WESIZWE Platinum is to ramp up production from its Bakubung mine in South Africa’s North West province in the first quarter of 2025, the company said.
However, first concentrate would only be processed in the fourth quarter as technical problems had been identified at the concentrator requiring almost a year of remedial work.
The platinum group metal (PGM) company said a contract had been awarded to an “experienced contractor to commence the concentrator plant rectification plan” after “certain defects” were identified.
By then underground mining will have been ramped up to supply the concentrator about 83,000 tons of PGM-bearing ore per month. There are 500,000 tons of “incidental ore stockpile” that can also be treated by the concentrator, it said.
The Bakubung project, which is 45% controlled by China Africa Jinchuan, was scoped to produce 420,000 ounces of PGMs a year.
Commenting on the mine, Wesizwe said it was working on the development, construction and equipping of permanent infrastructure such as ore passes, silos, workshops, permanent water and power services amongst others to support future stoping activities.
The company also provided an update on restructuring announcement in November last year. Out of 345 redundant positions, only 13 were retrenched of which seven were absorbed by the company’s training services provider.
Employees were transferred to in house vacancies while others took voluntary separation packages, Wesizwe Platinum said.
Wesizwe Platinum said last year up to 571 employees of its total 761 staff complement could be affected by a restructuring.
A switch in mining method at the Bakubung as well as the effects of two strikes in each of 2022 and 2023, and a third unprotected, five-week stoppage had compounded the mine’s problems, the company said at the time.
Wesizwe’s technical problems come at a time when the market is not incentivising new PGM production. The Bakubung project, when finally commissioned, could be one of the last new sources of PGM production from South Africa amid low prices for the metals.
“It is highly improbable we will see new investment in new prospects especially if they don’t have processing capacity,” said Northam Platinum CEO Paul Dunne earlier this month. “New projects are highly improbable,” he said.
