC
Southern African Development Community

SAMREC Code
South African Code for reporting of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves

Seismic
Earthquake or earth vibration including those artificially induced

Sequential Grid Mining
Mining method incorporating dip pillars and mined on a grid system

Shaft
An opening cut downwards from the surface for transporting personnel, equipment, supplies, ore and waste

Shear
A deformation resulting from stresses that cause contiguous parts of a body to slide relative to each other in a direction parallel to their plane of contact

SLFR
Shifts lost frequency rate. Number of accidents where 14 days or more off work is lost and expressed in million man-hours worked

Stope
The working area from which ore is extracted in an underground mine

Stripping
The process of removing overburden or waste rock to expose ore

Abbreviations and units