Canadian-based Eastern Platinum (Eastplats) has marked the soft start of the underground operations at Zandfontein, part of its flagship Crocodile River mine in the Bushveld complex in northeastern South Africa.
CEO Wanjin Yang said crews are now beginning to ramp up underground mining efforts and bring run-of-mine material to the surface. In the second quarter, it is planning to begin the first batch of ROM processing at the PGM mine.
Eastplats plans to achieve a mining run rate of 40,000 tons per month by the end of this year, with the aim of processing up to 235,000 tons of ore from underground production in 2024.
CRM, Zandfontein has a life of mine of more than 22 years.
Eastplats’ properties are situated on the western limb (Crocodile River Mine) and eastern limb (Kennedy’s Vale, Spitzkop, Mareesburg) of the Bushveld Complex, the geological environment that hosts approximately 80% of the world’s PGM-bearing ore.
Operations at the Crocodile River Mine currently include re-mining and processing its tailings resource to produce PGM and chrome concentrates from the Barplats Zandfontein tailings dam.
Source: Eastplats