Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Underground |
Commodities |
- PGM
- Gold
- Platinum
- Palladium
- Rhodium
|
Mining Method |
- Breast stoping with strike pillars
|
Processing |
|
Mine Life | 30 years (as of Jan 1, 2020) |
Source:
p. 4
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 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.
Mining Methods
- Breast stoping with strike pillars
Summary:
The mine is in the province of North West, 25 km north of the town of Rustenburg. It forms part of the Western Limb of the Bushveld complex and operates under a mining right covering 87 square kilometres.
Current mine infrastructure consists of two decline shafts, namely North shaft and South shaft, and a concentrator.
Both shafts have intersected the reef at the 700-metre level. The primary reef mined at BRPM is the Merensky reef with limited mining of the UG2 reef at both the North and South shafts. The mining method at BRPM is conventional breast stoping with strike pillars. The operating depth for current workings is between 50 metres and 500 metres below surface.
Source:
Summary:
The BRPM concentrator, was designed to receive Merensky ore from BRPM’s two decline shafts and is able to treat 10% of UG2. The original design capacity of 200ktpm, was upgraded to 250ktpm to accommodate production from Styldrift.
The concentrator can be described as a robust maintenance intensive environment which produces 2.7 tonnes of saleable product from every 100 tonnes of ore processed
The plant operates on a 24 hours, 365 days a year basis and follows a traditional Mill- Float, Mill-Float (MF2) process which includes a conventional three stage crushing process prior to milling and flotation. The flotation processes produce a platinum rich PGM concentrate which is collected and sold as a final product for further processing and refining. RBPlat has an offtake agreement with Rustenburg Refineries (owned by Anglo American Platinum) for the sale of RBPlat concentrate.
Recoveries & Grades:
Commodity | Parameter | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
Recovery Rate, %
| ......  | ......  | 86.3 | 85.6 | 86.6 | 86.8 |
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
Head Grade, g/t
| ......  | ......  | 4.16 | 4.18 | 4.14 | 4.3 |
Production:
Commodity | Units | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
koz
| ......  | 266 | 283 | 275 | 272 | 294 |
Platinum
|
koz
| ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  |
All production numbers are expressed as metal in concentrate.
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Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
Ore tonnes mined
| ......  | ......  | 2,431 kt | 2,349 kt | 2,382 kt | 2,459 kt |
Tonnes milled
| ......  | ......  | 2,449 kt | 2,453 kt | 2,044 kt | 2,112 kt |
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Reserves at December 31, 2019:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven
|
43.7 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
3.94 g/t
|
5.53 M oz
|
Probable
|
17.1 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
4.04 g/t
|
2.22 M oz
|
Proven & Probable
|
60.8 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
3.96 g/t
|
7.75 M oz
|
Total Resource
|
82.84 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
5.78 g/t
|
15.4 M oz
|
Commodity Production Costs:
| Commodity | Units | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
Cash costs
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
ZAR
|
......
|
10,468 / oz
|
9,941 / oz
|
10,068 / oz
|
9,359 / oz
|
8,040 / oz
|
Cash costs
|
Platinum
|
ZAR
|
......
|
16,145 / oz
|
15,414 / oz
|
15,639 / oz
|
14,504 / oz
|
12,463 / oz
|
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Operating Costs:
| Units | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
Processing costs ($/t milled)
|
ZAR
| 1,361 | 1,213 | 1,149 | 1,177 | 1,066 | 957 |
Financials:
| Units | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
Capital expenditures
|
M ZAR
| ......  | 49 | 77 |
110
|
112
|
154
|
Revenue
|
M ZAR
| ......  | 3,627 | |
|
|
|
Gross profit
|
M ZAR
| ......  | 342.1 | 331.6 |
213
|
100.2
|
809.4
|
Pre-tax Income
|
M ZAR
| ......  | 476.9 | 414.3 |
298
|
154.2
|
836.8
|
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Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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Aerial view:
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