Name of the Project
Impala No 16 Shaft project.

Location
North West, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
Impala Platinum (Implats).

Project Description
The shaft development is situated on the south-east corner of the Impala mining lease down dip of No 1 Shaft, on the western limb of the Bushveld Complex. The No 16 Shaft is expected to produce 226 500 t/m of reef from seven operational levels. The shaft will access the Merensky and upper group two (UG2) reef horizons.

The No 16 Shaft ore reserves will be accessed using a downcast rock and men-and-materials shaft, lined to an inside diameter of 10 m and sunk to 1 648 m. The ventilation shaft is a 6.8-m-diameter inside-concrete lining shaft, sunk to 1 390 m below the surface.

As the shaft will access reef from a depth of 1 220 m to 1 540 m, full-time refrigeration, introduced through the rock and men-and-materials shaft, will be required for the underground workings. The refrigeration is designed to ventilate a maximum of 900 kg/s of cooled air from the surface.

The No 16 Shaft headgear, with a structural height of 108 m, houses two Koepe winders. One will hoist personnel and material, and the other only rock. The rock hoist tipping arrangement will be located inside the concrete headgear to reduce noise pollution. A conveyor will transfer reef and waste from the headgear bins to a transfer tower, from where reef will be transferred to two concrete silos – one for Merensky and one for UG2.

The power requirements for the new shaft will be met from a new Eskom 88/33 kV yard at the No 15 Shaft.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
R7.9-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
R7.9-billion.

Latest Developments
To date, capital spend has totalled R7.6-billion of the R7.9-billion project vote, with spending on track to be completed in November 2021.

In the year to June 30, 2020, operational readiness was advanced by an 18% increase in immediately mineable stope face length to 3 984 m.

The impact of the Covid-19 lockdown and associated labour restrictions has resulted in certain project delays, with the C ore pass completed in June 2020. The completion of the additional D ore pass is expected in early the 2023 financial year. Constrained availability of rock drill operators during the pandemic and the re-allocation of available resources to continued operations at 1 and 9 Shafts, resulted in a reduction in stoping teams deployed at the project at year-end. Ramp-up to full production of 330 000 oz platinum, 6E (palladium, gold, rhodium, ruthenium and iridium) is now expected in October 2022.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Shaft Sinkers (shaft sinking); Read Swatman & Voigt (engineering, procurement and construction management); JJG Construction (civil works – Phase 2); Louwill Engineering (structural steel – Phase 2); NIC Instruments & Engineering (electrical – Phase 2); FLSmidth Minerals (Koepe winder – mechanical); ABB South Africa (Koepe winder – electrical); and Wade Walker (surface electrical works).

Contact Details for Project Information
Implats, tel +27 11 731 9000, fax +27 11 731 9254 or email investor@implats.co.za.