Name of the Project
Booysendal South tailings retreatment project.

Location
The Booysendal mining right straddles South Africa’s Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces.

Client
Northam Platinum.

Project Description
The project entails the hydromining and reprocessing of the Booysendal South tailings storage facility (TSF) to extract 1.3-million tonnes of chrome concentrate from 8.7-million tonnes of tailings, from which platinum-group metals (PGMs) will also be extracted. Tailings from this project will be placed back underground in the old Everest workings to reduce environmental impact.

The tailings have a mineral content of about 18% chrome and 0.7 g/t to 0.8 g/t of PGMs.

Initially, the project will be undertaken in two phases – chrome will be extracted first and tailings returned to the storage facility before being processed for a second time to extract PGMs. Once the PGM flotation circuit has been recommissioned, it will be a continuous process of PGM extraction and then chrome extraction.

Apart from the compelling economics of this project, a key objective is to ensure that the concentrator is fully commissioned and optimised ahead of the run-of-mine feed from the Booysendal South mining project.

Potential Job Creation
200.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Value
Not stated.

Duration
The Booysendal South concentrator is expected to be commissioned during 2018.

Latest Developments
The Booysendal tailings retreatment plant was initiated in the first half of the financial year. By the end of the financial year, 824 000 t had been processed and 61 500 t of chrome concentrate had been produced.

The entire plant commissioning, along with the processing for PGMs is planned for the end of the first quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, construction has started on the backfill plant, while the process design is being finalised ahead of commissioning in September 2018. Tailings arising from the reprocessing will be placed underground as backfill to reduce the environmental impact. Total capital expenditure for the project is expected to be R163.5-million.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Northam Platinum, tel +27 11 759 6000 or fax +27 11 325 4795.