Toronto-listed Platinum Group Metals (PTM) is to raise a further US$20m through the issue of convertible notes making a total of $65m it has raised in three funding deals so far this year to keep its struggling Maseve mine going.
PTM had previously brought in $143m through the issue of shares during its 2016 financial year to finance operations at the Maseve mine which has fallen way short of management’s production forecasts putting the company under financial pressure.
Output was initially forecast to be 110,000oz of platinum group metals (pgm) in the year to end-April – equivalent to an average monthly production of 9,100oz – which would subsequently increase to 180,000oz annually. That first year output estimate was subsequently revised to 85,000oz – or 7,000oz a month.
On June 9 this year PTM reported that Maseve had produced just 2,480oz of pgm during the month of May which it described as “the best monthly level achieved since commissioning.” The milling operation at Maseve was commissioned in March last year and CEO Michael Jones said in July that Maseve was “fully constructed and now in the ramp-up phase of production.”
In May, Miningmx reported market sources saying that PTM had asked Anglo American Platinum to submit an indicative offer to buy the Maseve mine but the company did not respond to an e-mail or telephone message when asked to verify this at the time.
Rene Hochreiter – platinum and gold analyst for Noah Capital – commented today that, “my information is the Maseve mine is up for sale but it will be difficult to sell the operation under current market conditions. The obvious potential buyers are Maseve’s neighbours – Royal Bafokeng Platinum and Wesizwe Platinum.”
Jones – who is currently in Johannesburg – did not return a phone call from Miningmx.
