The six-year Booysendal South project – the biggest growth project for platinum group metals (PGMs) producer Northam Platinum, accounting for a R4.2-billion chunk of its R5.5-billion growth projects budget – is expected to reach steady-state production of 260 000 t/m in 2022.

The project area is contiguous to the existing Booysendal North mine, and is located about 35 km from Mashishing, on the border of the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, and has an estimated life-of-mine of more than 50 years.

The infrastructure acquired in June 2015 from mining company Aquarius Platinum from its Everest mine for the Booysendal South expansion includes a 250 000 t/m concentrator with an integrated chrome extraction plant, a tailings storage facility, offices, workshops and changehouses, and, significantly, power and water allocations, and underground access to the future planned Booysendal South 3 and 4 modules.

The mine planning and design replicates that of the North mine: underground operations will comprise two upper group two (UG2) bord-and-pillar modules, accessed through a single portal system, along with a Merensky module – to act as a swing producer in favourable markets.

Concentrate material from the existing plants will be transported to and smelted at the Zondereinde smelter plant, located at the northern extremity of the western limb of the Bushveld Complex, in Limpopo, adjacent to Anglo American Platinum’s Tumela mine, near Thabazimbi.

Design and engineering work on an aerial wheel-on-rope conveyor system from Austria, known as Ropecon, is under way. The Ropecon system will deliver ore from the central portal complex to a 250 000 t/m PGM concentrator and an integrated chrome extraction plant 4.9 km away. Wheel-on-rope conveyor system provider Doppelmayr Transport Technology is working on the engineering and design of the system, while the existing modified shaft head infrastructure at the mine site will be used to support the system.

Given that permitting frequently entails long-lead items, a number of the specialist studies are running simultaneously with those items in the early works programme covered by existing environmental authorisations. Good progress is being made on the boxcut and pollution control dam earthworks in the permitted area. To date, some R75-million has been spent on the Booysendal South project.

Temporary power and water supply have been provided for construction purposes and the mine is also preparing the environmental permits for the rest of the work to be completed at the mine.

At full production, Booysendal South is likely to employ about 2 000 people. In a continued focus on local recruitment, Booysendal will progress the work done with the local authorities in identifying appropriate skills and training for potential novice recruits.