Amplats’ Mineral Resources of Platinum Group Metals (PGM) occur exclusively within southern Africa and are hosted by two distinct layered intrusions: the Bushveld Complex in South Africa and the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe.

The mines Tumela and Dishaba are forms part of the Amandelbult section and fully developed situated on the north-western limb of the Bushveld Complex.The mining occurs on both the Merensky Reef and the UG2 Reef horizons.

THE BUSHVELD COMPLEX
Formed over 2 billion years ago from multiple injections of magma into the earth’s crust many kilometres below the surface, the Bushveld Complex is geologically unique due to its size, uniformity of its layering and extent of known mineral content. This saucer-shaped intrusion is over 350km wide, 250km long and up to 12km thick. Over time, the rim of the intrusion has been exposed by erosion, revealing three separate main segments known as the Western, Eastern and Northern Limbs. The Western Limb is split into two lobes (north-western and south- western) by the Pilanesberg complex, a remnant of an alkaline volcanic plug intruded into the Bushveld Complex about 1,250 million years ago. The Eastern Limb is split into two lobes (north-eastern and south-eastern) by the north- east trending Steelpoort fault. The exposed segments exhibit layering of pyroxenites, norites, gabbros, anorthosites and chromitites and this layering occurs across the entire extent of the complex. Within the layers, minerali ........

Dishaba Mine is situated in the province of Limpopo in South Africa, between the towns of Northam and Thabazimbi, and forms part of the North-western Limb of the Bushveld Complex. The mine operates under a mining right covering a total area of 31 km2.

The primary mining method used at Amandelbult complex is scattered breast mining for both Dishaba and Tumela mines.

Conventional scattered breast mining is preceded by haulage development below reef, parallel to strike. Access to the reef horizon is developed by means of south or north crosscuts. On-reef true dip raises or winzes connect to cross-cuts on different levels by means of step overs and travelling ways. The ore passes are generally done by inverse drilling (from the reef horizon down to the crosscut). Modernised equipment is being rolled out on the stoping horizon to address safety and efficiency concerns, including the introduction of cycle mining, split panels utilising throw blasting and water-jet cleaning to eliminate the use of scraper winches.

Extra-low profile (XLP) mechanised mining method is being implemented at the 15E dropdown project area since inception in 2019. The XLP mechanised mining is an underground mining method designed to exploit narrow reef orebodies (1.2m to 1.7m width) with a dip less than 22°. It maximises reef extraction by placing the primary development (main infrastructure) on reef. A constant production is achieved by coordinating XLP and low profile (LP) ........

- subscription is required.

- subscription is required.