Gold Tailings Recovery · Resource Development · Project Facilitation
Unlocking value fromSouth Africa's gold tailings.
Isotec Coatings (Pty) Ltd acquires, permits and commercially develops gold tailings recovery opportunities across the Barberton Gold Belt — turning historical mining residues into productive, revenue-generating assets.
Barberton Gold Belt · Mpumalanga · South Africa
Executive Summary
About 14 years in South African mining, focused on the gold tailings opportunity.
Isotec Coatings brings about 14 years of active participation in South Africa's mining industry. The company's principals hold a proven track record in the diamond sector — securing diamond trading licences, import/export licences, a Brinks secure logistics account, and successfully concluding precious stones transactions.
That established credibility now underpins Isotec's current focus: the acquisition, permitting and commercial development of gold tailings recovery opportunities throughout the Barberton Gold Belt. Isotec holds environmental rehabilitation authorisations and has operated and managed gold tailings rehabilitation projects in the Barberton area.
The company has secured strategic demarcations over multiple tailings projects across mining-owned, privately-owned and industrial landholdings — a strong foundation for future development. Through operational expertise, strategic partnerships and industry relationships, Isotec is building a scalable platform for gold recovery, processing and long-term resource development, while creating sustainable opportunities for investors, partners and local communities.
Company Overview
Primary focus areas
Mining project development centred on recovering gold from historical residues — and building the infrastructure and partnerships to scale it.
Gold Tailings Recovery
Recovering gold from historical mine residue deposits using modern processing methods.
Resource Development
Consolidating and advancing identified resource opportunities toward production.
Project Facilitation
Acquisition, permitting and development planning across multiple landholdings.
Processing Infrastructure
Developing dedicated tailings processing capacity as a regional hub.
Partnerships & Joint Ventures
Structuring commercial partnerships with investors, processors and operators.
Environmental Rehabilitation
Turning environmental liabilities into value through responsible resource recovery.
What We Believe
Vision & Mission
Leading tailings recovery in Southern Africa.
To become a leading gold tailings recovery and resource development company, transforming historical mining assets into sustainable economic opportunities across Southern Africa.
Responsible, commercial, long-term value.
To responsibly identify, develop and commercialise gold tailings resources through operational excellence, strategic partnerships and sustainable mining practices that create long-term value for investors, stakeholders and local communities.
Why Barberton & Demarcations
Positioned in one of the world's oldest gold regions.
Why Barberton?
The Barberton Gold Belt offers over a century of proven gold production and extensive historical tailings resources suitable for modern recovery methods.
- Established mining infrastructure
- Existing processing facilities
- Proven gold-bearing geology
- Extensive historical tailings deposits
- Skilled workforce & strong logistics
- Long mining heritage & ecosystem
A secured position while permitting advances.
A demarcation is a formally lodged mineral application that gives Isotec strategic positioning over identified resource opportunities while permitting and development advance.
- First-mover advantage
- Resource position security
- Structured development pipeline
- Long-term growth platform
Project Position & Development Strategy
A phased path from permitting to regional expansion.
Isotec has secured strategic demarcations over multiple gold tailings opportunities and is advancing them through stakeholder engagement, permitting and development planning.
Resource Consolidation
Consolidation & permitting of secured demarcations.
Initial Production
Toll treatment of reclaimed tailings at a partner plant.
Portfolio Growth
Project expansion & portfolio growth.
Processing Build
Isotec’s own CIL processing plant with dry stacking on site.
Regional Expansion
Scaling across the wider mining district.
Processing Route
Tailings and ROM ore share one carbon-in-leach circuit.
Carbon-in-leach (CIL) is the standard route for South African tailings retreatment. Until Isotec's own plant is built, reclaimed tailings are hauled to a partner plant for treatment.
Reclaim & crush
Excavators reclaim tailings from the top down; ROM ore is crushed and milled.
Repulp & screen
Material is mixed to a slurry, screened and thickened.
CIL leach
Gold dissolves and loads onto activated carbon in the leach tanks.
Elution & smelt
Gold is stripped from the carbon, electrowon and smelted to doré for the refinery.
Cyanide detox
Residual cyanide is destroyed before the residue leaves the circuit.
Filter press
Water is pressed out of the residue and returned to the plant.
Dry stack
Filtered residue is placed as a stable, compacted landform.
Rehabilitate
Cleared footprints are reshaped, stabilised and returned to productive use.
Rehabilitation
Turning an environmental liability into a productive asset.
Unmanaged historic tailings bring dust, erosion, water-quality and security risks. Recovering the gold pays for the clean-up, and each cleared site is returned to safe, stable, productive land.
Clear the footprint
Remove residue down to natural ground and verify the clean-up by sampling.
Reshape & stabilise
Re-profile slopes, restore drainage lines and install erosion control.
Revegetate
Re-vegetate the cleared land, which is then to be used by SAPPI.
Maintain & close
Work with all stakeholders and apply for a closure certificate.
Market Opportunity
Millions of tonnes of legacy gold, still under-exploited.
South Africa's historic mining regions hold vast legacy gold tailings — much of it under-exploited due to limited processing capacity and capital. As rehabilitation and resource recovery gain priority, tailings retreatment continues to attract mining companies, investors and commodity traders.
Isotec aims to position itself as a regional processing hub — servicing multiple projects across the Barberton Gold Belt, and generating additional revenue through third-party processing, concentrate sales and future export.
Industry figures shown reflect the scale and attractiveness of the South African tailings retreatment sector, drawn from published operations of DRDGOLD and Pan African Resources. They are provided as market context and do not represent Isotec's own resources or production.
Leadership
Experienced operational leadership.
Kholisile Macoly Mbhele
Founder & Managing Director
An experienced mining entrepreneur and operations leader with extensive involvement in mining operations, project development and stakeholder engagement.
He currently serves as Partner and COO of Centurion Mining Company Tailings Project and plays a key operational role in multiple gold tailings recovery projects within the Barberton region.
His experience in resource development, project execution and mining operations provides Isotec with strong leadership as the company advances its growing portfolio of tailings opportunities.
Partner With Us
An opportunity to participate in a growing tailings portfolio.
We welcome engagement with
- Strategic investors & project finance institutions
- Mining companies & international mining groups
- Equipment finance providers
- Processing & joint-venture partners
- Commodity traders
- Resource development partners
Why partner with Isotec
- Strategic resource pipeline with multiple opportunities
- Sampled tailings and ROM ore within a mining right
- Experienced operational leadership
- Established industry relationships
- Rehabilitation authorisations in place
- Scalable business model with room to expand
Contact Us
Let's build the future of resource recovery.
Isotec Coatings (Pty) Ltd
Kholisile Macoly Mbhele
Managing Director
Email macoly@isocoatings.co.za