JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – A prefeasiblity study (PFS) at ASX- and Aim-listed Platinum Australia’s joint-venture (JV) Kalahari Platinum (Kalplats) project, in South Africa’s North West province, demonstrated that the project is commercially and technically viable.

“The results of the Kalplats PFS are very pleasing and show that a project based on only four of the seven known deposits would achieve an internal rate of return of 25%,” commented Platinum Australia MD John Lewins.

He added that the quality of the project and the benefits of an open pit development were clearly demonstrated by the projected cash operating cost of $340/oz of platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold (4E) platinum group-metals (PGMs), which was among the lowest in the industry.

Another benefit was the low $91-million projected capital cost to develop the project, he noted.

Further, the study, which has been submitted to JV partner African Rainbow Minerals (Arm) for its consideration, was expected to generate a net cash flow of $145-million.

The Kalplats project would produce in excess of one-million ounces of 4E PGMs over a nine-year operating life from open pit mining at the Crater, Orion, Crux and Vela deposits, Platinum Australia stated.

A definitive feasibility study, which would be based on the expanded resource incorporating the Serpens North and Sirius deposits, has started.

“In addition to the expanded resource base, the work carried out on the PFS has identified that there is significant scope to enhance the project, including further refinement of the resource models to allow greater flexibility for the application and evaluation of grade control in the mining process,” added Lewins.

The ore grade mined and treated could potentially increase by between 10% and 15%, which would lead to reduced costs, the company said.

Production at the Kalplats project would likely start by late 2011, with an expected output of between 120 000 oz/y and 140 000 oz/y of platinum, palladium and gold.

Platinum Australia was earning up to 49% of the project from Arm through the completion of a bankable feasibility study.

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