GIANT platinum miner, the Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Private) Limited (Zimplats), is developing a new mine in Ngezi called Portal 6 Mine, which will employ 800 full-time employees and 200 contractors, theFinancial Gazette can report.
With a life of 30 years, Portal 6 is being developed in anticipation of the depletion of ore reserves at two of Zimplats’ four mines namely Rukodzi Mine and Ngwarati Mine in 2022 and 2025 respectively.
Alex Mhembere, Zimplats’ chief executive officer, said the full design work and bankable feasibility study for Portal 6 was at an advanced stage and would be submitted to the company’s board of directors for approval next month.
Only at that stage can management know the full scope and cost based on what the board would have approved.
“Once board approval of the final design and the full scope is known, we will be in a better position to make a definitive comment on how long it will take to develop the project,” said Mhembere in response to questions from the Financial Gazette.
The development of Portal 6 will allow the Impala Platinum subsidiary to maintain its pole position as the single largest exporter in Zimbabwe.
“We are really excited about this new mine. Work on the box cut has commenced and should be completed by calendar year-end,” said Mhembere.
An earth moving contractor is already on site and has started the mining of the box cut.
Zimplats will do the mining and also provide project management services.
“The cost for this preliminary work is US$7,5 million and was approved by the board in May 2016,” he added.
“The mine design builds on the successful modern, mechanised, safe, low cost mining methods that are in place at all of the other portals … The strike length on Portal 6 has been increased from three kilometres to six kilometres, making it more capital efficient than previous portals in that the area of interest has been expanded”.
The development comes as most mining houses have put their developmental plans on hold due to poor international prices.
By proceeding with this investment, notwithstanding the difficult operating environment, Mhembere said it was important for Zimplats to plan ahead for the eventual closure of Rukodzi and Ngwarati mines so that production does not slide below 6,2 million tonnes per annum and the Portal 6 project is vital in that respect.
“Zimplats is encouraged by the fact that it continues to deliver very good safety performance, for instance it has recently achieved the milestone of five million fatality free shifts, it also continues to deliver record volumes of tonnage and production of PGMs in a constrained pricing environment,” said Mhembere.
According to Zimplats, this portal has access to 63 million tonnes of potential “reserves” at a grade of 3,1g/t and delivers 3,0 million ounces of platinum and 2,4 million ounces of palladium.
Once commissioned, the portal provides 2,2 million tonnes per annum into the state-of-the-art Ngezi/Selous processing facilities where the material is ultimately beneficiated to a smelted matte in the 12,5MW furnace, which has recently been equipped with modern hydraulic mud guns for safe tapping of slag and matte.
Once the Portal 6 project is commissioned, Zimplats would continue to deliver 6,2 million tonnes per annum and 260,000 ounces of platinum and 220,000 ounces of palladium for more than 30 years.
Zimplats continues to deliver record volumes of tonnage and PGM production (+/-500,000 ounces PGM) safely.
Recently, the miner achieved five million fatality free shifts, which is consistent with international standards.
The PGM producer has managed to operate at low unit cost in a constrained pricing environment, which has necessitated the successful implementation of cash preservation measures.
Zimplats operates four underground mines in Ngezi, namely Ngwarati, Rukodzi, Mupfuti and Bimha.
A major collapse at Bimha mine in 2014 stopped production at the mine, with the shortfall created being provided from increased underground production at Ngwarati and Rukodzi mines and open pit operations being re-instated south of Ngwarati mine.
Recognising the need to protect jobs, the company kept all the mining fleets from Bimha Mine and redeployed them to the other mines within the Zimplats stable.
Meanwhile, the redevelopment of Bimha Mine, which collapsed last year, is progressing well and is now ramping up back to full production.
Full production at Bimha Mine is expected to be achieved in April 2018.
Installation of materials handling infrastructure is in progress including conveyor belts and ore tipping stations.
With regards to the establishment of the platinum refinery, it is still work in progress.
In 2015, Zimplats embarked on the refurbishment of the base metal refinery at Selous.
So far, the miner has invested US$23 million into the project.
“It is difficult to predict the future, however, the current investments that we are undertaking are reflective of our belief in a sound future for the platinum industry,” said Mhembere.
Source: Financial Gazette
