Overview
Status | Care and Maintenance |
Mine Type | Underground |
Commodities |
- PGM
- Gold
- Platinum
- Palladium
- Rhodium
- Nickel
- Copper
|
Mining Method |
|
Twickenham has been under care and maintenance since 2016. The completion of pre-feasibility studies show that the Mineral Resource can be economically extracted (RPEEE), supported by improved commodity prices. Since a concentrator and related infrastructure would still need to be constructed to process ore mined, consideration needs to be given to how to reduce the extent of the investment required to enable the sustainable operation through commodity cycles (being cognisant of lower prices experienced in prior years which led to the mine being placed on care and maintenance and the global economic headwinds we currently see). As such, Anglo American Platinum is exploring options that could lead to the resumption of mining activities in a sustainable way. |
Source:
p. 97,270,271
Anglo American Platinum Ltd. wholly owns and operates the Twickenham mine.
Anglo American plc. held through an effective 79.2% interest in Anglo American Platinum Limited.
Contractors
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Summary:
Formed over two billion years ago as a result of 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.
Twickenham is located in the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex, north of the Steelpoort fault. The main economic horizons and PGM mineralisation are the UG2 and the Merensky reefs. Both reefs subcrop on the property, striking roughly north north-west/south south-east at an average dip of 15° to the south-west over a strike length of 16km. The UG2 and Merensky reefs are separated by approximately 400m of mafic cumulate rocks.
Merensky Reef has a thickness that range from 100cm to 200cm, with an average thickness of 140cm. The mineralisation occurs mainly in a poikilitic plagioclase pyroxenite bound by thin chromitite stringers and associated pegmatoidal textures, which contain the highest PGM grades. The UG2 Reef chromitite layer varies in thickness from 30cm to 110cm (average of 62cm), overlain by up to five chromitite stringers varying in thickness from 2mm to 1cm. The immediate footwall of the UG2 Reef is usually a pegmatoidal feldspathic pyroxenite, which varies in thickness from a few centimetres to 200cm, with an average of 60cm.
The topography consists of a long valley between the fairly rugged Leolo mountain range, comprising Main Zone gabbro and gabbro-norites. The tectonic setting is characterised by no ........

Summary:
The mine offers long-term prospects for shallow mechanised mining on both the UG2 and Merensky Reef horizons. In the current commodity price environment, all expansionary project decisions have been delayed.
During 2014 various options were considered for the conversion of the conventional mine to a mechanised mine. These included a trade-off study on conventional mining versus on-reef mechanised mining methods, including LP bord and pillar and ULP/XLP mining methods, which indicated that the on-reef mechanised ULP mining method would yield the highest value accretion with an optimum extraction profile.
Flow Sheet:
Summary:

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Reserves at December 31, 2019:
The Mineral Resources as at 31th December 2022 at Twickenham mine are unchanged from 31 December 2019.
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Measured & Indicated
|
335.7 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
5.62 g/t
|
60.7 M oz
|
Inferred
|
313.9 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
5.55 g/t
|
56 M oz
|
Total Resource
|
649.6 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
5.59 g/t
|
116.7 M oz
|
Commodity Production Costs:
| Commodity | Units | 2016 |
Cash costs
|
6E (Pt,Pd,Rh,Au,Ir,Ru)
|
ZAR
|
68,340 / oz
|
Cash costs
|
Platinum
|
ZAR
|
148,035 / oz
|
Operating Costs:
| Units | 2016 | 2015 |
UG mining costs ($/t milled)
|
ZAR
| 5,411 | 2,841 |
Financials:
| Units | 2017 | 2016 |
Capital expenditures
|
M ZAR
|
7
|
39
|
Revenue
|
M ZAR
|
|
104
|
EBIT
|
M ZAR
|
|
-307
|
EBITDA
|
M ZAR
|
|
-291
|
Operating Cash Flow
|
M ZAR
|
|
-240
|
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