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JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Platinum-group metal (PGM) ounce production at Eastern Platinum’s (Eastplats’) Crocodile River mine, in South Africa, increased marginally to 30 820 oz in the second quarter of the year, up only 1% on the 30 531 oz produced in the first quarter of the year.
However, the platinum miner, led by president and CEO Ian Rozier, reported on Friday that the run-of-mine (ROM) tonnages hoisted had declined by 2% quarter-on-quarter, while on-reef development metres were down 19% quarter-on-quarter, as a result of some contract stoping crews having been dismissed over safety concerns.
Eastplats said that it had dismissed 15 out of the mine’s 58 stoping crews in May, as management was concerned over the safety procedures used by those crews.
It highlighted that the lost-time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) had increased to 2,78 in the second quarter of the year, compared with the 1,77 LTIFR recorded in the first quarter.
As a result of the dismissal and the required training of new crews, which had all been appointed by July, the ROM hoisted tonnages fell to 297 186 t, compared with the 304 309 t hoisted in the first quarter of the year.
Further, only 1 573 m of on-reef development had been completed during the June quarter, compared with the 1 931 m completed in the previous quarter.
Eastplats said that it expected on-reef development and production to increase once the new crews had been properly inducted and trained.
The PGM miner would release its full second-quarter results on August 11.
