Modern Mining July 2015

COUNTRY FOCUS – BOTSWANA

Resilient Mupane alive Somemines, like old soldiers, never die. An example is Botswana’s Mupane goldmine near Francistown which poured its first gold in late 2004. Currently Botswana’s sole gold producer, the mine was devel- oped on the basis of a six-year mine life but more than 10 years later it is still operating and has a new five-year plan in place (with reasonable prospects for this lifespan to be extended). Modern Mining’s Arthur Tassell recently spoke to Charles Byron, a Director of Galane Gold, owner of the mine, to learn more about what lies ahead for Mupane – and also Galane’s plans to extend its operations to South Africa via the acquisition of Galaxy Gold Mining.

N o one has a better knowledge of the Mupane operation than Byron, who is also the Chief Geologist of Galane Gold. He led the team that discovered the Mupane deposit in 1998 and has been associ- ated with the asset ever since, notwithstanding three changes in ownership over the years. He

is an expert on the geology of the Tati Green- stone Belt and has been largely responsible for Mupane Gold Mining, Galane’s subsidiary in Botswana, acquiring virtually all the prospec- tive ground in the Tati area, including past pro- ducing mines such as Monarch and Shashe. As Byron says, “We control 90 % of the Tati Greenstone Belt and 100 % of the best parts.”

24  MODERN MINING  July 2015