Jubilee advances platinum plant plans

[miningmx.com] — JUBILEE PLATINUM is moving towards commercial platinum production this year, using technology that is arguably the future of the sector.

One of the limitations in treating platinum concentrate in the smelters used by the major platinum producers is the level of chrome. Too much chrome impairs the efficiencies of the furnaces and can lead to technical issues.

The chrome-rich UG2 reef is dominant on the Eastern Limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex. Smaller mining companies are charged a penalty by the majors if their concentrate has a high chrome content when sent for processing.

Mintek has patented a system called Conroast, which can effectively treat high-chrome content concentrate. Jubilee’s wholly owned subsidiary Braemore has the exclusive licence to use this technology and has been testing it for some years. The furnace has been in operation for six years.

This technology could clear the way for juniors to lower the cost of producing concentrate if chrome levels are not an issue as well as open parts of ore bodies where chrome is a problem.

That testing stage ended in March and Jubilee is now building a five megawatt (MW) plant at a metal treatment plant it bought in Middelburg during April. This is larger than the 3MW plant used for testing at Mintek’s facilities in Johannesburg.

The first phase of Jubilee’s project entails building the 5MW plant into existing infrastructure and will cost around R40m, including some expansion of the facilities.

The first phase should be completed and in production this year, said Leon Coetzer, a Jubilee director and MD of smelting and refining.

“We’ve fought hard to get to this point,’ Coetzer told Miningmx.

“We have started building our own facilities because we and Mintek had nothing more to develop. We treated every possible type of platinum-containing concentrate that is currently in production, all types of mixtures, to ensure this is a fully proven process,’ he said.

Jubilee will fund the first phase to treat 3,500 tonnes a month of concentrate from existing cash resources. Buying the Middelburg plant has knocked eight months off the build programme. It came with power supply, cranes, gas scrubbers and trained personnel. It had been smelting and treating materials like ferrosilicon, ferrochrome and ferromanganese.

The second phase to add a 7MW plant to treat 4,000 tonnes/month of concentrate will come on stream in the second half of 2011. There is no costing yet on the second phase, which is in the final design stage.

“At those levels we’ll start coming close to Northam,’ said Coetzer, a chemical engineer who cut his teeth at Anglo Platinum.

Power will come from two sources. Six megawatts will come from the grid and 10MW is generated at the plant using Sasol gas. The cost of self-generated power is level with the winter tariffs charged by Eskom but as the power utility ramps up prices the internal electricity source will become cheaper, he said.

Concentrate will be sourced through purchase agreements and toll-treatment arrangements. Coetzer declined to identify the sources.

Final trials are underway at a refinery test plant in Canada and the final engineering and bankable feasibility study into building a commercial size plant to deal with phases one and two at Middelberg will be completed in August this year.

Jubilee is finalising platinum group metal offtake agreements on tailing dumps it has access to. It aims to complete a bankable feasibility study into its Tjate mining prospect in the second half of 2011.

“Once we’ve got the first two phases completed our next expansion target is to treat concentrate from Tjate and other junior miners coming on stream,’ Coetzer said.

The test smelter will remain with Mintek, which will use it to generate revenue, further development work and for training.