Name of the Project
Western Limb tailings retreatment (WLTR) recovery plant upgrade project.

Location
Sibanye-Stillwater’s Rustenburg operation in North West, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
Sibanye-Stillwater, a multinational mining and metals processing group listed on the Johannesburg and New York stock exchanges.

Project Description
The project forms part of the first phase of Sibanye-Stillwater’s broader surface retreatment strategy for its South African platinum group metals (PGM) operations.

Phase 1 of the project, which has an estimated life-of-mine of six years, entails upgrading the WLTR recovery plant to treat historical upper group two (UG2) tailings and recover chrome and PGMs.

Mining Weekly reported in July 2026 that the project will incorporate fine-chrome magnetic separation technology to improve recovery from the surface resource.

Available capacity at Sibanye-Stillwater’s PGM concentrators will allow for the PGM component of the tailings to be processed through the company’s existing infrastructure.

The project is intended to support the group’s transition from predominantly Merensky-rich surface material to UG2 tailings, from which chrome will become an increasingly important source of revenue alongside PGMs.

Sibanye-Stillwater is targeting improved recoveries through the optimisation of TSF operations and the deployment of appropriate processing technology.

The Marikana pits tailings storage facility is expected to provide residue deposition capacity for the WLTR and Kroondal surface concentrators.

A digital twin of the group’s surface footprint has also been developed to optimise residue-deposition planning and long-term storage capacity.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Phase 1 has an estimated net present value of R1-billion and an internal rate of return of 43%.

The estimated payback period is two years.

Capital Expenditure
Projected capital expenditure is R900-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Construction is scheduled to start in the second half of 2026, with commissioning expected by the end of 2027.

Latest Developments
Mining Weekly reported in July 2026 that the feasibility study for Phase 1 has been completed and Sibanye-Stillwater’s board has approved the project.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Sibanye-Stillwater, tel +27 11 278 9600 or
email ir@sibanyestillwater.com.