Blyvoor Gold (Pty) Ltd has purchased No. 5 Shaft, six tailings storage dams and the Blyvooruitzicht mining right from Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mine Limited (in provisional liquidation) and has advanced into the funding phase for the reopening of the mine (195 mt underground SAMREC/JORC resource containing 28.8 m oz) and the tailings retreatment operation (140 mt of tailings containing 1.3 m oz SAMREC/JORC compliant resources). Gold production in year two of production exceeds 100,000 oz pa and with planned increases to both the tailings and underground operations will increase to around 200,000 oz pa. All in sustainable cash costs (AISC) of $650/oz are anticipated which will place Blyvoor Gold as one of the lowest cost gold producers globally.

BFluor has supplied consulting services for some 8 years in the Chemical Engineering sector, specialising in environmental, safety and health and HAZOP licencing in regard to mines and chemical facilities, including highly toxic chemical environments. The company has backward integrated and now also supplies consulting services into the minerals and mineral beneficiation industries to capitalise on its mining and chemical engineering expertise.

Completed various CEO assignments in the junior mining industry and was able to hone my skills in all aspects of company management including new business development, company administration, fund raising, feasibility studies, project management, etc.

Initially I was responsible for FreeGold, a listed gold company managed by Anglo American Corporation of SA (Pty) Ltd.It was necessary to resize this organisation dramatically in order to ensure a return to profitability. The results of this are set out below: Quarter ended Quarter ended September 1997 September 1998Gold Produced (000 ounces) 609 424Cash cost (US $ / oz) 328 274Cash cost (R / kg) 48 968 45 687Employees 55 000 29 000It was necessary to close or sell 17 of Freegold’s 24 shafts to achieve this resultI was subsequently given responsibility for the performance of all the South African mines of AngloGold Ashanti. This encompassed the strategic and operational management of 13 deep level underground mines and a major tailings retreatment operation. The portfolio was accountable for the production of 5,7 m oz of gold per annum, $163 m capital expenditure, $1,35 billion working cost expenditure and some 87 000 employees.Notable successes were the reduction in accident frequency rates and the continued downscaling of employee numbers without labour disruptions.The disabling accident frequency rate reduced from 16,85 in 1998 to 9,6 in 2000 and the fatality rate for the same period reduced from 0,45 to 0,21 (rates measured per million man hours worked). Employee numbers reduced from 87 000 to 74 000. Labour accounted for +50% of the operating costs. My time included a period where I had accountability for AngloGold’s technical business across the globe including new business, mergers and acquisitions, Greenfields and Brownfields capital projects and human resource development in the technical disciplines.

As General Manager I had accountability for the performance of initially the Finsch Mine and then for the Central Mines (the Koffiefontein, Kimberley and Finsch mines). At Central Mines my responsibility was to modernise the corporate structure of these three mining operations and centralise the strategic, technical and financial management into a single entity, Central Mines. This was commenced in January of 1997 and was successfully concluded in June 1997.This re-organisation was necessary given that both Koffiefontein and Kimberley mines were in their twilight years and Finsch Mine was fully established as a successful underground operation. The financial and operational benefits that were envisaged from this re-organisation were achieved.During this period the strategy of extending the underground operations in Kimberley together with the establishment of a significant dump retreatment operation was developed, and the feasibility studies was commenced.

This position had overall accountability for the health and safety of the employees and the operational and financial performance of this major underground diamond mine.

AMSA was a subsidiary of Minorco, and I was responsible for all technical mining issues in the operations and projects of the group in South America. This encompassed a number of underground and open pit operations in various minerals including gold, copper, nickel, niobium and industrial minerals. Copper Operations included Mantos Blancos and Manto Verde in Chile, whilst the gold operations included the renowned Mina Grande mine near Bello Horizonte in Brazil, as well as the Crixas, Cuiaba and Mina Nova mines also in Brazil. During this period a number of projects were undergoing feasibility study or were in the project implementation phase. These included Cerro Vanguardia (gold and silver) in Argentina, Salobo (copper and gold) in Brazil, Collahuasi (copper) and Monte Verde (copper) in Chile, Loma de Nickel (nickel) in Venezuela and Quellaveco (copper and gold) in Peru.

Completed various assignments as a miner, shift boss, mine overseer, section manager and assistant general manager at a number of coal, diamond and gold operations in the Anglo/DeBeers stable in South Africa and Namibia.