Name of the Project
Waterberg palladium project.

Location
The Waterberg project is located 85 km north of Mokopane, in Limpopo, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
Waterberg Joint Venture (JV) Resource is a JV between Platinum Group Metals, or PTM (37.05%), Impala Platinum Holdings (Implats) (15%), Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (12.95%), Hanwa Co (9.75%) and black economic-empowerment partner Mnombo Wethu Consultants (26%). As a result of PTM's 49.90% ownership in Mnombo, the Company has an effective interest in the Waterberg JV of 50.02%.

Project Description
The definitive feasibility study (DFS) mine plan envisages production of 4.8-million tonnes of ore a year and 420 000 platinum, palladium rhodium and gold, or 4E, ounces a year in concentrate.

The mine will initially access the orebody using two sets of twin decline tunnels, with fully mechanised longhole stoping methods and paste backfill used for mining. Paste backfill allows for a high mining extraction ratio, as mining can be completed next to backfilled stopes without leaving internal pillars.

Maintaining safety and reliability are key mine design criteria. As a result of the scale of the orebody, bulk mining on 20 m to 40 m sublevels using large underground equipment, and conveyors for ore and waste transport, will provide high efficiency.

Potential Job Creation
The project will create about 1 100 new highly skilled jobs.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $982-million and an internal rate of return of 20.7%.

Capital Expenditure
Capital expenditure is estimated at $874-million, including $87-million in contingencies. Peak project funding is estimated at $617-million.

Planned Start/End Date
PTM reported in May 2020 that it was possible for production to start in the first quarter of 2024, following decline establishment in the first quarter of 2021. Steady-state production of 420 000 oz/y could be achieved from 2027.

Latest Developments
Mining and Environmental Justice Community Network of South Africa (MEJCNSA) and community representatives have submitted an application to the Polokwane High Court against Waterberg JV Resources.

Nyoffu Attorneys is representing the case on behalf of residents of the Kgatlu, Lewaneng and Ga-Ngoepe villages, which believe PTM’s start and continuation of mining-related activities is in violation of constitutional land tenure, as well as the environmental, cultural and administrative rights of the three communities.

According to MEJCNSA affiliate activist Aubrey Lang, PTM has failed to give written notices about its planned activities to the communities of Kgatlu and Lewaneng as lawful occupiers of the Goedetrouw and Ketting farms.

Lang has told Mining Weekly that PTM has also not consulted meaningfully with these communities.

He has explained that the portion of land that PTM entered into pursuant to exercising the mining right it was recently granted by the State, is used communally by the Kgatlu residents.

The applicants are of the view that, since they have communal land rights, PTM must not only consult with the community but also obtain their consent as a central principle of the customary law, custom and usage they practice.

In South Africa, in terms of land reform policy, the Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights Act protects these procedural and substantive individual and communal informal land rights.

The main grievances that the applicants have raised include an alleged failure by PTM to compensate the applicant residents of Lewaneng and Ga-Ngoepe for economic loss and damages to farming plots, graves and boreholes.

The residents attended a general community meeting on July 31, and refused to sign an interim surface lease agreement with PTM, considering that the Goedetrouw farm is the only land asset bequeathed to the Kgatlu community, the MEJCNSA has said.

The residents have demanded that the size of the surface infrastructure area be reduced before it signs the agreement, since it wants to use the land for grazing purposes and to expand the village in future.

The Goedetrouw-related residents are demanding that PTM be interdicted from conducting mining activities on their land, pending an eventual amendment of the mining right.

Further, the applicants are concerned about what it considers the unlawfulness of granting a mining right in a highly sensitive cultural and biodiverse area.

They allege that the mining right area comprises land properties located at Makgabeng Plateau and surrounds, of which the former has been nominated as a national heritage site by the Rock Art Research Institute.

However, the communities want mining to proceed, and the applicants are prepared to engage with PTM to discuss mitigation of impact on these cultural and biodiversity attributes in accordance to government’s offset principle pursuant to reaching an environment-friendly agreement.

Applicant residents are aggrieved because the directly affected communities were not involved in the settlement discussions between the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) and PTM, as this infringed on their constitutional and statutory right to fair and lawful administrative justice.

Further, the mitigation plan that PTM was required to submit to the SAHRA as part of the settlement was not subjected to public review by interested and affected parties, the MEJCNSA states.

The applicants also claim that PTM's black economic-empowerment (BEE) transaction circumvented compliance with rural development and the land reform economic-empowerment policy of the Department of Land Reform, Agriculture and Rural Development, which is the nominal owner and trustee in respect of some of the properties encumbered by PTM’s mining right.

Ideally, the applicants wish to negotiate a settlement agreement with PTM on the matters raised in its court application. This is premised on the understanding that all the parties want the mine to be developed based on the overarching constitutional sustainable development principle that essentially balances the rights of the respective parties.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Stantec Consulting International and DRA Projects SA (DFS).

Contact Details for Project Information
PTM, tel +27 11782 2186 or email info@platinumgroupmetals.net.