The board of JSE-listed Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) has given the go-ahead for the R3.9-billion Mototolo/Der Brochen life expansion project to proceed.

The project is aimed at extending the life-of-mine of the Der Brochen mine to beyond 30 years, by enabling mining further into the resource, while leveraging existing Mototolo infrastructure.

“The Der Brochen project is one example of the high-quality, low-cost expansion options we have available in our existing portfolio of assets that will allow us to continue delivering industry-leading returns to shareholders,” says Amplats CEO Natascha Viljoen.

The Der Brochen upper group two orebody will use the same bord-and-pillar extraction method as the Mototolo mine, and will be a fully mechanised operation, positioned in the bottom half of the primary platinum group metals (PGMs) producer cost curve.

The project includes development of a new shaft to replace the depleting Mototolo reserves, but maintaining the 240 000 t a month mining rate.

Amplats will start with the R3.9-billion expansion project in the first quarter of 2022 and first production is expected late in 2023.

Meanwhile, Amplats continues to advance various workstreams on the Mogalakwena mine, including an optimal openpit plan, incorporating underground opportunities, optimising performance, creating trusting relationships with communities, developing hydrogen fuel-cell trucks, expanding concentrator capacity and using downstream processing to maximise value for the company.

Particularly, a feasibility study on a third concentrator, which focuses only on the capital decision on the timing, size and technology of a third concentrator, will continue into the first half of next year and will be submitted for board approval once completed.

Viljoen explains that this timeline does not impact the execution schedule of any of the workstreams. She assures that more detail on the status of the Future of Mogalakwena project will be provided in the 2021 annual results announcement on February 21, 2022.

Amplats expects its refined PGMs production for this year to be between 5-million and 5.1-million ounces. Output in 2022 will be lower than this year’s output as a result of the increase in built-up inventory processing this year, following upgrades to the company’s Anglo Converter Plant.

The company expects refined production in 2022 to range between 4.2-million and 4.6-million ounces of PGMs.

As a result of more maintenance, inflationary pressure on input costs and higher consumable input costs this year, the company expects its unit cost of production for the full-year to increase to R13 000/oz, higher than the R12 000/oz to R12 500/oz previously guided.

This will increase further to between R13 800/oz and R14 500/oz in 2022, which reflects ongoing inflationary pressure and increased physical mining activities at Mogalakwena.