Aquarius, Amplats reach deal to extend Kroondal mine life
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aquarius Platinum South Africa (AQPSA) has entered into an agreement with a subsidiary of Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) that will increase the life of the Kroondal mine by three years to about nine-and-a-half years.
Amplats would, in terms of the agreement, contribute 15.97-million tons of total ore reserves to the Kroondal mine. This will include 9.91-million tons at 2.28 g/t of proven ore reserves and 6.06-million tons at 2.48 g/t of probable ore reserves.
The reserves are located immediately down-dip from the current Kroondal mine and will be mined using the existing Kroondal underground mining infrastructure and treatment plants.
In exchange for the additional reserves, AQPSA would contribute the use of its infrastructure, continue to manage the Kroondal pooling and sharing agreement on the existing terms and conditions, sell its share of concentrate produced from the additional reserves to Amplats as per an existing offtake agreement and pay Amplats a variable royalty with a base rate of R11.50/t mined.
The royalty would increase or decrease in line with movements in the rand metal price, but would range between a minimum of R8.05/t and a maximum of R14.95/t.
The deal was welcomed by analysts, with Investec Securities commenting that this was an important step forward for AQPSA's parent company Aquarius Platinum, providing it with more “breathing space” owing to the pressures of the previous short Kroondal mine life.
Liberum Capital said this was a “solid” deal for Aquarius.
“The cost of mine extension looks acceptable at first glance, with the R11.50/t ore royalty rate reflecting just a 1% royalty rate on the value of platinum in each ton of ore mined,” it noted.
Article Enquiry
Email Article
Save Article
Feedback
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation















