Business

Independent smelter on the cards

Thu, 26 Jun 2008

Several private mining companies together with the Industrial Development Corporation are to conduct a pre-feasibility study into developing a dedicated, independent smelter to process platinum group metals mined in the Bushveld Complex.

The decision follows the completion of a feasibility study by London-listed Ridge Mining into the Sheba's Ridge nickel/ platinum group metals project, situated to the south of the town of Groblersdal in Limpopo province.

"The technical audit has taken more time than we envisaged due to the project's size and amount and detail required for the feasibility study and audit," said Ridge Mining CEO Terence Wilkinson in a statement issued this week.

The project is confirmed to have an ore reserve containing 740 000 tonnes of nickel, 290 000 tonnes of copper and 10.7-million ounces of platinum group metals, making it one of the largest projects of its type in Africa.

The company forecasts an annual production at the site of 23 000 tonnes of nickel, 11 000 tonnes of copper and 352 000 ounces of platinum group metals.

"Ridge Mining plans to extract 18-million tonnes of ore per annum over a planned mine life of 20 years," the statement reads.

Insufficient capacity

The company points out, though, that there is insufficient smelting capacity currently available in South Africa to further process the 600 000 tonnes of concentrate that the mine is expected to produce each year.

Ridge Mining and its partner, the Industrial Development Corporation, are currently in advanced discussions with Impala Platinum and African Rainbow Minerals to form a joint venture to undertake a bankable feasibility study into the construction of an independent smelter.

"We will now proceed with the feasibility study on the shared smelter and the power and project optimisation studies necessary for a development decision," said Wilkinson. "Discussions are continuing with third parties interested in buying into the project to help fund the eventual capital development costs."

In addition to the existing studies, Ridge Mining has contracted Pace Power Consultants to examine energy alternatives to reduce reliance on grid supply from Eskom, due to the current and projected electricity supply constraints.

SAinfo reporter