Aim- and ASX-listed
 Sylvania Resources has 
 commissioned its Doorn-bosch platinum-group metals (PGMs) and chrome recovery plant, on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC), at a cost of R97-million.

Doornbosch will initially produce 670 oz/m of PGMs.

Sylvania holds a 74% interest in Sylvania Dump Operations, which treats chrome tailings to recover PGMs from Samancor Chrome’s mines on the eastern and western limbs of the BIC.

The new plant is designed to process 20 000 t/m of PGMs plant feed from Samancor’s Doornbosch chrome plant and will eventually ramp up to a steady-state production of 
1 000 oz/m of PGMs.

“The Doornbosch plant, our fifth PGMs recovery plant in the Bushveld Complex, is well positioned to become one of the lowest-cost producers of the Sylvania plants, due to the potentially high-grade feed that we expect from this new mine. This supports our strategy of low-cost extraction from chrome current risings and tailings dumps,” said Sylvania CEO Terence McConnachie.

As the Doornbosch chrome plant and the Doornbosch underground mine are still under 
development and ramping up to full output, only about 15 000 t/m of PGMs plant feed is being supplied to the recovery plant.

Preparations are now being made for the PGMs recovery plant to temporarily also treat fines from Samancor’s Tweefontein mine, in addition to dumps at the Doornbosch plant, to ensure that its capacity was fully used.

Feed from the Tweefontein mine will be delivered to the 
recovery plant from early next year, which will increase production to the 1 000-oz/m level.

Meanwhile, Sylvania has also 
announced that its Lannex PGMs tailings facility, which was temporarily suspended earlier this year, will resume output at a reduced capacity until a new tailings dam could be built.

The facility, which is also 
located on the eastern limb of the BIC and which treats feed from Samancor’s Lannex mine, has been suspended as a result of constraints on the amount of tailings that come from its current temporary tailings dam.

While it is still awaiting the approval of a new water licence for the plant, which it expected 
to be granted “shortly”, R3-mil-
lion has been invested in an 
underground backfilling project that will allow the Lannex 
facility to restart production from the old tailings dump at a rate of 30 000 t/m for six months.

This is expected to keep the 
facility in production until the water licence can be granted and construction can start on the new tailings facility.

Sylvania expects the new tailings dam to take about three months to build.

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