JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Platinum mining major Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) has begun to process recycled secondary material.

“It’s a project that we’ve just started,” Amplats CEO Neville Nicolau said in reply to a question by Deutsche Bank precious metals analyst Anna Mulholland.

Amplats’ production profile indicated excess smelting and refining capacity in the short-to-medium term and provided an opportunity to improve capital efficiency.

“We’re shopping for opportunities,” Nicolau commented.

Following the successful introduction of some secondary platinum material in 2011, Amplats planned to secure additional secondary material to further increase capacity utilisation.

“Our process capacity in line with our mining operations is under utilised in the first half of the year and probably over utilised in the second half.

“As hard as we try to avoid this, and as hard as we try to get some average flow through the year, we find it very difficult.

“So, what we are doing is looking for an opportunity in the form of recycling of secondary metal to fill our processing capacity in the first half of the year,” Nicolau said in a Mining Weekly Online video recording.

Having done so from time to time had ensured that the company had the capability.

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