Tag Archives: Platinum

Pre-sink of Shaft 2 at Ivanhoe’s Platreef underground project months away

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In a review of exploration and development activities in 2018, Ivanhoe Mines has gone into some detail on developments at Shaft 2 at the Platreef PGM-nickel-copper-gold project on the northern limb of South Africa’s Bushveld Complex.

This follows a project update issued just after the Mining Indaba event in February.

Shaft 1, expected to reach its final depth of 982 m below surface in early 2020, will ultimately become the primary ventilation shaft during the project’s initial 4 Mt/y production case, but Shaft 2, around 100 m northeast of Shaft 1, will provide primary access to the mining zones.

Ivanhoe said Shaft 2 will have an internal diameter of 10 m, will be lined with concrete and sunk to a planned, final depth of more than 1,104 m below surface.

It will be equipped with two 40-t rock-hoisting skips capable of hoisting a total of 6 Mt/y of ore – the single largest hoisting capacity at any mine in Africa. The headgear for the permanent hoisting facility was designed by South Africa-based Murray & Roberts Cementation.

Ivanhoe said nine blasts were successfully completed in 2018 enabling the excavation of Shaft 2’s box cut to a depth of approximately 29 m below surface and the construction of the concrete hitch (shaft collar foundation) for the 103-m-tall concrete headgear (preparations pictured here) that will house the shaft’s permanent hoisting facilities and support the shaft collar.

Excavation of the box cut and construction of the hitch foundation is expected to be completed in the June quarter, enabling the beginning of the pre-sink, that will extend 84 m below surface, it said.

In July 2017, Ivanhoe, which indirectly owns 64% of the Platreef project through its subsidiary, Ivanplats, issued an independent, definitive feasibility study (DFS) for Platreef covering the first phase of production at an initial mining rate of 4 Mt/y. The DFS estimated Platreef’s initial, average annual production rate would be 476,000 oz of platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold, plus 21 MIb (9,525 t) of nickel and 13 MIb (5,897 t) of copper.

Eurasia and Uralmetmash agree on West Kytlim PGM-gold mining contract

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Eurasia Mining has signed a mining contract for the 2019 season at its West Kytlim platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium and gold mine in the Ural mountains of Russia.

Kosvinsky Kamen (KK), Eurasia’s subsidiary, and Uralmetmash (formerly Techstroy) have signed a pact that will see the latter carry out mining of platinum group metals and gold at West Kytlim.
Mining at West Kytlim is seasonal as the alluvial process relies heavily on running water. Work normally commences as the snow melts on site in late March or early April and proceeds until November.

The directors of Techstroy, the contractor employed at the West Kytlim mine for the 2018 season which achieved production well in excess of target (a total of 165 kg raw platinum against a targeted 100 kg), registered a new company, Uralmetmash, as a special purpose vehicle to focus on the West Kytlim.

Eurasia said the roles and responsibilities of each of the parties shall remain largely as before, with Uralmetmash responsible for pit development, mining, ore trucking, washing and disintegration, and KK responsible for concentrate upgrade, shipment of mine product and distribution of metal sales revenues.

The London-listed mining company said Uralmetmash intended to move on site immediately to prepare for mining, to include stripping of overburden and stockpiling of ore in preparation for washing, which can commence once the seasonal thaw is underway. The thaw can be expected sometime in April 2019.

The work will continue initially at the Kluchiki area, where work ended on schedule in November.

As part of the deal with Uralmetmash, the platinum revenues will be split on a 65%/35% basis, in favour of the contractor.

In the meantime, the refinery contract between KK and the Urals precious metal refinery has also been renegotiated to include an extra percent payment on the LME platinum prices (now at 98% LME, from 97% in 2018).

Eurasia Mining Executive Chairman, Christian Schaffalitzky, said: “We are pleased to be working again with the team that proved so effective during 2018. They were a very efficient operator last year, with a zero accident record, and financially motivated to develop the asset in a sensible manner.

“Furthermore, we are looking at ways to improve metal recoveries, based on the measured efficiency of the existing process flowsheet. We look forward to updating shareholders on progress and also our longer term development strategy for the West Kytlim reserves and resources before the season commences.”

Eurasia and KK personnel continue to work on an enlarged exploration programme for West Kytlim, to include the recently approved Flanks exploration licence and ensure adequate reserves are available for future mining seasons.

Work on analysis of the previous mining season’s performance has commenced and a sampling programme has been outlined for the tailings of the 2018 season. This information will be inputted to proposed modifications to the current circuit, with the possible addition of a jig to recover finer raw platinum fractions. The addition of a hopper to better control the loading of gravels to the front of the circuit, and achieve a more constant flow of material into the trommel, is also expected to improve recoveries during the 2019 season.

Kwatani registers global mining demand for vibrating equipment

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Kwatani’s vibrating screens and feeders are continuing to find a market in the mining industry, with a number of orders recently secured from diamond, coal, zinc and platinum operations.

The company’s custom engineered products are now in some of the world’s largest mines, and many customers have standardised on their screens to ensure lowest cost of ownership and high performance, according to General Manager, Sales and Service, Jan Schoepflin.

“While our base and core market are in Africa, the global demand for Kwatani products has grown rapidly. A leading diamond mining company in Russia is very pleased with Kwatani screens at their newest operation and specified Kwatani for future projects,” Schoepflin says.

In another order from a large diamond operation, this time in South Africa, the customer replaced the last of its competitor screens with a Kwatani unit. Schoepflin says this is because it has enjoyed years without unplanned stoppages by using Kwatani screens.

At a local brownfield diamond expansion project, the company’s multi-slope banana screens were matched to the available plant footprint, raising throughput from 250 t/h to 500 t/h and, later, breaking the mine’s tonnage record.

“While screening in heavy minerals is Kwatani’s stronghold, the company has moved extensively into coal, supplying the country’s (South Africa’s) leading coal producer with no fewer than 45 items of large screening equipment, including out-sized 4.3-m-wide units,” the company said.

Other recent coal-related orders included run-of-mine screens for a medium-sized coal mine in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Again, competitor equipment was replaced by custom designed screens with optimised deck angles, which significantly increased tonnage, according to the company.

“The positive results achieved with the Kwatani equipment also led to additional orders for the mine’s expansion,” Kwatani said.

For world largest zinc mine, Kwatani was contracted to supply all the screens, while, at Africa’s largest iron ore mine, the company recently completed two projects, renewing existing equipment with updated solutions and replacing 24 items of competitor equipment.

“The platinum sector is also keeping Kwatani busy, not just in South Africa but over the border in Zimbabwe too,” Kwatani says. A recent turnkey solution focused on platinum by-product chromite, where the company supplied a complete solution which included feeder, dryer and screen to treat chromite of 45 micron size at 15 t/h.

Schoepflin said: “Our screens have been a popular choice for modular gold plants going to West Africa as well as Central and South America. We also supplied to two of Africa’s largest copper producers in Zambia, to a tanzanite producer in Tanzania, and repeat orders to a manganese mine in Ghana.”

Anglo American’s OiS improving employee safety at Rustenburg base metal refinery

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Anglo American’s real-time data analytics platform, Operational Intelligence Suite (OiS), is helping its platinum subsidiary tackle potential health hazards at the Rustenburg base metals refinery in South Africa.

The company’s Occupational Health and Information Management teams worked in partnership to develop OiS, which is able to interrogate data feeds, manual uploads and events, Anglo said.

“The diagnostic results generated by the platform helps users make the right decision, at speed, when things go wrong, in terms of performance and health and safety at our mine sites.”

The information can then be used to do a “deep dive” analysis, to get to the root cause of problems and prevent repeat occurrences.

Cas Badenhorst, Anglo’s Occupational Health and Hygiene lead, said the company developed the product in response to a growing need in the business.

“Some of our key stakeholders needed a tool that would allow them to evaluate workplace and external environments and impacts on communities as well as monitor control performance,” he said.

The key difference between Anglo’s OiS system and other, off-the-shelf, products is its ability to receive, record, and analyse data such as air flow, gas levels etc. from multiple sources on to a single platform that also has analytical and reporting capabilities, Anglo said.

OiS is already in place at several of Anglo’s businesses including subsidiary Anglo American Platinum, where potential exposure to health hazards is being reduced by real-time monitoring of dust, noise, and gases.

“In fact, application of the OiS platform has assisted the Rustenburg base metals refinery (RBMR) team to achieve significant reductions in personal exposures to airborne pollutants within 12 months by optimising control measures,” Anglo said.

When asked about the value contribution of the OiS platform, RBMR General Manager Fortune Mashimbye said: “OiS informs me daily of health-related control performance and supplies me with data and information, so I can act on substandard conditions. Having access to real-time information on workplace conditions and control status empowers me and my team to actively protect the health of the RBMR employees.”

The system is currently being introduced at Anglo’s Kumba Iron Ore business, its Coal South Africa company and Copper division’s Chagres site in Chile. Further roll-outs are planned for Brazil and Botswana in 2019, the company said.

“The next phase of development will include predictive analysis that could, potentially, prevent control failures and health and safety incidents from happening,” Anglo said.

The system was recognised at the 2018 USA National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Awards, where it took the award for Technology Innovation in Health and Safety.

Amplats buys Glencore’s stake in SA platinum project

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In another sign Anglo American Platinum is confident in the long-term fundamentals of the precious metal, it has agreed to purchase Glencore’s 39% interest in the Mototolo joint venture operation in the Bushveld of South Africa.

Amplats could pay up to R22 billion for the interest as part of a complex deal that involves an upfront cash payment of R0.8 billion on a “cash-free basis” and an additional consideration based on rand PGM prices over the life of mine.

This is Amplats’ second platinum group metal investment in as many weeks, with the company recently pledging $100 million towards two UK-based venture capital funds developing “innovative and competitive technological uses of PGMs”.

These developments come at a time when platinum prices remain subdued and many other companies, reliant on manual labour, are looking to scale back their exposure to the precious metals.

Amplats, on the other hand, is making money. In the first six months of the year, its EBITDA increased 70% year-on-year to R6.8 billion as it produced 4% more PGMs (2.58 million ounces ) and cut unit costs by 3%.

Mototolo is currently operated as a 50:50 JV between Amplats and a partnership of Glencore (39%) and Kagiso Tiso Holdings (11%). It produced 157,200 oz of PGMs in the first six months of the year, up 26% from the same period a year ago, due to higher built-up head grade and additional production rolled over from the second half of 2017.

Chris Griffith, Amplats CEO, said the increased interest in Mototolo, on the Eastern Limb of the Bushveld Complex, could lead to the company creating another major “PGM hub” that was, importantly, mechanised, low cost and had a high-quality resource.

Its Mogalakwena PGM hub on the northern side of the Bushveld Complex, another mechanised operation, is one of the most profitable operations within the group.

He also said the deal “unlocks significant optionality for the company in its wholly-owned Der Brochen resource”.

Der Brochen, 100% owned by Amplats, has 182.1 million tonnes of Merensky reef resources grading 4.37 g/t 4E PGE, plus 402.4 Mt of UG2 reef resources at 3.99 g/t 4E PGE.

The project has been within the Amplats portfolio for some time, but the company said combining the Mototolo JV area with the downdip and adjacent Der Brochen resource, could extend the current five-year life of mine to “well in excess” of 30 years. This is something the company is currently carrying out a study on.

The transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including competition commission approval, and is expected to complete in the December quarter of 2018.