RBPlat is located on the Western Limb of the BIC, one of the three main portions or limbs which all comprise similarities in their formation, economic potential and type of commodity. The Bushveld Complex formed approximately 2.04 billion years ago, comprising three main suites, namely the Rooiberg Group, Lebowa Granite Suite and the Rustenburg Layered Suite. The Rustenburg Layered Suite comprises four main zones (the upper, main, critical and lower zones) with each zone characterized by signature igneous intrusive layering, known as stratigraphy. The critical zone hosts the platinum group element (PGE) bearing reef (the economically important layer) types of the Merensky reef and the Upper Group 2 reef (UG2). RBPlat’s operations mines Merensky and UG2 reefs.

The western extremity of the Maseve ore body subcrops 190m below surface. The northern boundry is the operational Wesizwe Platinum’s mining right area, and the remainder of the ore body borders RBPlat operations.

Proximity of the basement (and possibly its paleotopography) to the Merensky and UG2, by and large influenced the geometry and succession of the local stratigraphy, which primarily resulted from local basement upliftment. Upliftment caused the folded or rolling nature of the stratigraphic geometries which are preserved as anticlines and synclines. The frequency of the rolling towards the west becomes narrower with steeper dips resulting in some of the stratigraphic units not developed. The implication of the folding and or rolling nature of the stratigraphy results in opposite dip directions (westerly and easterly) with wide ranges of dip-regimes that exist. The aforementioned is contrary to traditional narrow tabular Merensky and UG2 stratigraphy with recognized local changes in the planarity of the ore bodies, which are mostly related to the different fancies types.

The Merensky and UG2 reefs are both sulphide enriched with the Merensky reef being the main economic horizon mined at RBPlat. The PGMs (platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), rhodium (RH), osmium (Os), ruthenium (Ru)) as well as gold (Au) are found mostly within the sulphide minerals and include varieties of copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni) as accompanying base metals. The reef horizons dip towards the north-eastern direction between 50 and 120 . The steeper dips are in the north-eastern part of the Styldrift, with the shallower dips presents in the center and western of the farm.

The average depth of the Merensky reef is 505 metres below surface (mbs), with RBPlat having the advantage of being the Merensky reef dominant relatively mine. The newly operational Styldrift I shaft ore from a 50 dipping Merensky reef horizon at an average depth of 712mbs.

The Merensky reef across the RBPlat operational area comprises six different geological facies types, from west to east, namely the Abutment, Terrace, Central, Normal, Normal Thick and Main reef facies. Merensky reef facies delineation of the Maseve ore body ties in with the regional RBPl at Merensky reef facies; Abutment facies (divided into shallow Abutment, deep Abutment and transition to Terrace facies) on the most western side and Terrace facies further east towards the Styldrift I shaft area. Each facies type exhibits unique geological, geochemical and mineralization characteristics which has a fundamental role in planning the optimized mining method. The predominant facies type at Maseve Mine is the Abutment facies, which is commonly associated with intrusions.

The vertical separation between the Merensky and the UG2 reefs varies from an average 80m at BRPM to 50m around the Styldrift I shaft area and decreases to an estimated minimum of 25m in the far north-eastern region of the mining area (Styldrift II). This is due the overall thinning of the critical zone of the Bushveld Complex, in a north-eastern direction towards the Pilanesberg Complex. The UG2 ore body has been classified and subdivided into three main facies types based on the occurrence of the position of the leader UG2 chromitite bands in the hangingwall of the dominant mineralized main chromitite band. These facies variations are encountered on apparent dip in a north- eastern direction, ranging from the Central high facies, Leader facies and General facies, from the shallowest to deepest portions of the mining area. The predominant facies types are the Leader and General facies, which account for 85% of the total ore body.

A trackless bord and pillar mining method is employed in the thicker Merensky resource areas with mining heights varying between 2.0m and 2.2m. A conventional hybrid breast mining layout is currently envisaged for the extraction of the narrow Merensky reef area.

Access to the underground workings is via a twin concrete-lined vertical shaft system; comprising a 10.5m diameter Main shaft sunk to a depth of 753m and a 6.5m diameter Services shaft, sunk to a depth of 723m. The shaft system is linked to the up-dip and down-dip on- reef roadway clusters on both the reef horizon and the footwall level. Ore handling is effected through a network of onreef conveyors and footwall dip conveyors. Two 22-tonne rock skips will be used to hoist the ore to the surface via the Main shaft.

Situated 25m below the Merensky reef horizon, the Merensky footwall will be the main artery of the mine. Apart from travelling ways, all footwall infrastructure will be mechanically developed. This infrastructure includes tipping points on the reef horizon, from which ore will be sent via box holes to the trucking haulage points 25m below. Fifty-tonne diesel-powered trucks will then transport the ore to ore passes feeding an underlying conveyor belt system 18m below. The conveyor system will include the main conveyor belt decline and an adjacent auxiliary decline.

RBPlat needs to construct a 230 000 tpm Concentrator to treat ore from the Styldrift Phase 1 mine and investigated different Concentrator strategies to accommodate the additional Merensky and UG2 ore from the Styldrift Mine Complex.

A stand-alone Concentrator close to Styldrift Phase 1 Mine has been chosen from the three Concentrator options that were defined to cater for the shorter term Styldrift Mine Complex. Future Concentrator layout allowance has been the primary consideration for the planned Styldrift Phase 2 mine output.

The function of the Concentrator Plant is to effectively separate and recover PGMs and base metal sulphides from the waste minerals in flotation cells. The Concentrator Plant will be comprised of mills, flotation cells and thickeners in various configurations.

The run-of-mine ore will be crushed in a set of crushers, screened, and milled. It will then be sent to the primary rougher flotation circuit. The tailings from the prima ........