Iron aspirant Ironveld, which is listed on London’s Aim, expects to be producing pig iron on the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex at pilot level by the middle of next year. Read on page 6 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the 12 MW pilot project being a precursor to a far larger 300 MW production complex in late 1918. The Aim-listed Ironveld expects to mine 2.4-million tons of magnetite a year as feedstock for its eventual million-ton-a-year pig-iron plant, which will also produce vanadium and titanium by-products. What the now troubled Highveld Steel & Vanadium has been doing for more than 50 years is what Ironveld will be doing with a lot more modern equipment and more modern processing techniques on a resource that has 32-million tons of recoverable iron. Ironveld is aligning itself with the drive of the South African government to beneficiate the ore and not just export it, which will earn it significantly reduced mineral royalty payments.

Platinum aspirant Wesizwe Platinum is cutting its coat according to the currently prevailing cloth. The optimisation plan that the JSE-listed company has implemented for its Bakubung platinum mining project, on the Western Bushveld, is aimed at reducing risk and ensuring return. Read on page 13 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the plan improving Bakubung’s business case in the context of the current economic and social realities of South Africa’s mining industry. Lower metal prices, increasing cost pressures, a changing social climate and working condition requirements and technical challenges currently facing other mines in the industry have prompted the optimisation, which also reduces the time it will take to reach full production and the nominal capital and operating costs of the project, as well as to improve efficiency and flexibility. The initial monthly 230 000 t production level is now planned for October 2020 and no longer December 2022, with capital expenditure cut by more than 10% and the workforce by 235 fewer people to 3 135 during steady state, as a result of partial mechanisation.

London Stock Exchange-listed diamond miner Gem is gearing up for the commercial production of diamonds at the Ghaghoo mine, which is situated in the remote south-eastern border of Botswana’s Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Read on page 10 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the $96-million diamond mine being set to produce from the second half of this year and then ramping up to from 200 000 ct/y to 220 000 ct/y by the end of the year. Gem has spent $71.2-million of the total capital budget for Ghaghoo, where ventilation and escape-hole drilling is virtually complete. The processing plant is heading for full commissioning by May.