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Business Reporter—

South African platinum group, Implats and the Zimplats Boards of Directors have approved the development of Mupani Mine at a cost of $264 million. This approval comes after the completion of a bankable feasibility study which will see a new underground mining complex being developed to replace production from Rukodzi Mine and Ngwarati Mine once they are mined out and closed.“Approval to construct Mupani Mine is a significant development for Zimplats and will ensure we can deliver on our target to mine 6.2Mtpa and maintain production of 260 000 ounces of platinum and 220 000 ounces of palladium per annum.

“This investment is an important development for Zimbabwe and will provide much needed support to the local economy at an extremely difficult time, reinforcing our commitment to sustain and grow our investments in the country,” said Zimplats chief executive Alex Mhembere.

Mupani Mine is 7km north of the existing Ngezi concentrator plant. Early project work, including mining the box cut and constructing the main access road, project offices and other essential project infrastructure, started in June 2016. Developing the main underground access infrastructure to the position of the first planned reef panels is expected to take 37 months to complete, which will allow the first mining teams to be deployed from early 2021.

Mr Mhembere said design capacity of 2,2-million tonnes per annum is targeted in 2025 when the full complement of 10 mining teams will be deployed.

“At this rate, the new mine will have a life expectancy of some 25 years extracting only the relatively flat ore reserves.

“The project will increase Zimplats’ mineral reserves by 3 million to 9 million platinum ounces. Mupani Mine will employ approximately 1 000 people at full production and a substantial number of contractors will be employed during the development, construction and commissioning period to complete the project,” said Mr Mhembere.

He said the mine design builds on the successful, modern, safe, low cost mechanised room and pillar mining method that are in place at all of existing Zimplats mines.

“While this project was commissioned against the backdrop of depressed metal prices, the estimated capital investment of some $264 million will be deployed over the next nine years with much of the underground development work being done on-reef and the required capital expenditure financed through Zimplats’ own internal resources.

“This significantly decreases the capital intensity and peak funding requirements of the project, while ensuring that Zimplats is perfectly positioned to capitalise on the anticipated turnaround in the PGM market and stronger metal prices in the future,” said Mr Mhembere.

Once commissioned, the mined ore will be beneficiated in the state-of-the-art Selous processing facilities and smelted in the 12,5MW Zimplats furnace, which was recently equipped with modern remote controlled hydraulic mud guns for safe furnace tapping and upgraded furnace automation for online condition monitoring and safe process control.

“Zimplats continues to deliver excellent results in terms of its safety performance, record volumes of tonnage and PGM production.

“The operation has also ensured that all costs are kept to a minimum in the constrained PGM price environment, which has necessitated cash preservation strategies across the entire industry. Against this backdrop, we are delighted to approve and advance the new Mupani Mine,” said Implats chief executive Terrence Goodlace.

Mr Goodlace said Mupani will sustain the mining operation well into the future and will ultimately support the group’s beneficiation strategy through securing the required future pipeline feed stocks.

Zimplats has been steadily investing in Zimbabwe since operations began in 2001 when it developed its first open pit mine.