JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The share price of JSE-listed platinum exploration junior Platfields, which took a bath on listing, rose 12% on Wednesday on the news that the company had firmed up its Limpopo prospecting rights claim.

Platfields’ share price, which went into freefall after its 140c a share JSE debut on December 14, ended the day at 33c a share, on the back of an agreement  to acquire the remaining 50% of the new-order Leeukop prospecting rights for R40-million, made up of an initial R2-million in cash and R38-million through equity raising.

Headed by CEO Bongani Mbindwane, Platfields is intent on removing ownership uncertainty around Leeukop, where four-million ounces of platinum-group metals (PGMs) are being targeted.

As Mining Weekly Online reported earlier, Anglo American group platinum miner Anglo Platinum is taking legal action against both Platfields and the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) in another prospecting rights dispute that centres on the awarding of new-order rights to Platfields on a portion of a farm where Anglo Platinum has old-order rights.

The DMR granted Platfields the prospecting right to Tigerpoort 426KS for chrome, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, nickel and PGMs.

This Tigerpoort right did not form part of the listing document, and Platfields is looking to resolving the matter with Anglo Platinum.

After appealing the Tigerpoort decision in June, Anglo Platinum then instituted legal proceedings under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA) owing to the timeframes dictated under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA).

PAJA demands that aggrieved parties should bring their review applications to court within 180 days.

The idea is that Tigerpoort will form part of the Platfields Liger project, which also includes Leeukop.

Platfields is hoping to fast-track the “openpittable” Liger, which spans 1 100 ha on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex.

The company's most advanced project is the 7 000 ha Berg, which has one-million ounces of indicated resource and 600 000 oz of inferred resource.

The company’s third exploration project is the Grootfonteinberg gold deposit on 300 ha in Mpumalanga.

Platfields expected to list at between 160c a share and 180c a share, but fell short at 140c a share, and then plummeted progressively, at one stage scraping the 15c a share nadir.

The company’s share capital at the time of listing was made up of two-billion ordinary shares each at one thousandth of a cent (R0,00001) and an equivalent par value for the 789 597 005 issued ordinary shares, which provided a share premium of R236-million net of share issue expenses.

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