Name of the Project
Platreef project – platinum group metals (PGMs), nickel, copper and gold mine.

Location
Limpopo, South Africa.

Client
Ivanhoe Mines owns 64% of the Platreef project through its subsidiary Ivanplats and manages all project development work. The South African beneficiaries of the approved broad-based black economic-empowerment (BBBEE) structure have a 26% stake in the project and the remaining 10% is owned by a Japanese consortium of Itochu Corporation; Japan Oil, Gas & Metals National Corporation; ITC Platinum Development, an Itochu affiliate; and JGC.

Ivanplats is the top-ranked platinum-sector mining company in terms of compliance with South Africa’s black economic-empowerment laws. The company achieved Level 3 status on the BBBEE scorecard in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

The communities around the Platreef project are widely consulted, with about 150 000 members becoming equity shareholders, and an estimated 70% of employees and contractors coming from surrounding communities.

Project Description
The Platreef project is a Tier 1 discovery, which contains the underground Flatreef deposit of PGMs, copper, nickel and gold, located on the northern limb of South Africa’s Bushveld Igneous Complex – the world’s premier platinum-producing region. Ivanplats has declared an initial probable mineral reserve of 15.51-million ounces of platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold (3PE+Au). The mineral reserve is expected to support a 31-year mine life at steady-state production of four-million tonnes a year.

An independent preliminary economic assessment (PEA), which was completed in March 2014, proposed a three-phased approach to Platreef’s long-term development. The Platreef prefeasibility study (PFS), which was completed in January 2015, validated the results of Phase 1 of the independent PEA.
Key features of Phase 1 include:
• the development of a large, mechanised underground mine, with an initial four-million-tonne-a-year concentrator and associated infrastructure; and
• a planned, initial average yearly production rate of 433 000 oz of 3PE+Au,19-million pounds of nickel and 12-million pounds of copper a year.

Phase 2 involves an expansion of the mine to double production to eight-million tonnes a year.

The third phase involves a further expansion of the mine to a steady state of 12-million tonnes a year, placing it among the largest PGM mines in the world.

Mining zones in the current Platreef mine plan occur at depths ranging from about 700 m to 1 200 m below surface.

The main access to the Flatreef deposit and ventilation system is expected to be through four vertical shafts. Shaft 2 will host the main personnel transport cage, and the material and ore-handling system; shafts 1, 3 and 4 will provide ventilation to the underground workings. Shaft 1, under development, will also be used for initial access to the deposit and early underground development.

Mining will incorporate low-cost, mechanised mining methods, including long-hole stoping and drift-and-fill mining. Mined-out areas will be backfilled with a mixture of tailings from the processing plant and cement. The ore will be hauled from the stopes to a series of ore passes that will connect to a main haulage level at Shaft 2, from where it will be hoisted to the surface for processing.

The flowsheet for phase one comprises a four-million-tonne-a-year, three-stage crushing circuit, which will feed into two parallel milling-flotation modules, each with a capacity of two-million tonnes a year. Flotation will be followed by a four-million-tonne-a-year tailings-handling and concentrate-thickening, filtration and storage circuit.

Jobs to be Created
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Phase 1 has an after-tax net present value of $972-million, at an 8% discount rate, and an after-tax internal rate of return of 13%.

Value
The estimated preproduction capital requirement for Phase 1 is about $1.2-billion, including $114-million in contingencies.

Duration
According to the latest PEA released, Phase 1 is expected to be completed by 2019.

Phase 2 is expected to be completed by 2024 and Phase 3 by 2028.

Latest Developments
The main sinking phase has started.

The sinking of Shaft 1 is proceeding at an average rate of 45 m a month and is expected to reach the Flatreef deposit, at a depth of 777 m below surface, in the first half of 2018. Sinking will continue to a planned final depth of 980 m below surface. Development work will include four shaft stations at depths of 450 m, 750 m, 850 m and 950 m below surface. Shaft 1 will provide development access to the Flatreef deposit while Shaft 2 is being developed.

The start of early-works construction for Shaft 2 started on April 12, 2017. The shaft, which will be the main production shaft, will be sunk to a planned, final depth of more than 1 100 m below surface. It will be equipped with two 40 t rock-hoisting skips capable of hoisting six-million tonnes of ore a year, which will be the largest hoisting capacity at any mine in Africa. The headgear for the permanent hoisting facility has been designed by South Africa-based Murray & Roberts Cementation.

The early works for Shaft 2 will include the excavation of a surface boxcut to a depth of about 29 m below surface and the construction of the concrete hitch (foundation) for the 103-m-tall concrete headgear (headframe) that will house the shaft’s permanent hoisting facilities and support the shaft collar. The early works are expected to take 12 months to complete.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
DRA Global (PFS, feasibility study, mining, concentrator and infrastructure); OreWin (National Instrument 43-101 technical report); Aveng Mining (Shaft 1 sinking contractor); Murray & Roberts Cementation (design and engineering for shaft infrastructure); Stantec Consulting (mine planning); Golder Associates (water studies, backfill and tailings); Digby Wells Environmental (social and environmental); SRK (geotechnical); and Mintek (metallurgical testwork).

On Budget and on Time?
Phase 1 is under development, during which an operating platform will be established to support the start of production.

Contact Details for Project Information
Ivanplats VP and executive head: capital projects Gerick Mouton, tel +27 11 088 4300 or email gerickm@ivanplats.com.