Modern Mining August 2015

MINING News

Maseve now in the final straight

up of production with significantly lower waste rock development compared to the conventional mining method that the company had planned to use previously. PTM expects that dilution resulting from the mechanised approach, along with new block information, will result in a 17 % lower grade on the early mined Merensky ore, which is largely offset by lower waste rock development and costs. Approximately 1 900 people are cur- rently on site. Surface construction manpower is expected to decline as the underground work force increases over the coming months. Safety has been and con- tinues to be a priority. The current safety record is better than the industry average with approximately 2,6 lost time injuries per million man hours worked. As mentioned, initial production of con- centrate is planned for the fourth quarter of calendar 2015. Initial production is planned from a number of underground blocks that PTM expects will soon be reached with underground development. The largest production ramp up area planned is from ‘Block 10’ and ‘Block 11’, using hybrid and room and pillar mining methods respec-

Platinum Group Metals (PTM), listed on the TSX and NYSE, reports that its 82,9 %-owned WBJV Project 1 platinum mine (Maseve) located near Rustenburg is approximately 90 % complete and is on track for planned production in 2015. Cold commissioning of processing plant equipment is planned for this month (August) with initial concentrate produc- tion on track for the fourth quarter of calendar 2015. The mineral resources and mineral reserves for Project 1 have been updated to account for the planned increased use of mechanised mining methods where the deposit is estimated to be thicker and accessible from nearby completed under- ground development. Production guidance for fiscal 2016 is 116 000 ounces platinum, palladium, rho- dium and gold (4E) (100 % project basis) and 185 000 ounces 4E in fiscal 2017 in concentrate. Steady state has been esti- mated to be 250 000 ounces 4E per year. Exclusive of smelter discount, on site costs are estimated to be US$526 per 4E

ounce for the life of mine on the Merensky Reef including copper, nickel and other minor elements as a credit and US$774 per 4E ounce on the UG2. Comments R Michael Jones, CEO of PTM: “We have done well at 90 % comple- tion on the project construction utilising a well-known plant design and our proven team. We are operationally ready with our experienced owner’s team. We have updated our mine plan for current underground development and updated mineral resources and mineral reserves. Underground trackless mechanised devel- opment is planned to be used for more of the mining as compared to our original design, thereby improving ramp up and flexibility.” The revised mine plan takes advan- tage of recently advanced underground development proximal to thicker, deeper mine blocks as compared to the shallower more variable blocks mined in the original design. PTM expects that the adoption of mechanised and hybrid mining approaches will allow for a rapid ramp-

Recent photo of the Maseve processing plant. It has a capacity of 110 ktpm but allowance has been made for this to be increased to 160 ktpm (photo: Platinum Group Metals).

14  MODERN MINING  August 2015