West Wits reports further progress at Derewo gold project

By Ruli Setiawan

ASX-listed West Wits Mining Limited said that good progress continues to be made in construction of the first alluvial circuit at the Derewo River gold project, in Indonesia?s Papua Province.

The company said in a statement Monday that the first sluice box has now been installed. Prior to the first box being installed into the circuit the site was levelled to ensure an even flow of water over the box and the angle of the boxes adjusted to facilitate the flow of gravel. Water was run over the box for 24 hours to set the box in place and make it stable. The rubber liner, 3M matting and steel riffles were then installed to complete the sluice. The second box will be connected into the circuit once management is comfortable with the performance of the first sluice, it said

The site for the sluice boxes and tailings areas required significant clearing work as there were a number of larger boulders which obstructed the selected site. The tailings area in particular was obstructed by a large boulder which took considerable time to dislodge and move. ?This work has now been successfully completed and a good tailings profile away from the sluice box area has been achieved,? the company said.

Activity is now focussed on the upstream feed control system for the sluice. This involves building stone walls to direct all the gravel towards the sluice. These walls will be substantial as they need to be able to cope with seasonal periods of higher rainfall. There are a number of larger boulders to be removed from the creek upstream to facilitate the flow of the gravel to the box. It is anticipated that the removal of boulders will be an ongoing activity as part of the mining process.

Significant work has also been completed on the water storage facilities up stream where part of the 81 creek has now been diverted. This work was to ensure the integrity of the dams to cope with any period of higher rainfall.

The company said it expects to begin running gravel over the installed sluice box this week. Commissioning of the circuit will be a staged process as it will take time to ascertain the optimal feed rate for the circuit. This will be based on the required amount of water to process targeted tonnages which will be directly impacted by recoveries and average grades within each mined ton.

West Wits said it is confident of completing the commissioning the alluvial circuit during the current quarter and will provide further updates as work and commissioning progresses.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak