Ergo

The Ergo was established in 2007 as a joint venture between DRDGOLD and Mintails Limited, primarily to recover and treat – over a period of 12 years – some 186Mt of surface tailings contained in the Elsburg Tailings Complex. Now wholly owned by the DRDGOLD group, Ergo has a network of surface rights that provide access to a further 600Mt of surface tailings deposited across the western, central and eastern Witwatesrand.

As a second-phase development, in conjuction with the Crown/Ergo pipeline currently under construction, the Ergo plant’s second carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit will be refurbished to increase capacity from 1.2Mtpm to 1.8Mtpm. Ergo is licensed to produce uranium and sulphuric acid, and a feasibility study to assess the potential of these by-products from the Ergo resource is ongoing.

Ergo has three tailings deposition facilities.