SHOWCASE MINE OF THE WEEK - MPONENG GOLD MINE!!

AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng gold mine, located south-west of Johannesburg in South Africa, is currently the deepest mine in the world. The operating depth at Mponeng mine ranged from between 2.4km to more than 3.9km below the surface by the end of 2012. Ongoing expansions have resulted in deeper digging at Mponeng, pushing the record to beyond the four kilometre mark. The ore reserve at Mponeng stood at 13.7 million ounces (Moz) as of December 2012. The mine produced 405,000oz of gold in 2012. It is currently undergoing expansion to extend the mine life beyond 2040. Mponeng extracts the Ventersdorp Contact Reef (VCR) of the West Wits region of South Africa. The deep underground mine employs a sequential grid mining method. The shaft-sinking process at Mponeng began in 1981. The gold plant complex and the shafts were commissioned in 1986 - Mining Technology.