Precious metals producer Northam Platinum could produce at full capacity of some 400 000 t/m from its newly acquired Booysendal project from 2014/15, an official said last week.

One feature that its bankable feasibility study (BFS) on the project, which is currently under way, would interrogate is generating additional power using wind energy. The BFS is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2009.

Meanwhile, Northam group geologist Damian Smith told Mining Weekly that there had been “informal advances” with neighbouring Aquarius Platinum, the company that he said was “more in need of resources than Northam”.

This was after speculation over a possible deal between the two companies that would allow them to exploit synergies between the southern portion of the Booysendal property and Aquarius’s contiguous Everest South asset.

Northam CE Glyn Lewis said that his company would spend some R50-million on completing the BFS, with construction and site establishment set to begin in the early part of 2010. The entire mine was estimated to cost some R7,1-billion.

“If that should come to pass, then, given Booysendal is a near- surface deposit – access is via decline systems – it should be a rapid ramp-up from development through to full tonnage,” Smith stated.

“We could conceivably look at full tonnage from 2014/15 onwards.”

However, while Northam had enough power and water secured for the development phase of the mine, it would need additional electricity to ramp up to full production capacity.

Lewis said that this had led the miner to consider building the mine in 120 000-t/m modules, as well as interrogating alternative power sources, such as coal-fired generation and renewable power.

Smith said that a potential power source Northam would look at was wind power.

The company would require additional power to the tune of 60 MW to 80 MW to reach Booysendal’s full capacity tonnage, he noted. “We expect that Eskom should have dealt with most of their power issues by the time that we are going to need to draw additional power at Booysendal, but we are also looking at alternative sources.”

Asked whether there had been any communication between Aquarius and Northam regarding any deal between the two, Smith said: “There have been advances – those have been of an informal nature.

“We have not addressed those up to now,” he stated, pointing out that Northam had thus far been focusing on completing its acquisition of Booysendal.

“We are committed to developing a mine at Booysendal that will be a Northam mine,” Smith asserted. “And only when we have the planning firmed up for that mine, will we be able to really sit down and discuss other corporate action with Aquarius, or any other party for that matter.

I think they are more in need of resources than Northam,” he added.

Quipping, Lewis said of Aquarius CEO Stuart Murray: “Tell him to put something on the table.”

On the corporate activity front, Smith said that Northam saw itself as more of an “assister” than a predator, and echoed Lewis’s assertions that there would be opportunities for further corporate action.

Lewis said that there were many junior platinum companies that would have an increasingly difficult time raising project financing, which had “all but dried up”.

Smith highlighted that Northam was in a strong cash position, with the potential to grow its production base.

“There are a number of juniors that have viable projects in the Bushveld;’ however, with the recent credit crunch, the ability to raise capital for new projects is becoming ever more difficult.”

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