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December 2015
MODERN MINING
7
MINING News
Ivanhoe Mines, listed on the TSX, has
announced that initial shaft-sinking activi-
ties (drilling, blasting and mucking) at its
Platreef project’s Shaft 1 commenced on
October 26, 2015, following successful
construction of the shaft collar and venti-
lation plenum.
Shaft 1 will have an internal diameter
of 7,25 m. It is projected to intersect the
Flatreef deposit at a depth of 777 m below
surface in late 2017 and reach its total
depth of 975 m in 2018. Selected mining
areas in the current Platreef mine plan
occur at depths ranging from approxi-
mately 700m to 1 200mbelow the surface.
The Platreef project hosts an under-
ground deposit of thick, platinum group
metals, nickel, copper and gold miner-
alisation in the Northern Limb of the
Shaft-sinking activities start at Platreef
Shaft-sinking activities underway in the Platreef’s Shaft 1 (photo: Ivanhoe Mines).
Bushveld Complex, approximately 280 km
north-east of Johannesburg.
Platreef’s southern sector consists of
three contiguous properties: Turfspruit,
Macalacaskop and Rietfontein. Turfspruit,
the northernmost property, is contigu-
ous with, and along strike from, Anglo
Platinum’s Mogalakwena group of mining
operations and properties.
Since 2007, Ivanhoe has focused its
exploration activities on defining and
advancing the down-dip extension of its
original Platreef discovery, now known as
the Flatreef deposit, which is amenable
to highly mechanised, underground min-
ing methods. The Flatreef area lies entirely
on the Turfspruit and Macalacaskop
properties.
Ivanplats, Ivanhoe’s subsidiary, com-
pleted a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) in
January 2015 that covered the first phase
of development that is expected to include
construction of an underground mine,
concentrator and other associated infra-
structure to support initial concentrate
production by 2019.
The planned initial average annual pro-
duction rate is 433 000 ounces of platinum,
palladium, rhodium and gold (3PE+Au),
plus 19 million pounds of nickel and 12
million pounds of copper.
Caledonia announces upgrade of Blanket’s resources
Canada’s Caledonia Mining has announced
an increase and upgrade to the resource
base at its 49 %-owned subsidiary, the
Blanket mine in Zimbabwe.
Based on the diamond core drilling
that has been done at depth below the AR
South Section over the past six months, it
has been possible to add 222 000 tonnes of
new inventory to the indicated resource cat-
egory plus a further 283 000 tonnes to the
inferred resource category.
Infill drilling has continued at Blanket
Section to upgrade inferred resources to
indicated resources. A total of 254 750
tonnes of Blanket Quartz Reef, No 1 and No
2 orebodies, has been upgraded.
The combined total of new and
upgraded indicated resources of 476 750
tonnes is in addition to the 3,47 Mt tonnes
of reserves and indicated resources follow-
ing the May 2015 upgrade. This upgrade
and addition represents an increase of
14 % per cent in terms of tonnes and 19 %
in terms of contained gold and equates
to two years of production at 2014
production levels.