Name of the Project
Impala 16 Shaft project.

Location
The shaft development is situated on the south-east corner of the Impala mining lease down dip of No 1 Shaft, on the western limb of the Bushveld Complex, South Africa’s North West province.

Project Owner/s
Impala Platinum (Implats).

Project Description
Implats’ 16 Shaft has an estimated design production estimated at 330 000 oz/y of 6E (platinum, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, iridium and gold) platinum-group elements  (PGEs) from seven operational levels. The shaft will access the Merensky and upper group two (UG2) reef horizons.

The 16 Shaft ore reserves will be accessed using a downcast rock and men-and-materials shaft, lined to an inside diameter of 10 m and sunk to 1 648 m. The ventilation shaft is a 6.8-m-diameter inside-concrete lining shaft, sunk to 1 390 m below the surface.

As the shaft will access reef from a depth of 1 220 m to 1 540 m, full-time refrigeration, introduced through the rock and men-and-materials shaft, will be required for the underground workings. The refrigeration is designed to ventilate a maximum of 900 kg/s of cooled air from the surface.

The No 16 Shaft headgear, with a structural height of 108 m, houses two Koepe winders. One will hoist personnel and material, and the other only rock. The rock hoist tipping arrangement will be located inside the concrete headgear to reduce noise pollution. A conveyor will transfer reef and waste from the headgear bins to a transfer tower, from where reef will be transferred to two concrete silos – one for Merensky and one for UG2.

The power requirements for the new shaft will be met from a new Eskom 88/33 kV yard at 15 Shaft.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
To date, capital spend on 16 Shaft has totalled R7.7-billion of the R7.9-billion project expenditure.

Planned Start/End Date
The project is expected to be completed in November 2021, with steady state expected to be reached in October 2022.

Latest Developments
The impact of Covid-19 on project advancement and labour availability across the Impala Rustenburg complex resulted in fewer stoping teams – to 78 – in the six months to December 31, 2020, at the end of the 2020 financial year. 

In the first half of the 2021 financial year, operational readiness was advanced and immediately mineable stope face length increased by 24% to 4 813 m, while the number of stoping teams increased to 122 by the end of the period.

The fully commissioned C-ore-pass had a positive impact on grade and 16 Shaft delivered stable production of 102 000 6E ounces in the period. Team build-up is expected to continue in the second half and steady state 6E production of 330 000 oz is targeted for October 2022.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Shaft Sinkers (shaft sinking); Read Swatman & Voigt (engineering, procurement and construction management); JJG Construction (civil works – Phase 2); Louwill Engineering (structural steel – Phase 2); NIC Instruments & Engineering (electrical – Phase 2); FLSmidth Minerals (Koepe winder – mechanical); ABB South Africa (Koepe winder – electrical); and Wade Walker (surface electrical works).

Contact Details for Project Information
Implats, tel +27 11 731 9000, fax +27 11 731 9254 or email investor@implats.co.za.