Modern Mining May 2017

MINING News

Platreef financing takes a step forward Corporate & Investment Banking.

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 .  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.  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.

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

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).

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.

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

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

6  MODERN MINING  May 2017