R450 bln gold Master’s research elevated to PhD

THE grandson of George Nolan, a renowned prospector who discovered lithium in Zimbabwe then southern Rhodesia has also made history after  his Master’s degree research that is  aimed to calculate and characterise gold reserves, was upgraded to a PhD.

In what potentially  is the world’s largest invisible gold resource Dr Steve Chingwaru’s  findings could help unlock gold valued at R450 billion within the unsightly mine dumps around Johannesburg.

The 26-year old PhD recipient’s trailblazing research in geomatallurgy is has drawn interest globally.

According to a report by The Zimbabwe Mail, the Stellenbosch University student is the first scholar to calculate that the six billion tons of tailings around Johannesburg’s mines contain up to 460 tonnes of gold.

He has also discovered  ways to extract the gold efficiently while addressing environmental concerns related to the tailings, such as the release of acid mine drainage due to pyrite oxidation.

“Historically, the low concentration of gold inside tailings was considered too low grade to be of value. But now that extensive mining has depleted most of the high-grade concentration of gold, it’s becoming unfeasible to mine – some shafts are already reaching 4 km underground. Looking for gold in low-concentration sources is becoming more viable,” Chingwaru notes.

Some big mining companies have started to process the tailings to extract the leftover gold, but the traditional way of extraction through cyanide is not very effective and also damaging to the environment, Chingwaru points out.

“Typically, they manage to extract just 30% of the gold through this process. So, in my PhD research, I asked where the remaining 70% is and how it can be safely removed from the pyrite.”