KALGOORLIE (miningweekly.com) − Despite the labour issues at the Smokey Hills platinum mine in South Africa, project owner Platinum Australia said on Tuesday that the project would reach it quarterly target of 21 000 oz by the June quarter next year.

Speaking at the Diggers & Dealers conference, Platinum Australia MD John Lewins said that the underground operation at Smokey Hills produced some 53 000 t of ore in the March quarter.

This increased to around 105 000 t during the June quarter, despite the significant reduction in production as a result of a recent fatality and labour issues.

Production for the current quarter was expected to reach some 170 000 t, despite the Department of Mineral Resources temporarily shutting down the mine on claims that the mine operator had failed to comply with social and labour plans.

Production would subsequently increase to around 180 000 t a quarter, to account for the 21 000 oz a quarter production during June next year, Lewins said.

Meanwhile, Lewins also noted that the production from the R1.1-billion Kalahari Platinum (Kalplats) project would only start in 2014, as the joint venture (JV) partners waited for State-owned power producer Eskom to have enough electricity available for the project.

Platinum Australia could earn up to a 49% interest in the project from owner ARM Platinum.

The project currently hosts a 6.7-million ounce resource, with around 1.5-million ounces estimated to be in the measured and indicated resource category. Lewins said that a definitive feasibility study has found that the project could produce some 120 000 oz/y of platinum elements over the first five year of operations.

Lewins said that Platinum Australia and its JV partner would now look to complete the bulk sampling and pilot plant at the Kalplats project by December this year, and would submit its mining rights application for the project by July 2012.

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