Canadian mining company Ivanhoe Mines has celebrated the achievement of three major development milestones at its Platreef platinum/palladium/nickel/rhodium/gold/copper mine in Limpopo, South Africa.

The milestones include the completion of construction of the four-million-tonne-a-year Shaft #3; the breaking of ground for the Phase 2 concentrator site; and the start of widening of Shaft #2.

These project milestones are a major advancement for the Phase 2 expansion and the future Phase 3 expansion," the company states.

“The Platreef mine is not a typical South African precious metals mine scratching at narrow, 1-m-thick seams. The mine is a once-in-a-generation geological wonder . . . a discovery so vast that it will be producing precious metals for generations to come. The flat-lying orebody is approximately 25 times thicker than our industry incumbents, averaging 26 m of continuous mineralisation . . . thickness means scale, which means mechanisation, and mechanisation means lower costs and safer operations.

“We are ramping up the mine at a time when metal prices are rising. Scarcity is real and the demand is relentless. Platinum, palladium, rhodium, copper and nickel are identified by countries all around the globe as critical minerals and, therefore, strategic to the agenda of many of the world’s developed and developing economies,” Ivanhoe founder and co-chairperson Robert Friedland comments.

The completion of Shaft #3, along with its associated underground materials-handling and crushing infrastructure, increases the total available hoisting capacity five-fold to about five-million tonnes a year and will enable greater flexibility in hoisting both ore and waste rock to the surface, which is severely constrained through Shaft #1 alone.

Since first production in the fourth quarter of last year, the Phase 1 concentrator has batch-processed (campaigned) lower-grade development ore as underground development progressed. Long-hole stoping of the Flatreef orebody is expected to start soon, enabling the Phase 1 concentrator to ramp up to commercial production from mid-year.

Underground development will also significantly ramp up in preparation for the start-up of the Phase 2 concentrator, which is expected to be operational by the end of next year. Underground development will focus on opening additional mining areas to increase the mining rate to feed the new 3.3-million-tonne-a-year Phase 2 concentrator.

Meanwhile, the project team broke ground on the Phase 2 concentrator site on April 9. The concentrator is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Concurrently with the major earthworks under way at the Phase 2 concentrator site, engineering work is focused on completing the process and mechanical design and equipment layouts. The procurement of long-lead mechanical and electrical equipment has also started.

Lastly, following completion of the Shaft #2 concrete headgear in the fourth quarter of last year, construction activities have focused on widening the shaft to its final diameter of 10 m.

The shaft was initially raised-bored to a diameter of 3.1 m in the fourth quarter of 2024. The contract to widen the shaft to a final diameter of 10 m was awarded to United Mining Services (UMS) of Johannesburg.

Site mobilisation by UMS was completed during the first quarter of this year, with the first ‘slipe’ blast completed on schedule on April 1.

Shaft #2 is expected to be ready to hoist labour and materials by the end of 2028 and be ready to hoist ore by the end of 2029. It will support both the steady-state operations of Phase 2 and the future Phase 3 expansion.