JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – This is an incredible endowment and we are executing a deliberate strategy to extract more value from every single square metre of our resource base, an ebullient Sibanye-Stillwater COO Richard Cox asserted categorically at this week’s South Africa Capital Markets Day, where he described the company's 70 km of contiguous platinum group metal (PGM) operational activity, many brownfield projects and integrated processing facilities as being "probably one of the biggest single metal accumulations on the planet".

To get a good view of it, he said one would probably have to be 40 km above the surface – and the blue shown on the attached Creamer Media video highlighted the large number of new possibilities that offered long-life production.

“We have a very high-quality underground PGM business, long-life assets, operations delivering season in and season out, a credible brownfield growth pipeline, and a super passionate team that's excited to work in the PGM environment,” Cox pointed out at the event covered by Mining Weekly.

Cox drew particular attention to the major benefits of Sibanye-Stillwater’s mining of the upper group two (UG2) reef.

“What's very exciting about the UG2 is that these resources are shallow. They open themselves up for low-cost mechanised mining, and that’s the future of the western limb for Sibanye-Stillwater,” which he described as being a “Proudly South African producer of 27% of South African PGM production”.

Moreover, the upper group two (UG2) orebody on the western limb of South Africa’s superbly endowed Bushveld Complex – the world’s most concentrated source of PGMs – has significantly higher value per square metre than the Merensky reef, which itself contributes platinum, gold and base metals to support crucial smelter balance.

When the metals that are recoverable are aggregated, the UG2 provides about 30% more, owing to its higher grades of rhodium, ruthenium and chrome. The leveraging of chrome technology enables the recovery of fine chrome from UG2 tailings.

“Chrome is no longer just a byproduct in our thinking. It's a deliberate additional value stream that improves margins and strengthens project economics. We see a pathway to becoming one of the top five significant chrome ore producers in the world,” Cox said.

By increasing exposure to high-grade PGMs, UG2 is providing the foundation for a more competitive PGM business.

Sibanye-Stillwater has several mining projects at various stages along the confidence curve, such as Siphumelele and Thembelani, which are in execution, Marikana’s East Four Extension, Kopaneng Extension, East Three Extension, and Bathopele.

Secondary mining projects include repurposing the WLTR concentrator for UG2 surface material, largely chrome, precious metal refinery, as well as smelter optionality.

Brownfield UG2 projects are expected to maintain the 1.5-million-ounce underground production profile and increase the lower-risk UG2 contribution to 80% by 2035.

The prill split of the South Africa PGM business positions this Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company well, with a substantial amount of its chrome moving into contract arrangement with Glencore.

“We've got a very high-quality metal basket. Our chrome management agreement further strengthens our position in chrome recovery, and we're actively investing to sustain and grow a competitive position inside Africa,” said Cox.

Marikana’s got 45 years of mine life and Rustenburg 32.

“K4 proved that we can execute. Siphumelele and Thembelani will prove that we can scale that execution across the footprint. If market conditions change, we can pull back. If they expand, we can lean into that as well.

“We've got a new surface business emerging. What DRDGOLD’s able to do in gold, we're going to do in PGM,” Cox promised. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)