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South Africa
Zandfontein (CRM) Mine

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 Location:
10 km S from Brits, South Africa

  Address:
Old Zandfontein Road
Brits
South Africa
0250
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  • Overview
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  • Geology
  • Mining
  • Processing
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  • Reserves
  • Financials
  • Personnel
  • Filings & News

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Overview

StageProduction
Mine TypeTailings
Commodities
  • Chrome
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
  • Hydraulic mining
Processing
  • Spiral concentrator / separator
Mine Life4 years (as of Jan 1, 2019)
The underground operations of the Crocodile River Mine (CRM) were placed on care and maintenance since 2013.

Operations at the Crocodile River Mine currently include re-mining and processing its tailings resource, with an offtake of the chrome concentrate from the Barplats Zandfontein UG2 tailings facility and the processing and extraction of PGMs (“Zandfontein Retreatment Project”).

On March 1, 2018 Eastplats and its subsidiary Barplats Mines (Pty) Limited entered into an agreement (the “UG Agreement”) with Union Goal Offshore Solution Limited (“Union Goal”). The UG Agreement provides for construction, mining and processing of the tailings resource, and the subsequent offtake of chrome concentrate from the Retreatment Project located at the CRM.
Union Goal has financed and sourced for Barplats the chrome processing circuit, related technology and knowhow (the “Chrome Circuit”) while Barplats will develop, mine and operate the Retreatment Project.
Latest NewsEastern Platinum Limited Announces Rights Offering in Order to Pursue Growth Opportunities     December 11, 2020


Owners & OPERATOR

Source: p. 12,28, 31, 37
CompanyInterestOwnership
Gubevu Consortium Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd. 12.5 % Indirect
Eastern Platinum Ltd. 87.5 % Indirect
Barplats Mines Ltd (operator) 100 % Direct
Barplats Mines (Pty) Limited (BML or “Barplats”) took control of CRM in 1991 and is in turn, currently controlled: CRM Project (100%) and Barplats Mines (North West) (Pty) Limited (100%).

Eastern Platinum Limited (Eastplats) holds a 87.5% direct and indirect interest in Barplats Investments (Pty) Limited (“BIL”), whose main assets are an indirect interest in the Crocodile River Mine (the “CRM”).

On March 1, 2018 Eastplats and its subsidiary Barplats Mines (Pty) Limited entered into an agreement (the “UG Agreement”) with Union Goal Offshore Solution Limited (“Union Goal”). The UG Agreement provides for construction, mining and processing of the tailings resource, and the subsequent offtake of chrome concentrate from the Retreatment Project located at the CRM.
Union Goal has financed and sourced for Barplats the chrome processing circuit, related technology and knowhow (the “Chrome Circuit”) while Barplats will develop, mine and operate the Retreatment Project.

Deposit Type

  • Tailings


Summary:

Zandfontein UG2 TSF
The tailings have been deposited in the TSF from 1980 until 2013, when the mine went on Care and Maintenance. The material in the TSF was primarily derived from the processing of UG2 Chromitite ore. The tailings deposited in the TSF, originated as fines after milling and extracting the PGEs concentrates. Therefore the Cr2O3, PGEs and Au mineralisation that is now being targeted in the tailings, originates from within the UG2 chromitite seam itself. Some of the tailings were later reprocessed at Barplats to extract a limited amount of the Cr2O3 (an estimated at 1%-2% was processed) and PGEs (estimated at a grade of 0.2 g/t) and then re-deposited in the new front compartment of the tailings dam (Figure 9). The tailings also contain silicate material and minor amounts of base sulphide minerals or their oxidized products.

The average Cr2O3 and FeO contents (derived from 246 tailings samples) for the the Project are; 20.72% and 15.65% respectively. The average of Cr to Fe ratio on the TSF in Domain 101 is 1.35 and in Domain 102 1.28. The chromium oxide present in the tailings is in the form of chromite grains that have been liberated during the crushing and milling of the chromitite ore. The Au is expected to be present as very fine grained particles that were released after the oxidation of the primary sulphide minerals. It is assumed that the major silicate minerals present are pyroxene (enstatite/bronzite composition) and plagioclase feldspar (anorthite); these occur with chromite, the second major constituent. The PGEs are pre-dominantly associated with the silicate fraction and are expected to consist of Fe-Pt alloys, and the PGMs that are associated with Pt-Pd sulphides (cooperite and braggite) and Ru,Os,Ir sulphide (laurite) that were originally interstitial to the chromite grains and also a very minor portion of small platinum group minerals or alloys that are contained within the chromitite grains.


Mining Methods

  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
  • Hydraulic mining


Summary:

Barplats’ preference is not to establish a new TSF (Tailing Storage Facility) and so the strategy is for the tailings from the plant to be placed back onto the footprint of the existing TSF while it is being exploited. The TSF has been divided into six areas as part of a strategy to exploit the total volume of tailings material.

Hydraulic mining and Mechanical loading of material on the north-western section will start simultaneously. The associated tailings from the plant following processing will be re- deposited using the cyclone method.

Mechanical loading is necessary in the coarse area of the TSF where material is chemically bonded in layers, which is not able to be hydraulically broken down to the minus 3mm fraction, which is the maximum plant feed size.

Mining Methodology.
Modelling was used to determine the most suitable technique for mining the TSF. The methodology involves continual and simultaneous cleaning, construction, hydraulic mining and deposition activities.

Certain areas need to be excavated using mechanised equipment (i.e. coarser harder material) while other sections of the TSF can be mined hydraulically (i.e. finer softer material).

Mechanised Operations.
Coarse material will be excavated, using a dry mechanised mining method.

The mechanically mined material will be trucked to a scalping screen, which will dry screen the vegetation from the material, after which it will pass through a roller crusher that will ensure that all the material is screened to minus 28 mm.

The material will be pulped and pumped with a jet pump at a planned rate of 203 tph, to the central pumping station with a 3mm wet screen where it will be mixed with the hydraulically mined material.

At the central pumping station, the oversize material (+3 mm), from the test work, indicated to be approximately 50% of the mechanically mined material (100 tph), will pass through a scrubber in closed circuit with the 3mm screen.

The grizzly feeder screen will be set at 40mm and a roller crusher set at 10 mm to protect the booster pump which will transfer the slurry through HDPE pipes to the main slurry pump station.

Hydraulic Operations.
Hydraulic mining involves the material being hydraulically sluiced from the planned sections or blocks of the TSF and transferred in a slurry form to a collection sump via a system of drains or launders. A pump station is then used to pump the slurry to the plant.

The hydraulic sluicing is achieved by using track mounted high pressure water monitor guns (one operating and one on standby) to generate a slurry from the material, which has a specific gravity (SG) of 3.6 t/m3. The resulting slurry density is expected to fluctuate from 1.35 t/m3 to 1.80 t/m3. Water is moved through a series of pumps to increase the pressure of the water to approximately 275 kPa before it is directed through a network of pipes to the high-pressure monitor units on top of the TSF.

The slurry will flow through a launder system to a launder collection sump (on-dam catchment area) and collection barge vertical spindle pump.

A series of 110 kW satellite spindle pumps will be positioned to assist the flow. Static screens (+50 mm) will be used at the satellite pumps to remove debris and vegetation. The 12 m deep catchment area and launder will be created using an excavator. A floating “tripod” barge will be installed in the catchment area to include a vertical spindle pump for onward transfer of the slurry to the main slurry pump station.

Following completion of an upper bench, a second catchment sump will need to be established. Two vertical spindle pumps will be used on a barge system to feed the main transfer slurry pump station. The final cut will follow the same sequence of launder and mining the final footprint from the higher contour levels towards the lower contour levels.

The two satellite pumps will be placed inside the final cut catchment area as a sump and feed the main pump station with slurry. The collection sump, together with the high wall will act to safe guard against flooding of the pump station by collecting runoff water and barricading between the sump and pump station.

A Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) operator will be contracted to do the mining while Chrome Recovery Plant (CRP ) personnel will operate the CRP.


Crushing and Grinding


Processing

  • Spiral concentrator / separator

Flow Sheet: Subscription required

Summary:

The CRP will remain within the existing processing complex. Its design is based on tried and tested technology and comprises the use of spiral concentrators (spirals), which are generally standard throughout the South African chrome industry. Wherever possible, existing equipment will be retained to reduce capital expenditure. The old spirals will, however, all be replaced with modern spirals to improve recovery and yield. The existing spiral structure will be retained with a few structural modifications. Existing sumps, pumps and pipelines will be upgraded and repositioned to cater for the increase in throughput to 240 ktpm.

The design takes cognisance of the following operating requirements:
- Metal accounting samplers will comply with international best practice;
- All pump boxes, sampler boxes, pipelines, and similar will support a wet, settled slurry density of 5.0 t/m3;
- All process pump boxes will be installed above ground level;
- All slurry sum ........

Recoveries & Grades:

CommodityParameter2019
Chrome Concentrate Grade, %  ......  Subscription required
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Production:

CommodityUnits2019
Chrome tons  ......  Subscription required
All production numbers are expressed as concentrate.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.


Reserves at September 1, 2017:

CategoryTonnage CommodityGradeContained Metal
Proven 6.25 Mt Cr2O3 22.42 % 1.4 Mt
Probable 0.18 Mt Cr2O3 20.28 % 0.04 Mt
Proven & Probable 6.42 Mt Cr2O3 22.36 % 1.44 Mt

Financials:

Units20192018
Revenue M USD  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required
Pre-tax Income M USD  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required
After-tax Income M USD  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required
Subscription required - Subscription is required


Heavy Mobile Equipment:

Mine Management:

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Feb 19, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Feb 19, 2021
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Staff:

EmployeesTotal WorkforceYear
Subscription required 2019
Subscription required 2017

Corporate Filings & Presentations:

DocumentYear
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2018
Technical Report 2017
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

News:

NewsDate
Eastern Platinum Limited Announces Rights Offering in Order to Pursue Growth Opportunities December 11, 2020
Eastern Platinum Limited's Operations in South Africa to Temporarily Close Effective March 27, 2020 to Comply with the South African 21 Day Lockdown Due to Coronavirus March 25, 2020
Eastplats Announces First Shipment of Chrome Concentrate from Barplats Zandfontein UG2 Tailings Retreatment Operations February 11, 2019

Aerial view:

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