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South Africa

Booysendal Mine

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Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Platinum
  • Palladium
  • Rhodium
  • Gold
  • Ruthenium
  • Iridium
  • Chrome
Mining Method
  • Bord-and-pillar
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SnapshotBooysendal is a shallow, mechanised operation, mining UG2 and Merensky ore, located on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex.

The orebody at Booysendal lends itself to brownfields expansion opportunities, which are currently being established on the property. These include a deepening project at the existing UG2 North mine, the Booysendal Merensky North mine and the new Booysendal South mine.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Northam Platinum Ltd. 100 % Indirect
Northam Platinum Limited, through its wholly owned subsidiary Booysendal Platinum Proprietary Limited is the 100% owner of the Booysendal Mine.

Deposit type

  • Magmatic

Summary:

The Bushveld Complex stratigraphic sequence at Booysendal is similar to that found across the southern compartment of the eastern limb. The Critical Zone stratigraphy is fully developed. The middling between the UG2 and Merensky Reefs is in the order of 175 m in the northernand central portions of the property. The sequence is, however, subject to thinning in the far southern portion, which is linked to the RLS strata abutting onto a basement high. The impact of this "abutment" is further manifested in localised zones of disruption to surface morphology and internal structure of the two reefs. This has led to the characterisation of three geozones within the Booysendal site, these being the Normal, Slump and Abutment geozones. Despite this progressive disruption to the south, the reef surfaces are interpreted to be continuous across the property.

The internal structure of the UG2 Reef is similar to that found on the western limb, whereas the Merensky Reef is typical of the thick pyroxenite-type unit of the northern portion of the eastern limb as well as that of the southeastern portion of the western limb.

Merensky Reef
The Merensky Reef rests in the upper mineralised portion of the Merensky pyroxenite unit, generally extending over 110 cm. It is immediately overlain by a sequence of competent, norite bearing strata. A stringer chromitite layer may be present approximately 10 cm below the top of the Merensky pyroxenite. PGM and base metal mineralisation is uni-modal, generally with highest concentrations occurring just below the elevation of the stringer chromitite, tailing off rapidly into the overlying norite and more gradually into the underlying pyroxenite. In the absence of the stringer chromitite, the grade peak amplitude is generally reduced and the stratigraphic extent of appreciable mineralisation extended.

UG2 Reef
The UG2 Reef consists of the upper Leader and lower Main chromitite layers with a combined average thickness of approximately 1.4 m. These seams are generally juxtaposed or merged, but can display variable internal silicate partings. Overlying this is a pyroxenite of variable thickness, up to 3.5 m, containing up to five narrow chromitite layers. The middling between these narrow layers and the top of the Leader chromitite gradually increases downdip towards the west. PGM and base metal mineralisation is distributed across the chromitite layers, with the highest concentrations towards the base of each layer.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

CommodityProductUnits202320222021202020192018201720162015
Platinum Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe131,405114,865
Palladium Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe62,82855,077
Rhodium Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe20,69717,534
Gold Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe2,5532,404
Ruthenium Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe37,23432,798
Iridium Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe7,6166,597
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au) Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe217,483189,880199,330161,300122,475
6E (Pt,Pd,Rh,Au,Ir,Ru) Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe262,333229,275
Chrome Concentrate kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe391309

Operational metrics

Metrics202320222021202020192018201720162015
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe2,812,253 t2,773 kt2,662 kt2,138 kt1,670 kt
Tonnes milled  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe2,868,282 t2,669,072 t2,487,594 t2,165,603 t1,786,375 t

Production Costs

CommodityUnits2023202220212020201920182017
Cash costs 6E (Pt,Pd,Rh,Au,Ir,Ru) ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 8,959 / oz **   8,548 / oz **  
Cash costs 4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au) ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 10,818 / oz **   10,332 / oz **  
Cash costs Platinum ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 17,904 / oz **   17,090 / oz **   15,747 / oz **  
** Net of By-Product.

Operating Costs

Currency202320222021202020192018
Direct operating costs ($/t milled) ZAR 1,179  1,019  945  981  780  709  

Financials

Units2023202220212020201920182017
Sustaining costs M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 153.4   136.1  
Capital expenditures M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 1,814   1,953   773.8  
Revenue M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 3,903   3,035   2,574  
Operating Income M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 985.7   525.4   437.4  
Pre-tax Income M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 832.1   386.8   424.3  
After-tax Income M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 583   277.5   277.3  
EBITDA M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 1,222   692.4  

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Oct 19, 2023
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EmployeesContractorsTotal WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2023
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...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2019
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2018
...... Subscription required 2017
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...... Subscription required 2015

Aerial view:

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