JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Department Water and Sanitation has granted Bauba Platinum subsidiary, Bauba A Hlabirwa Mining Investments, a general authorisation of water use for the farm Moeijelijk, in Limpopo, fulfilling the last legislative condition required before the start of full-scale mining.
The authorisation followed the granting of a small-scale mining permit for the chrome project in 2014, after which an operational impact initial site establishment was conducted and detailed planning of the opencast mining operation finalised.
The water use approval, together with the mining permit, would now allow for the mining of some 240 000 t of run-of-mine chrome ore at a planned rate of 20 000 t/m.
First chrome production was expected before the end of this month.
An application for a long-term chrome mining right had also been submitted to the Department of Mineral Resources, Bauba CEO Syd Caddy noted on Monday.
“[The water use authorisation] positions the company to immediately start in all earnest to pursue its objective of becoming both a cash generating chrome producer and exploration company.
“This positively distinguishes Bauba from many of its peers in that its current platinum exploration programme will become substantially self-funded, thereby avoiding early dilution of shareholder value,” he outlined in a statement.