Name of the Project
Styldrift I expansion project.

Location
South Africa’s North West province.

Project Owner/s
Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat).

Project Description
The Styldrift project area is located about 5.5 km from the existing Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine (BRPM).

The project will exploit one of the last major shallow Merensky mining blocks on the Western Bushveld.

Styldrift I will deliver an underground trackless operation, which is accessed through a twin vertical shaft system, consisting of sinking the main shaft to 753 m and the services shaft to 723 m.

The configuration of the main shaft has been equipped and commissioned, and allows for a single-deck personnel-and-material cage compartment that can transport 180 people; a cage counterweight compartment; two Merensky reef skip compartments, each designed to accommodate a 22 t skip; and two future skip compartments, each capable of accommodating a 13 t skip. The services shaft has been equipped and commissioned, and allows for a personnel-and-equipment cage and counterweight compartment that can transport 22 people.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
The project is estimated at about R12.4-billion.

Planned Start /End Date
Steady-state production is expected in the third quarter of 2020.

Latest Developments
RBPlat made progress in delivering against its growth strategy by achieving the 150 000 t a month milestone at Styldrift in October 2018.

The key infrastructure commissioned during 2018 included:
• main Eskom power supply,
• the services shaft,
• the overland belt to the BRPM concentrator,
• ventilation Shaft No 3,
• 18 trackless workshops,
• Silo No 4 and associated North decline ore-handling infrastructure,
• Phase I of the South decline ore handling infrastructure, and
• six strike conveyor sections.

According to RBPlat’s results for the year ended December 31, 2019, the initial expectation was that Styldrift would reach commercially sustainable production by the end of the first half of 2018, and, as such, operating costs associated with on-reef development and stoping would be expensed during the second half of the year.

However, the delays resulting from the complex Silo No 4 rehabilitation process resulted in the conversion to a commercially sustainable operation being achieved only by year-end.

This delay has resulted in more than R1.01-billion in operating costs related to on-reef development and stoping costs that accrued during the second half of the year being capitalised, increasing the Styldrift capital expenditure required to reach 150 000 t/m from R10.8 billion to R11.8 billion.

Total project expansion capital expenditure for the reporting period was R3.21-billion, bringing the total capital expenditure for the project to date to R11.8-billion.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
WorleyParsons (main project engineering); Anglo Technical Division (mine shaft design); Mining & Engineering Technical Services, or Mets (services shaft headgears); Shaft Sinkers (main and services shafts and associated works until January 2015, when RBPlat terminated its contract); Louwill Engineering (main and services shafts headgears and winder-house structural manufacturing and erection); FLSmidth Minerals (main shaft personnel and material winder mechanical portion); Actom – formerly Alstom Industry (main shaft personnel-and-material winder – electrical portion); Coilmech (service winder – mechanical and electrical portions); Stefanutti Stocks Civils Wramatshe joint venture (civils Phase 2 contract – main bulk surface civils); Sarens (cranes), Sandvik Mining (underground primary trackless fleet); Fermel (secondary trackless fleet); Master Drilling, Murray & Roberts and Redpath (vertical raiseboring) and Howden (surface fan supply and installation).

All procurement and construction management are currently owner-managed.

On Budget and on Time?
Yes.

Contact Details for Project Information
RBPlat executive: corporate affairs Mpueleng Pooe, tel +27 10 590 4515 or email mpueleng@bafokengplatinum.co.za, or investor relations executive Lindiwe Montshiwagae, tel +27 10 590 4517 or email lindiwe@bafokengplatinum.co.za.