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MODERN MINING
May 2017
MINING News
Robert Friedland, Executive Chairman
of TSX-listed Ivanhoe Mines, and Lars-
Eric Johansson, President and CEO,
have announced that the company has
appointed three leading mine-financing
institutions as Initial Mandated Lead
Arrangers (IMLAs) to arrange debt financ-
ing for the ongoing development of the
company’s Platreef mine near Mokopane.
The companies are Export Development
Canada, Nedbank Limited (ac ting
through its Corporate and Investment
Banking division) and Societe Generale
Beltcon 19 –Materials Handling Conference and Exhibition
Beltcon 19, the International Materials
Handling Conference and Exhibition, is to
be held at St George’s Hotel, Pretoria, from
2–3 August 2017.
Beltcon is recognised as one of the
foremost international conferences bring-
ing progress, breakthrough research and
state-of-the-art information to members of
the industry. It is a conference that through
the years has gained global stature by
attracting eminent and knowledgeable
researchers and speakers. Among the dis-
tinguished speakers from around the world
are Zamorano, Chile; Dharma and Suresh,
India; Wiid and Schmitz, South Africa; Porter
andWheeler, Australia; and Zhang, USA.
Some of the topics to be covered are:
dynamic and fatigue analysis of bulk mate-
rials; conveyor system capacity upgradation
design considerations; technical evalua-
tion of coal silo failure mechanisms; energy
efficient rail conveyors; conveyor belt fire
safety; active winch take-up systems; over-
land conveyor design; and troughed belt
turnover finite element analysis.
Beltcon will run concurrently with an
exhibition of products relevant to the
conveying industry which is within the
conference venue and therefore open to
delegates only.
Beltcon is supported by the Conveyor
Manufacturers Association and is organ-
ised by Cost Time Resource. Full details
plus an application form are available on
the Beltcon web site:
www.beltcon.org.za.
Platreef financing takes a step forward
Corporate & Investment Banking.
The three IMLAs will make best efforts
to provide approximately US$450 million
toward a total debt financing of up to US$1
billion for the development of Platreef’s
first-phase 4 Mt/a mine. The financing
will be contingent upon a successful due
diligence process including benchmark-
ing the project against the International
Financial Corporation (IFC)’s Environmental
and Social Performance Standards.
“This is a major step in the develop-
ment of the Platreef project, which has the
The headgear of Shaft 1 at the Platreef site (photo: Ivanhoe).
potential to become the world’s largest
producer of platinum group metals,” said
Friedland.
“The selected institutions bring exten-
sive experience in structured mining
finance in South Africa and internationally.
Their support gives us strong confidence in
our ability to advance the near-term devel-
opment of Platreef and confirms that it is
viewed as one of the world’s most attractive
greenfield platinumgroupmetals projects.”
Added Johansson: “With the appoint-
ment of the IMLAs, our next step in
arranging the project debt financing is the
completion and issuance of the definitive
feasibility study for Platreef’s first-phase
production scenario, which we expect this
quarter.”
The feasibility study is being prepared
by principal consultant DRA Global, with
specialised sub-consultants including
Stantec Consulting, Murray & Roberts
Cementation, SRK Consulting, Golder
Associates and DigbyWells Environmental.
On April 12, 2017, Ivanhoe announced
approval for the start of early-works con-
struction for Platreef’s Shaft 2, which will
be the project’s main production shaft.
Shaft 2 will be located approximately
100 m north-east of Platreef’s Shaft 1,
where permanent sinking has been under-
way for over eight months.
Ivanplats plans to develop the Platreef
mine as an underground mining operation
in three phases, with phase one having an
initial annual rate of 4 Mt/a to establish
an operating platform to support future
expansions. Phase 2 will see a doubling
of production to 8 Mt/a while Phase 3 will
take production to a steady-state 12 Mt/a.
At a projected production rate of 12 Mt/a,
Platreef would be the largest PGM mine in
the world, producing more than 1,2 Moz of
platinum group metals each year.