Northam, Jubilee to explore furnace plan

I-Net Bridge | Thu, 15 Jul 2010 09:55

[miningmx.com] -- JUBILEE Platinum and Northam Platinum have entered into a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture to evaluate the construction of a new DC arc furnace facility using ConRoast technology to treat a portion of Northam's platinum group metal (PGM) concentrate.

The companies said Thursday that this follows the successful completion by Jubilee and Mintek of the development programme for the ConRoast smelting process. It was also supported by Jubilee's acquisition of an appropriate site with infrastructure and an independent source of power near Middelburg, in South Africa's Mpumalanga Province, to establish such a plant.

In terms of the MoU, the joint venture will investigate the feasibility of constructing and operating a 7MVA DC arc furnace facility to treat PGM concentrate emanating from Northam's Booysendal mine, which is currently being developed.

Commenting on the MoU, Northam Platinum CEO Glyn Lewis said an additional furnace facility could hold significant benefits for the Northam operations and projects.

"Although we remain confident that our current smelting capacity at the Zondereinde mine is adequate for our near to mid-term requirements, an additional facility, in close proximity to the eastern limb, provides us with added smelting optionality while reducing our reliance on Eskom power. This could stand us in very good stead as we turn our attention to the incremental turning to account of the Booysendal resource."

Jubilee Platinum CEO, Colin Bird, commented "This is a significant development in the commercialisation of the ConRoast technology, following the successful completion of the trial phase of development as advised to the market in early June this year.

Northam has played a pivotal role in the research and development phase of the ConRoast technology, having provided platinum concentrate for testing campaigns at the Mintek operation."