Platinum group metals (PGMs) producer Eastern Platinum (Eastplats) reports that, owing to none of the conditions precedent being fulfilled, its subsidiary Barplats Mines has terminated a project framework agreement with Advanced Beneficiation Technologies (ABT) for the development and construction of a new modular plant at the Crocodile River mine (CRM).
The plant was intended to process PGMs from the tailings re-deposited from the retreatment project at a designated area of the Zandfontein tailings dam at the CRM at an expected rate of 50 000 t a month – the Circuit H Project.
The agreement was initially entered into on July 22, 2020, with several milestones required under the agreement to complete and establish the Circuit H Project, including a joint venture agreement between Barplats and ABT, financing agreements and offtake agreements for the project.
Eastplats states that none of these agreements were concluded prior to the termination of the agreement.
Nonetheless, Eastplats says it is continuing to focus efforts on restarting the Zandfontein underground operations at the CRM and will assess its ability to recover PGMs from the tailings redeposited onto the Zandfontein tailings dam in due course.