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South Africa

Twickenham Mine

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Categories

Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusCare and Maintenance
Commodities
  • PGM
  • Gold
  • Platinum
  • Palladium
  • Rhodium
  • Nickel
  • Copper
Mining Method
  • Bord-and-pillar
  • ULP / XLP
SnapshotTwickenham has been under care and maintenance since 2016. The completion of prefeasibility studies shows that the Mineral Resource can be economically extracted (RPEEE), supported by improved commodity prices. Construction of a concentrator and related infrastructure is required to process ore mined hence consideration of capital investment, commodity prices and global economic headwinds is vital in enabling a sustainable operation through commodity cycles. As such, Anglo American Platinum is exploring options that may lead to the resumption of mining activities in a sustainable way. Since Twickenham was placed on care and maintenance, no exploration activities have occurred.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Anglo American plc. 76.99 % Indirect
Rustenburg Platinum Mines Ltd. (operator) 100 % Direct
Ownership Tree
Anglo American plc. through its subsidiary Rustenburg Platinum Mines owns 76.99% of the Twickenham mine.

Deposit type

  • Magmatic

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 north north-east/south south-west striking dolerite dykes of post-Karoo age and faults. A fairly prominent dyke swarm exists on Paschaskraal farm with individual dyke widths reaching 30m to 40m. Other geological discontinuities are potholes and replacement pegmatites of various compositions (sometimes iron rich) are rare, but do occur.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Production

CommodityUnits20162015
Platinum koz 313
Palladium koz 3.213
Rhodium koz 0.72.3
Gold koz 0.3
Nickel kt
All production numbers are expressed as metal in concentrate.

Operational metrics

Metrics20162015
Ore tonnes mined 67 kt306 kt
Tonnes milled 54 kt279 kt

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Operating Costs

Currency2016
UG mining costs ($/t milled) ZAR 5,411  

Financials

Units2017
Capital expenditures M ZAR 7  
Revenue M ZAR
EBIT M ZAR
EBITDA M ZAR
Operating Cash Flow M ZAR

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 18, 2024

Aerial view:

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