JSE- and NYSE-listed Sibanye-Stillwater's platinum-group metal (PGM) mineral resources have increased by 90% to 389-million ounces, while its PGM mineral reserves have increased by about 20% to 55.10-million ounces.
The precious metals miner on Tuesday attributed the increase in its PGM mineral resources and reserves primarily to the inclusion of the Marikana assets, which it acquired in June 2019, as well as ongoing successful definition drilling at the Blitz project, in the US.
"The substantial increase in the PGM mineral resource and mineral reserve base, largely as a result of ongoing drilling at the Blitz project at the Stillwater mine in the US and the acquisition of Lonmin, enhances the mine-to-market strategy and positions the PGM operations to continue delivering value on a sustainable basis.
"The inclusion of Lonmin’s projects into the portfolio has substantially improved both the greenfield and brownfield project pipeline, providing the company with significant development and growth optionality under appropriate economic circumstances," Sibanye said.
The US platinum and palladium (2E) PGM mineral resources had increased by 2% to 81.1-million ounces, while the 2E PGM mineral reserves had increased by 5% to 26.9-million ounces.
The South African platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold (4E) PGM mineral resources, meanwhile, had increased by 127% to 218-million ounces. This included 124.3-million ounces at the Marikana operations.
Total South African 4E PGM mineral reserves increased by 38% to 28.2-million ounces. This includes 9.2-million ounces at the Marikana operations.
GOLD RESERVES
Meanwhile, the gold mineral resources at Sibanye's South African gold operations had increased by 52% to 51.5-million ounces, while mineral reserves had increased by 10% to 10.9-million ounces.
Sibanye attributed the increase in gold resources to a reduction in costs associated with the Kloof integration project, facilitating a decrease in cut-off grades.