Platinum group metals (PGMs) miner Eastern Platinum (Eastplats) reports that, during December, its subsidiary Barplats Mines delivered its first shipment of pressed filter cake PGMs concentrate under an existing offtake agreement between Barplats and Impala Refining Services.
During 2020, Eastplats completed the refurbishment of the small-scale PGM circuit PGM circuit D (previously the scavenger plant circuit), and restarted it during the third quarter.
The company generated about 134 t of pressed filter cake PGM concentrate and delivered about 32.18 t under the offtake agreement last year.
It expects the circuit's production to continue ramping up and to generate additional revenue this year.
Barplats’ tailings retreatment project located at its Crocodile River Mine has been recovering chrome since December 2018. With the refurbishment and operation of the PGM circuit D, and using the retreatment project source material, Eastplats is now able to generate PGMs revenue.
Eastplats president and CEO Diana Hu says the PGM circuit D enables Eastplats to diversify its revenue sources and is a direct benefit of the retreatment project.
To build on this success, Eastplats intends to use part of the expected proceeds from a currently ongoing rights offer to further upgrade the PGM circuit D and refurbish the existing main PGM facility, thereby expanding its PGMs processing capacity and potential revenue sources.