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MODERN MINING
April 2016
COVER STORY
E
laborating, Mouton says that the in-
credible width of the Flatreef means
that it will be a platinum mine like
no other. “If you look at all the other
underground platinum mines in
South Africa, they’re mining either the Meren-
The Platreef project –
Ivanhoe’s
Ivanplats’ Mokopane team
pictured at the company’s
premises in the town.
Construction of what could ultimately become the world’s biggest platinum-group metals mine – the
Platreef project of TSX-listed Ivanhoe Mines – is now well underway, with the sinking of the first shaft
already in progress and poised to enter the main sinking phase. The newmine will exploit a remark-
able underground orebody known as the Flatreef which has an average thickness of 24 m – making
it roughly equivalent to 24 narrowMerensky reefs stacked one on top of another. The man respon-
sible for the day-to-day management of the project, Gerick Mouton, Vice President & Executive Head:
Capital Projects of Ivanhoe subsidiary, Ivanplats, believes that it represents the future of the platinum
mining industry, not only in South Africa but globally.
sky or the UG2 reefs, which are generally only
a metre or so thick,” he says. “Mechanising
the mining of orebodies of this type is difficult
although there has been some success with
semi-mechanised methods on the UG2, which
typically offers more mining width than the Me-