Name: Rustenburg mining operations.

Location: The operation is located in South Africa’s North West province, north-east of the towns of Rustenburg and Kroondal.

Mine Owner/s: Sibanye-Stillwater.

Brief History: Mining operations have been carried out at Rustenburg since the late 1920s.

The Rustenburg operations were acquired by Sibanye-Stillwater from Anglo American Platinum in November 2016.

Brief Description: Rustenburg is a large, established mine, with all the necessary surface infrastructure to support mining operations.

Currently, the operations comprise three operating vertical shafts (Siphumelele 1, Khuseleka 1 and Thembelani 1), two declines at Bathopele, two concentrating plants (the Waterval upper group two (UG2) concentrator and the Waterval retrofit concentrator), a chrome recovery plant and the Western Limb tailings retreatment plant, as well as related surface infrastructure and assets. In addition, mining operations are undertaken on the Waterval East, Waterval West and Klipfontein tailings dams.

Apart from the four operating shafts, Rustenburg hosts several shafts that are under care and maintenance.

Primary Metals: Platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold (4E) platinum-group metal (PGM), as well as platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium and gold (6E) PGM.

Secondary Metals: Not stated.

Geology/Mineralisation: UG2 and Merensky reefs are mined at the Rustenburg operations, both dipping at about 9° towards the north-east. The UG2 reef comprises a main chromitite seam, with an average thickness of 70 cm. The mining cut includes the main seam and various components of hanging wall and footwall to a planned mining width varying from 105 cm (conventional) to 120 cm (mechanised).

The Merensky reef is situated 140 m above the UG2 reef and comprises pegmatoidal feldsphatic pyroxenite, with thin top and bottom contact chrome stringers, and has an average width of 20 m. The mining cut includes the Merensky reef and various components of hanging wall and footwall to a planned minimum width varying between 105 cm and 120 cm.

The UG2 and Merensky mineralisation occurs as tabular orebodies, and are laterally continuous with relatively long-range grade consistency and predictability.

Reef disruptions in the form of potholing, faulting, iron-rich ultramafic pegmatoids and dykes occur throughout the orebody, resulting in an average geological loss of about 10%.

Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves , including tailings, as at December 2018, were estimated at 193.4-million tonnes grading 2.8 g/t 4E PGM and 3.2 g/t 6E PGM.

Resources: Total mineral resources, including tailings, as at December 2018, were estimated at 586.3-million tonnes grading 4.5 g/t 4E PGM and 5.2 g/t 6E PGM.

Mining Method: Siphumelele 1, Khuseleka 1 and Thembelani 1 use conventional mining methods, while Bathopele uses shallow mechanised mining.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Ore is processed at the Rustenburg operations through four plants – the Waterval UG2 concentrator,

the Waterval retrofit concentrator, the Western Limb tailings retreatment plant and the chrome retreatment plant – with a combined milling capacity of 1.69-million tonnes a month.

Tailings from the Rustenburg operations are piped to storage facilities at Hoedspruit, an active plant, which receives tonnes from the Western Limb Tailings Retreatment Plant, and Paardekraal, an active dam receiving tonnage from the Waterval retrofit and UG2 concentrators.

Prospects: In line with Sibanye-Stillwater’s mine-to-market PGM strategy and according to the processing agreements with Anglo American Platinum, the processing arrangement for Rustenburg production changed from a purchase of concentrate arrangement to a toll processing arrangement from January 1, 2019.

In terms of the purchase of concentrate arrangement, Sibanye-Stillwater delivered metals concentrate from the Rustenburg operations to Anglo American Platinum for smelting and refining and Anglo American Platinum retained a percentage of the metal-in-concentrate as payment for processing the concentrate. The cost of this PoC charge was offset against revenue and reflected as an equivalent discount to the 4E PGM basket price received.

In terms of the toll arrangement, Sibanye-Stillwater will pay an agreed rate to Anglo American Platinum to smelt and refine concentrate from the Rustenburg operation but will own and sell all the refined metal produced. From a reporting perspective, Sibanye-Stillwater will no longer reflect a discount in its revenue and will receive the full average 4E PGM basket price although costs and unit costs will be higher than under the purchase of concentrate arrangement, reflecting the additional tolling costs

Contact Details:
Sibanye-Stillwater
Tel +27 11 278 9600
Email ir@sibanyestillwater.com
Website https://www.sibanyestillwater.com