Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Underground |
Commodities |
- PGM
- Gold
- Platinum
- Palladium
- Rhodium
|
Mining Method |
- Breast stoping with strike pillars
|
Production Start | ...  |
Mine Life | 2050 |
Impala Bafokeng, previously known as Royal Bafokeng Platinum, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Implats following its acquisition in 2023. Impala Bafokeng currently operates two mines, Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine (BRPM) and Styldrift Mine (Styldrift), as well as two concentrators. The Maseve mining operations are under care and maintenance. At BRPM the Merensky and UG2 reefs are mined concurrently using conventional and hybrid mining methods. |
Source:
p. 8, 28,33
The mining rights are held in the name of Royal Bafokeng Resources Proprietary Limited (RBR), a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Bafokeng Platinum Ltd. (RBPlat).
Implats announced on 31 May 2023 that it had concluded an agreement with the government-owned Public Investment Corporation (PIC) to acquire RBPlat shares constituting approximately 9.26% of the RBPlat shares in issue. Consequently, Implats gained control of the majority of the shares in RBPlat and RBPlat became a subsidiary of Implats. On 30 June, all the Conditions Precedent as set out in the Implats Offer Circular were fulfilled. On 20 July, Northam announced its acceptance of the Implats Offer in respect of its 34.5% interest in RBPlat. The Implats Offer closed on 21 July and as at 28 July Implats held 98.73% of RBPlat.
Implats intends in order to compulsorily acquire all of the RBPlat Shares not already held by it, in which event RBPlat will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Implats.
Contractors
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Summary:
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 ........

Mining Methods
- Breast stoping with strike pillars
Summary:
The extraction is divided into two mining areas by a northeast — southwest trending fault. The northern (BRPM North shaft) and southern (BRPM South shaft) areas are both accessed and serviced by a decline shaft complex, consisting of a conveyor decline, a material decline and a chairlift decline, and vertical up-cast ventilation shafts.
Sinking of North and South shaft declines started in 1998, providing access to the shallow dipping, narrow reef ore bodies, which sub-outcrops and extends to approximately 430mbs at South shaft and 635mbs at North shaft.Production commenced with open-cast mining of the Merensky and UG2 reefs to a depth of +/- 30mbs. UG2 mining is replacing the Merensky using the same infrastructure, with South shaft becoming a UG2 reef mine at the end of 2022. The deeper section at North shaft Phase III is an extension of the Merensky mining.
Two mining methods are being employed at BRPM, namely conventional and hybrid mining. The hybrid mining method employs conventional stoping methods, but replaces footwall development infrastructure and rail transport with on-reef conveyor and roadway drives and a combination of load haul dumper (LHD) and conveyor transport of ore to the main decline ore passes. Material is transported by utility vehicles (UV).
The decline system is connected to the reef horizon by means of an access drive. On the reef horizon two drives are developed on strike. The upper drive is used for material transpo ........

Source:
Summary:

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Production:
Commodity | Units | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
Gold
|
oz
| ......  | ......  | | | | | |
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
koz
| ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  |
6E (Pt,Pd,Rh,Au,Ir,Ru)
|
koz
| ......  | ......  | | | | | |
Platinum
|
koz
| | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  |
All production numbers are expressed as metal in concentrate.
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Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
Ore tonnes mined
| ......  | ......  | 2,175 kt | 2,229 kt | 2,268 kt | 2,431 kt |
Tonnes milled
| ......  | ......  | 2,096 kt | 2,222 kt | 2,299 kt | 2,449 kt |
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Reserves at December 31, 2022:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven
|
39.02 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
3.95 g/t
|
4.96 M oz
|
Probable
|
13.65 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
4.09 g/t
|
1.79 M oz
|
Proven & Probable
|
52.67 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
3.99 g/t
|
6.75 M oz
|
Total Resource
|
75.39 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
5.71 g/t
|
13.86 M oz
|
Commodity Production Costs:
| Commodity | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
Cash costs
|
6E (Pt,Pd,Rh,Au,Ir,Ru)
|
......
|
......
|
|
|
|
|
Cash costs
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
......
|
......
|
......
|
......
|
10,468 / oz ZAR
|
9,941 / oz ZAR
|
Cash costs
|
Platinum
|
|
|
|
......
|
16,145 / oz ZAR
|
15,414 / oz ZAR
|
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Operating Costs:
| Units | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
Total operating costs ($/t milled)
|
ZAR
| 1,733 | 1,581 | 1,508 | 1,361 | 1,213 | 1,149 | 1,177 | 1,066 |
Financials:
| Units | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
Capital expenditures
|
M ZAR
| | ......  | ......  | ......  |
49
|
77
|
110
|
Revenue
|
M ZAR
| ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  |
3,627
|
|
|
Gross profit
|
M ZAR
| ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  |
342.1
|
331.6
|
213
|
Pre-tax Income
|
M ZAR
| ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  |
476.9
|
414.3
|
298
|
EBITDA
|
M ZAR
| ......  | ......  | ......  | |
|
|
|
Operating Cash Flow
|
M ZAR
| ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  |
|
|
|
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Type | Material | Diameter | Length | Description |
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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