JSE- and Aim-listed Jubilee Platinum has advanced from a four-year develop- mental stage into a new phase as a producer of lucrative ferronickel from waste.

Jubilee CEO Leon Coetzer, who hosted an analyst and media visit to the 85-employee operation at the Thos Begbie site in Middelburg, tells Mining Weekly that a new 5 MW furnace will be commissioned in May, introducing the Mintek-developed ConRoast technology.

The State-owned Mintek has licensed ConRoast technology exclusively to Jubilee’s 100%-owned Braemore Resources subsidiary until 2020.

Though meant to process high-chrome platinum-group metals (PGMs) material, demand is so strong for ferronickel – used in stainless steel production – that the initial Conroast furnace will produce ferronickel instead.

A second 5 MW ConRoast furnace will then be commissioned in November to process high-chrome PGMs material.

Providing power on the Jubilee-controlled Thos Begbie site is independent power producer Power Alt, in which Jubilee has a 51% stake.

Power Alt, which will supply the 10 MW required for the two new furnaces, currently provides some of the power to three existing non-ConRoast furnaces that are producing ferronickel.

Jubilee has an agreement with JSE-listed Northam Platinum that may result in the company processing the high-chrome mate- rial from the proposed Booysendal platinum project.

Jubilee is also involved with Aim- and ASX-listed Sylvania, which may result in the ConRoast technology being used to process Platreef-type material at Sylvania’s Volspruit mine, in Mpumalanga.

Coetzer tells Mining Weekly that Jubilee invested R250-million in its period of developmental activity and is investing a further R150-million in the two new furnaces.

Jubilee, which has R85-million in cash, is “aggressively” pursuing platinum mine oppor- tunities ahead of the coming on stream of its 26-million proven-ounce Tjate platinum mine project in 2016. Tjate is down-dip from Impala Platinum’s Marula mine.

“The world is waking up to the project financing of platinum once again,” Coetzer comments.

Jubilee’s strategy is to be an integrated mine-to-metal company carrying out exploration, mining, smelting, refining and marketing.

It wants its own feedstock for 40% of its ConRoast capacity.

Currently, it is generating free cash flow from its processing business and sees its eventual mining activity as being a generator of jobs.