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South Africa

Eland Mine

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit & Underground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Platinum
  • Palladium
  • Rhodium
  • Gold
  • Chrome
  • Iridium
  • Ruthenium
Mining Method
  • Hydraulic mining
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
  • Breast stoping with strike pillars
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SnapshotEland is a shallow hybrid UG2 mine, with a Concentrator Plant that produces PGM and chromite concentrate.

Two different mining methods are undertaken at Eland mine at two sections, namely underground mining at Elandsfontein and opencast mining at Zilkaatsnek.

The mine was acquired by Northam Platinum from Glencore Operations South Africa Proprietary Limited in December 2017. The mine was on care and maintenance and had significant, quality infrastructure already in place. A feasibility study to restart UG2 mining as a hybrid of conventional breast stoping with conveyor ore transport was concluded in 2019. Mine re-establishment was subsequently initiated, initially focusing on decline and strike development to access mineable reserve, whilst sequentially establishing stoping sections.

During 2022, the acquisition of the neighboring Maroelabult mine from Eastplats was concluded, immediately following which re-equipping and development commenced.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Northam Platinum Ltd. 100 % Indirect
Eland Platinum Proprietary Ltd. (operator) 100 % Direct
Eland Platinum Proprietary Limited is a privately owned company incorporated in South Africa and its shares are owned by Northam Platinum Limited. The company owns the Eland mine, which is a shallow hybrid UG2 mine.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Magmatic

Summary:

The Bushveld sequence at Eland mine is similar to that within the broader southeastern portion of the western limb but shows stratigraphic variation from west to east. The Critical Zone sequence, being fully developed in the west, thins within the far eastern portion of the property. This is similar to the southern portions of Booysendal and is also related to the Bushveld sequence abutting onto basement highs. The impact of this abutment manifests itself in disruption to the morphology and internal structure of the UG2 Reef. Despite this, both reefs are continuous across the property. This has led to the characterisation of three UG2 Reef subtypes (facies) transitioning from west to east as the Normal, Split and Zilkaats sub-type domains.

Merensky Reef
The Merensky Reef is the upper mineralised portion of the 13 m thick Merensky pyroxenite, generally extending over 2 m to 3 m. The Merensky pyroxenite is immediately overlain by a sequence of competent norites. No facies have been defined, but surface morphology disruption is evident in the far east of the property. The Mineral Resource channel is defined as a fixed cut of 3 m below the hangingwall contact.

UG2 Reef
The internal structure of the UG2 Reef is similar to that found in the remainder of the western limb, albeit thicker and lacking continuous chromitite stringers or leaders in the immediate hangingwall. Three reef facies have been defined; Normal, Split and Zilkaats. The UG2 Normal and Split facies consist of massive, upper Leader and lower Main seam chromitite layers with an average combined thickness of 160 cm. In the case of the Normal facies, these seams are vertically juxtaposed or merged. In the Split facies, the seams are separated by a 4E metal-barren, silicate waste parting of up to 120 cm thickness. The Zilkaats facies is defined where a massive Leader seam, with a mean thickness of 95 cm, overlies a lower, Main seam that comprises either a multitude of chromitite stringers or disseminated chromite within a variable interval of silicate rocks. This generally renders the lower seam sub-economic. The Mineral Resource channels applied are variable and dependent on both the facies and the UG2 chromitite thickness.

UG1 Reef
No Mineral Resources have been declared for the UG1 Reef. However, the reef comprises two chromitite seams of between 180 cm to 200 cm thickness separated by an internal silicate parting of between 20 cm and 370 cm. The UG1 Reef is bound by massive norite units in the hangingwall and footwall. The PGE grade across the chromitite seams is below 1 g/t 4E and concentrated along the top and basal contacts.

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

Ore tonnes mined includes Underground tonnes + Surface sources including TSF.
For 2023 it was:
UG Tonnes mined - 810 689 t;
Surface sources including TSF - 1 505 130 t.
CommodityProductUnits20232022202120202019
Platinum Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Palladium Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Rhodium Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Gold Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au) Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Chrome Concentrate kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe13
6E (Pt,Pd,Rh,Au,Ir,Ru) Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Iridium Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Ruthenium Metal in concentrate oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Operational metrics

Metrics20232022202120202019
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Tonnes milled  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe3,000,000 t

Production Costs

CommodityUnits2023202220212020
Cash costs 6E (Pt,Pd,Rh,Au,Ir,Ru) ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Cash costs 4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au) ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Cash costs Platinum ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
** Net of By-Product.

Financials

Units202320222021202020192018
Sustaining costs M ZAR  ....  Subscribe
Capital expenditures M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 371.2   190.8  
Revenue M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Operating Income M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Pre-tax Income M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
After-tax Income M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
EBITDA M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Oct 20, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Oct 20, 2023

EmployeesContractorsTotal WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2023
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2022
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2021
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2020
...... Subscription required 2019

Aerial view:

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