JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) lifted its production by 1% to 586 000 oz in the quarter ended June 30, compared with the 581 000 oz produced in the second quarter of 2015, as a result of improved performances at its Unki and Union mines, as well as its joint venture (JV) operations.
 
Amplats on Wednesday released its production report for the second quarter, noting that milled volumes at the Mogalakwena mine had increased by 6% to 3 224 oz, compared with 3 054 oz in the second quarter of 2015.

However, the miner noted that a return to normalised lower grades at Mogalakwena had resulted in a 3% decrease in platinum production to 98 800 oz, compared with the 102 300 oz produced in the June 2015 quarter.
 
Production at Amandelbult increased 1% to 106 200 oz from 105 400 oz in the second quarter of 2015.

Amplats lamented that this “strong mining performance” was offset by a single incident on April 26 that resulted in two fatalities, and the subsequent mine stoppage which resulted in a loss of 18 000 oz.
 
Unki’s production increased by 12% to 17 800 oz in the quarter under review, compared with the 15 900 oz produced in the prior comparable period. The platinum producer attributed the higher production to improved underground mining efficiencies, which resulted in increased milled volume and a 9% increase in grade owing to improved mining height control. 
 
Amplats stated that JV production – mined and bought – had increased 9% to 203 000 oz in the quarter under review, compared with the 188 000 oz produced in the prior comparable period owing to “strong production performances” from Modikwa, Mototolo, Royal Bafokeng Platinum’s Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine and Kroondal, which was partly offset by a 14% decrease in output at the Bokoni mine as a result of community unrest which resulted in ten days lost production.
 
Platinum production from the Rustenburg operations, including the Western Limb Tailings Retreatment (WLTR) was down 8% to 112 000 oz.

Amplats explained that mine production was lower owing to the impact of the Section 54 safety stoppage associated with a fatality, mining through difficult ground areas and marginally lower grade.

Nonetheless, the company pointed out that WLTR increased production by 27% to 14 000 oz, which it said was, in part, attributable to new production from the East tailings dams. 
 
“Following the significant restructuring at Union, the mine continued to improve performance against its optimised mine plan with production 31% higher at 41 200 oz [compared with] 31 400 oz in [the second quarter of] 2015 mainly owing to improved underground mining efficiencies and increased stability at the concentrator plant.”
 
Moreover, Amplats highlighted that total refined platinum production increased by 33% to 748 000 oz from 561 000 oz in the prior comparable period.

The platinum producer said the increase was the result of refining the backlog of production not processed during the first quarter of this year as a result of a planned stock take at the Precious Metal Refiners (PMR) and a Section 54 stoppage which closed the PMR for 12 days, and materially impacted production for a further 37 days.

“The remainder of the shortfall in refined production will be caught up in the second half of this year,” the company stated.

FATALITIES
Meanwhile, Amplats said it had tragically recorded three losses of life owing to work related incidents during the second quarter. Mlamuli Kubheka and Mveliso Ntamehlo were fatally injured in a winch-related incident at Amandelbult mine on April 26 and Tamsanqa Ngqambiya sustained fatal injuries in a fall of ground at Rustenburg mine on June 3.

“Our condolences go to the families, friends and colleagues of deceased. These tragic incidents came after a record fatality-free period of 323 days, highlighting our focus on improving safety,” stated Amplats.
 
The company added that its lost time injury frequency rate for every 200 000 hours worked at managed operations reduced 35% to 0.72 compared to the LTIFR of 1.11 recorded during the second quarter of 2015.