37 / 72
August 2015
MODERN MINING
35
PLATINUM
T
he Platreef project is 64 %-owned
by Ivanhoe through its subsidiary,
Ivanplats, and 10 %-owned by a
Japanese consortium of ITOCHU
Corporation and its affiliate, ITC
Platinum; Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National
Corporation (JOGMEC); and Japan Gas Corpo-
ration. The remaining 26 % interest is held by
B-BBEE partners, which include communities,
employees and entrepreneurs.
Since 2007, Ivanhoe has focused its explo-
ration activities on defining and advancing
the down-dip extension of its original Platreef
discovery, now known as the Flatreef deposit,
which is viewed as being amenable to highly
mechanised, underground mining methods.
The construction of the large, concrete
shaft collar and plenum is well underway.
Construction is nearing completion on the
foundations for the large winding equipment
required for deeper shaft sinking. The winding
equipment has been refurbished and is being
stored off-site. Commissioning is underway for
the installed pre-sink winder that will be oper-
ated during initial sinking down to 60 m.
Other work on site includes the construc-
tion of the primary terraces for Shaft 1 and
the stormwater pond. A total of 73 % of the
611 permanent and contract workers presently
employed by the company are from the local
area.
Ivanhoe completed 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 infrastructure
to support initial concentrate production by
2019. There will be opportunities to refine and
modify the timing and capacities of subsequent
phases of production to suit market conditions
during the development and commissioning
Sinking operations
poised
to start at
Platreef project
Collar construction in
progress for the 975 m deep,
7,25 m dia Shaft 1 (photo:
Ivanhoe).
In its review of operations for the second quarter of 2015, TSX-listed Ivanhoe
Mines, which is developing the Platreef project near Mokopane on the Northern
Limb of the Bushveld Complex, says that commissioning is underway for the
pre-sink winder that will be used to sink Platreef’s Shaft 1 to a depth of approxi-
mately 60 m below surface. It also reports that (as of 12 August), construction of
the foundations for the large winding equipment needed to sink the shaft below
60 mwere almost complete.
of the first phase. The feasibility study, based
on the first phase, began earlier this month
(August 2015).
As detailed in the PFS, the first phase mine
will be a mechanised underground operation
using the longhole stoping mining method
with a 4 Mt/a concentrator and a planned ini-
tial average annual production rate of 433 000
ounces of platinum, palladium, rhodium
and gold (3PE+Au), plus 19 million pounds
of nickel and 12 million pounds of copper.
The PFS estimated a pre-production capital
requirement of approximately US$1,2 billion,
including US$114 million in contingencies, at
a rand/dollar exchange rate of 11 to 1. Ivanhoe
is planning three stages of development with
phase 2 doubling production and phase 3 tak-
ing it to 12 Mt/a, which would make the mine
one of the largest PGM operations in the world.
The shaft-sinking contractor for Shaft 1 –
which will be used to extract a mineralised
bulk sample for metallurgical testing from the
800-m level of the Flatreef deposit – is Aveng
Mining. The shaft will have an internal diam-
eter of 7,25 m and is projected to reach a total
depth of 975 m in 2018.