Modern Mining September 2022

PLATINUM

Armed with a reconfigured mine layout plan that is aligned to an adjusted mining method, platinum producer Eastern Platinum mine (Eastplats) subsidiary Barplats, owner of the Crocodile River Mine (CRM), is ready to restart its flagship operation which has been on care and maintenance since 2013, GM Hannelie Hanson said during a recent media visit. By Nelendhre Moodley . Crocodile River Mine is ready

A ccording to Hanson, following the platinum price slide in 2011, the miner took the deci sion to put its operations on hold. Over the intervening years, the operation has been upgraded, and now boasts infrastructure enhance ments that target improved efficiencies, increased production and greater safety. “Over the years,” says Hanson, “Crocodile River Mine went through a number of ownership changes and opened and closed a number of times due to the economics at the time and the problems associated with the mining method. In 2016, we had a board and shareholder change which was the start of the relationship with Union Goal and the design for the current chrome plant, which was commissioned in December 2018.” Engineering specialist Ukwazi and South African advisory company Minxcon Group were instrumental in providing a reconfigured underground mine plan that ensures the dual listed miner comes to market with a cost-efficient operation that will be sustainable when PGM and chrome prices come off their peak. Crocodile River Mine is set to kick-start its under ground operations in Q4 2022. The Canadian miner recently appointed Wanjin Yang as its new CEO, tasked to take the project up the value chain and deliver on the production of the precious ounces.

Eastplats GM Hannelie Hanson.

“In anticipation of mine restart, we took the initia tive to improve the overall mine plan and the mining method and will equip it with a brand-new mining fleet,” says Hanson, who led the mine care and main tenance initiative a decade ago and remained on hand to ensure a smooth transition to mine resump tion, by ensuring, among other things, that the necessary mining related documents were updated and the operations kept in a suitable condition. Over the past two years, commodity prices have soared, trading at all-time highs, and platinum group metals joined the ranks of the top performers, with rhodium being one of the top earners. According to Peter Major, a director at Mergence Corporate Solutions, in just the past two years, mining houses and companies made tremendous returns from robust commodity prices with commodities such as rhodium trading at all-time highs of $30 000/oz and palladium at $3 000/oz. Although most commodity prices have come off their record highs, prices remain relatively favour able, offering an opportune mine-restart time for the Barplats team which has waited close to a decade to get its PGM and chrome operation into production. According to Hanson, while the PGM basket of prices is far from being at its best, the long-term fundamentals, driven by growing demand for clean energy, remain positive. Located in Brits in the Northwest Province, Barplats holds a pipeline of high-quality chrome and PGM assets both on the eastern and western limbs of the Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC). Its flagship Crocodile River Mine (CRM) consists of the Zandfontein (operating re-mining section) and project development sections of Zandfontein Underground, Crocette and Kareespruit, located on the western limb of the BIC with its Mareesburg and Kennedy Vale/Spitzkop operations situated on the eastern limb. Producing ounces ahead of mine restart Crocodile River has been in operation since 1987, and the Zandfontein and Crocette mines have been under care and maintenance since 2013. However, even before the Crocodile River under ground project was given the green light, the Toronto listed miner has been producing precious tons from its Zandfontein tailings, having commissioned its

Eastplats is ready to restart its flagship Crocodile River Mine.

24  MODERN MINING  September 2022