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### Viewing cable 05PRETORIA745, SOUTH AFRICA: BIG GOLD AT SOUTH DEEP

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
05PRETORIA745 | 2005-02-18 08:08 | 2011-04-28 00:12 | UNCLASSIFIED | Embassy Pretoria

`

    This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

` `

    UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PRETORIA 000745

    SIPDIS

    SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

    DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USGS

    E.O. 12958: N/A
    TAGS: EMIN EINV CA SF
    SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICA: BIG GOLD AT SOUTH DEEP

    REF: A. 04 PRETORIA 4813

         ¶B. 04 PRETORIA 4117
         ¶C. 04 PRETORIA 1695

    Sections of this cable are Sensitive But Unclassified, please
    handle accordingly.

    ¶1. (SBU) Summary.  Placer Dome (Canada) and Western Areas
    (South Africa) officially commissioned their new ultra deep
    Twin Shaft Complex at South Deep on February 4.  Deputy
    President Jacob Zuma attended the event on behalf of the
    government, and used the occasion to deliver a hard-hitting
    speech on the importance of the government's black economic
    empowerment (BEE) policy.  The Deputy President's message was
    not lost on Placer Dome, which is having difficulty meeting
    BEE equity requirements.  With proven and probable reserves
    of 55.6 million ounces, South Deep promises to be one of the
    most lucrative gold mines in the world.  The new Twin Shaft
    Complex consists of a single drop ventilation shaft to 2759
    meters below the surface and a single drop main shaft to 2993
    meters below the surface.  The primary advantages of a single
    drop shaft are that it obviates double handling of ore
    underground, and it affords direct and immediate access of
    men and materials to 25 million ounces of gold.  Management
    plans to increase South Deep's annual gold production from
    490,000 ounces in 2005 to 560,000 ounces in 2006, and to
    800,000 ounces by 2010.  Western Areas held the original
    mining rights to South Deep, and for this it receives 50.875%
    of the gold revenue.  Placer Dome, however, appoints the
    joint venture chairman who can cast the tie-breaking vote.
    End Summary.

    Speeches
    --------

    ¶2. (SBU) Western Areas majority shareholder Brett Kebble
    introduced Deputy President Jacob Zuma, who attended the
    official commissioning ceremony of the Twin Shafts Complex at
    South Deep on February 4 on behalf of the government and
    Minister of Minerals and Energy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
    (Note: Mlambo-Ngcuka's husband investigated and initiated
    prosecution of a close associate of Zuma's on corruption
    charges that involved Zuma's support for a French arms deal.
    The trial of his close associate is ongoing.)  Zuma spoke to
    over 200 guests for about 20 minutes on the history and the
    precepts of the government's broad-based black economic
    empowerment (BEE) policy as it pertained to the mining
    sector.  This included meeting percentage targets on black
    ownership, black management, basic education and skills
    transfer to black workers, and a commitment to improve the
    living conditions of black mine workers.  He also stressed
    the development of downstream industries, such as jewelry
    manufacturing.  Zuma's message on the importance of BEE to
    the government was not lost on Placer Dome executives, who
    find it difficult to meet BEE ownership targets without
    diluting controlling interest or future profits.

    ¶3. (SBU) Placer Dome President and CEO Peter Tomsett spoke
    for about ten minutes.  He noted that Placer Dome's
    investment was the first and largest foreign mining
    investment in the new South Africa.  Despite criticism from
    shareholders and stakeholders for delays (i.e., 20 months) in
    completing the Twin Shaft Complex, he believed that the
    project was now on track.  However, more investment would be
    required to meet his vision of a profitable mine producing at
    over 700,000 ounces a year.  Tomsett said that achieving
    productivity results, worker training, and meeting equity
    requirements demanded cooperation from all parties involved.
    He was confident that Placer Dome's investment fulfilled the
    objectives of the mining bill.

    The Mine and the Ore Body
    -------------------------

    ¶4. (U) South Deep is located in the district of Westonaria in
    Gauteng Province, about 30 miles from Johannesburg on the
    edge of the Witwatersrand basin.  Housing one of the largest
    known but unexploited gold ore bodies in the world, the
    property has proven and probable reserves of 55.6 million
    ounces (as reported by Placer Dome on December 31, 2004).
    Such an ore body will support more than 60 years of mining.
    Currently, investment in the mine totals more than R6.5
    billion ($1 billion in today's rand).

    ¶5. (U) South Deep comprises the old South Shaft Complex and
    now the new Twin Shaft Complex.  The South Shaft Complex
    consists of a main shaft and three sub-vertical shafts that
    reach to 2693 meters below the surface.  The new South Deep
    Twin Shaft Complex, in full operation from November 19, 2004,
    consists of a single drop ventilation shaft to 2759 meters
    and a single drop main shaft that currently services mining
    from 2590 to 2890 meters below the surface.  The primary
    advantages of a single drop shaft are that it obviates the
    double handling of ore underground and affords direct and
    immediate access for men and materials to 25 million ounces
    of gold.  The Twin Shafts are located as close as possible to
    the center of the ore body, allowing miners to reach the ore
    body in less than 10 minutes, as opposed to three hours using
    the old South Shaft.  Together with the South Shaft, the Main
    Shaft will sustain a hoisting rate of 235,000 tons per month
    of gold bearing rock and waste from 3000 meters over a
    60-year life span.  With 17 MW of hoist power, the main shaft
    can hoist at speeds up to 64 kilometers and hour.  This
    exceeds the newly installed milling capacity of 220,000 tons
    per month.

    ¶7. (U) The Twin Shafts each have an inside diameter of 9
    meters.  Construction required excavating 633,311 tons of
    earth, pouring 43,000 square meters of concrete, and
    assembling more steel (7,700 tons) than in the Eiffel Tower.
    Complicating construction were two faults running through the
    shaft area: the Fargo at 2409 meters down and the East Arrow
    Fault at 2841 meters.  These faults required steelwork
    independent from the shaft pillar.  The ventilation shaft was
    the first ultra deep shaft in South Africa completed without
    a fatality.  No fatalities occurred during the 17-month
    construction and equipping period for Twin shifts.  In all,
    the project took 10 years and seven months to complete.

    ¶8. (U) The mine has been divided into three areas: the
    extended sub-vertical shaft area serviced by the old South
    Shaft, and phase 1 and phase 2 areas serviced by the new Twin
    Shafts.  Extended sub-vertical mining is taking place 1630
    meters below the surface.  Phase 1 mining is taking place at
    2393 meters and 2800 meters below the surface (where a
    crusher is located).  The plan is for future Phase 2 mining
    to take place at 3360 meters below the surface.  More than
    60% of current production at South Deep is from fully
    mechanized mining methods: trackless drift and fill, and
    benching.  Management wants to mechanize as much as 80% of
    production at the deeper levels.  Ore is transported by an
    underground rail system to a shaft loading system before it
    is hoisted to the surface.  Tramming on the main levels is by
    means of electric rail locomotives and 14-ton hoppers.  At
    2890 meters, virgin rock temperatures are 50 degrees
    centigrade.  To maintain comfortable work conditions, cooling
    is provided by 10 MW of site-specific underground
    refrigeration.  In addition, about 760 kilograms of air per
    second gets cooled to 6 degrees centigrade in 35 MW worth of
    bulk air coolers on the surface and force ventilated through
    subsurface air drifts into the main shaft.

    ¶9. (U) Reef horizons currently being mined include
    Ventersdorp Contact Reef on the western edge of the property
    and the Upper Elsburgs on east and northeast.  The beds
    thicken from 1.5 meters to 120 meters as one moves north and
    east.  Conventional longwall methods are being utilized on
    Ventersdorp ore, while a variety of methods are being
    utilized on Elsburgs ore, including conventional longwall,
    drift and fill, benching, and long-hole stoping.  The
    lucrative Elsburgs section especially lends itself to bulk
    mining and mechanization.

    Production
    ----------

    ¶10. (U) South Deep management plans to increase annual gold
    production from 490,000 ounces in 2005 to 560,000 ounces in
    2006, and then to 800,000 ounces by 2010.  A significant
    transition will occur when primary operations move from South
    Shaft Complex to the new South Deep Twin Shaft Complex in the
    fourth quarter of 2005.  Cost savings should be derived from
    increasing the economy of scale bringing cash costs down from
    R74,873 per kilogram gold in 2004 to R66,700 per kilogram in
    ¶2005.  When production reaches full potential, management
    expects costs to decline to R60,000 per kilogram (about
    $10,000 in today's dollars).  Management expects to achieve
    positive cash flow in second quarter 2005.  Cash flow should
    be further enhanced with cost savings of almost R5 million
    per month when the company halts production at the old
    Harmony 4 shaft.  By accelerating development on three
    levels, management wants to increase mining to 330,000 tons
    of ore bearing rock and waste per month.  With an additional
    investment of R1 billion, Kebble believes that South Deep
    could double production over the next three years.

    The Joint Venture
    -----------------

    ¶11. (U) Placer Dome Western Areas Joint Venture (PDWAJV) was
    established in 1999 to invest and build the Twin Shaft
    Complex and then manage South Deep.  Each partner owns 50%
    and has the right to appoint three joint venture board
    members.  As long as Placer Dome SA maintains a 40% interest
    in the joint venture, it has the right to appoint the Board
    Chairman, who casts a tie breaking vote -- except, as Brett
    Kebble is quick to point out, on matters that have a material
    impact on the business, in which case a unanimous decision of
    the board is required.  Western Areas receives 50.875% of all
    gold revenue.  Should production exceed one million ounces
    per year, Western Areas would receive a further 1.75% of
    Placer Dome's attributable gold production.  The new CEO of
    the joint venture company is John Bredenhann.  The new
    Chairman of Western Areas is Mafika Mkwanzi, who is also
    Chairman of Letseng Diamond Mine in Lesotho.  The Managing
    Director of Placer Dome SA is Sam Coetzer.

    Western Areas
    -------------

    ¶12. (U) Western Areas is a company ultimately owned and
    controlled by the Kebble family, including Roger Kebble and
    his son Brett.  In 2004, Inkwenkwenzi, a broad based black
    empowerment consortium, acquired 13.7 million shares of
    Western Areas together with a call option for an additional
    5.3 million Western Areas shares.  The Kebbles believe that
    this new empowerment shareholding in Western areas, together
    with existing empowerment shareholdings from JCI and
    Randgold, will take Western Areas beyond the Mining Charter's
    five-year BEE ownership target of 15%.  This is what the
    government will look at when issuing new order mining
    licenses until 2009.  The 10-year target is 26%.  On February
    7, Western Areas launched a Level-1 American Depositary
    Receipt sponsored by the Bank of New York in the U.S.
    over-the-counter market.  One ADR equals one ordinary Western
    Areas share.  This gives Western Areas the benefit of a
    traded U.S. security without having to adapt to U.S.
    reporting requirements.  Western Areas also owns contiguous
    gold resources that in time can be accessed from existing
    South Deep mining infrastructure.  The company is fully
    exposed to rand currency fluctuations, but plans to
    restructure its hedging position.

    Placer Dome
    -----------

    ¶13. (SBU) Having invested $630 million dollars in South
    Africa, Placer Dome believes it is now the largest foreign
    investor in the new South Africa, and the largest foreign
    investor in the mining sector (not counting South African
    companies that have relisted in the U.K.).  As a matter of
    shareholder policy, Placer Dome wants to control its
    investments.  To do so in this case, it negotiated a delicate
    balance of ownership and control in its joint venture with
    Western Areas.  If its investment in the joint venture falls
    below 40%, for example, Placer Dome loses control.  In 2004,
    the government promulgated the new Minerals and Petroleum
    Resources Development Act, which replaces South African
    property rights with new order mining licenses to be granted
    by government before May 2009.  The Act also gives
    legislative status to an industry charter that sets forth BEE
    targets and objectives.  Placer Dome feels that it scores
    well on these targets, with the exception of equity.  The
    prospect of diluting its shareholding in South Deep has
    caused much consternation at Placer Dome's headquarters in
    Vancouver and among its shareholders, almost half of whom are
    American.  In November of 2004, Placer Dome along with
    Southern Era (Canada) notified the Department of Mineral
    Resources and Energy, as it understood it was required to do
    under law, of its intention to lay claim should it incur
    future losses due to the implementation of the new mining
    law.  This angered Minister of Minerals and Energy
    Mlambo-Ngcuka and relations between the two have been frosty
    ever since.  Nevertheless, new President and CEO Tomsett did
    meet with Mlambo-Ngcuka at the 2005 Mining Indaba
    (Conference) the following week.  Mlambo-Ngcuka reportedly
    refused to waive the BEE equity requirements for Placer Dome,
    but left the door open for the company to substitute possible
    involvement with a BEE company in jewelry manufacturing.  "Be
    creative." she reportedly advised.
    FRAZER

`