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A lower-risk secondary mining business, which focuses on extracting value from platinum group metals (PGM) surface waste that hosts chrome, is being built by the South Africa PGM Operations of Sibanye-Stillwater.

The opportunity lies in unlocking PGM and chrome value from the large, accessible upper group two (UG2) tailings resources on surface.

UG2 tailings retreatment, fine chrome recovery and processing capability are creating a new value stream.

The first part of the surface processing strategy – Phase 1 of the WLTR recovery plant upgrade project – has already arrived.

This phase, which involves treating tailings to recover chrome as well as PGMs, supports the broader South Africa PGM Operations surface retreatment strategy.

The feasibility study has been completed, board approval has been received, and construction is scheduled to begin in the second half of this year, with commissioning expected by the end of 2027, Sibanye-Stillwater executive VP processing Lucas Msimanga reported during the Capital Day covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

The projected capital is R0.9-billion, payback is two years, Phase 1's economic life is six years, net present value is R1-billion, internal rate of return is 43%, and operating costs were described by an upbeat Msimanga as being "very competitive".

Historical UG2 tailings storage facilities (TSFs) across the Rustenburg and Marikana regions provide the material, the primary value driver is chrome coupled to meaningful PGM upside, and available PGM concentrator capacity offers the capability of recovering PGMs in an integrated and efficient manner.

With a switch to magnetic processing technologies, the surface resources also present a significant chrome recovery opportunity.

A million tons of historic UG2 tailings are there for the taking and Sibanye-Stillwater has vast processing and tailings infrastructure spread across 70 km of PGM footprint to handle current and future mining output.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange- and New York Stock Exchange-listed mining and marketing company's vast footprint takes in Marikana as well as the Rustenburg region, and within the footprint are concentrators for primary processing of the material from the underground operations.

Capacity is adequate to process the current and future projects. Total available concentrate capacity across Sibanye-Stillwater's South Africa PGM operations is 1 605 000 t a month.

All of this is linked to long-term TSFs. The life of the Paardekraal TSF in Rustenburg extends to 2060, as does the Marikana Pits TSF and Hoedspruit in Marikana extends to 2044.

"We've got the capacity to dispose of those tailings safely, as well as in an environment-friendly manner.

"When processing, we continuously seek to improve recoveries. We're benchmarking internally as well as externally, and we want to raise recoveries as high as possible," Msimanga pointed out.

Standout 36% recovery is being achieved by the WTD5, Hoedspruit and Marikana Pits TSFs, with recoveries from the other TSFs ranging from 11% to 17%.

"Our objective is to get close as possible to the 36%, which will be done by optimisation of the TSF operations and the deployment of the right technology," said Msimanga, who drew attention to the focus of Sibanye-Stillwater's seven relatively shallow primary adjoining mining projects also being largely on UG2 reef, which, provided the company continues to invest appropriately across concentrators, supports operational reliability.

Targeted sustaining capital has maintained high equipment availability and recovery performance. This approach supports structurally lower unit costs.

The result is a flexible processing platform that supports processing requirements of curren...

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

Hundreds of workers at BHP's Port Hedland iron-ore operations in Western Australia could walk off the job next week, in what would mark the biggest industrial action there in decades, potentially disrupting $80-million of daily revenue for BHP.

The unions have called for the action, an eight-hour work stoppage set for July 16, after six months of negotiations that have failed to reach an agreement on terms for a four-year labour deal. The action is set to run from 2 pm to 10 pm (06:00 to 14:00 GMT).

Some 160 to 200 employees of the 450 workers who cover BHP's port and maintenance operations will walk off the job, according to the Combined Ports Unions, which represents four unions active at the site.

"This is nobody's preferred way forward, but when it is our only way forward, we will take it," said Adam Woodage, the secretary of the Electrical Trade Union Western Australia.

"I hope this sharpens the minds of BHP managers - and shareholders - on the importance of negotiating for a fair, safe and productive iron ore industry."

Union officials said a meeting with BHP was slated for Tuesday that could avert the stoppage.

The action comes after workers at some of BHP's other operations in the Pilbara region where Port Hedland is located narrowly voted last week to approve a new labour agreement.

"We have delivered a new enterprise agreement at Mining Area C and South Flank that rewards 1 800 workers -- without industrial action," BHP said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Every Australian benefits from a strong iron ore sector. We are eager to keep negotiating constructively for a fair deal, while making sure we can keep operations running safely."

BHP shares fell 2.9% on the day to A$57.19 ($39.70), slightly outpacing losses among other miners and compared to a 0.5% decline for Australia's benchmark stock index.

Unions are making the biggest push in 30 years to penetrate Australia's mining heartland, emboldened by a Labor government law in 2022 giving them the power to negotiate wage deals that cover several employers, allow more scope to request flexible arrangements and industry-wide strikes.

The South Flank agreement last week included a guaranteed 16% pay hike over its four-year term, increases to site-based allowances and a new payment scheme for delayed flights.

"We think the South Flank deal is undercooked, for the work that they do away from their family and for the conditions," Steve McCartney, State secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, told reporters. "Sixteen percent over four years is not enough."

Mining workers are among Australia's best paid. Resources workers living in the Pilbara earned A$191 000 on average in 2023/24, according to a survey by industry group the Chamber of Minerals and Energy.

Australia's median wage for registered nurses is A$85 000 to A$100 000 according to industry bodies and the median wage is A$75 000 a year, according to government figures.

Port Hedland, which is also used by miners Fortescue and Hancock Prospecting, ships around $150-million of iron-ore a day.

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South Africa's national minerals research organisation Mintek has highlighted the value of conducting bottleneck-exposing comminution circuit surveys at platinum group metals (PGM) processing operations and made it clear that it is at-the-ready to answer all questions relating to peak performance and plant optimisation.

The aim of Mintek's comminution circuit surveys is to arrive at advantageous process performance by unlocking hidden opportunities of process improvement in PGM processing plants. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

"We'd really like to get some invites to come and conduct surveys," Mintek minerals processing division senior engineer Dr Sandile Nkwanyana enthused during Mintek's PGM Day covered by Mining Weekly.

Nkwanyana was one of a dozen Mintek managers, engineers and scientists who presented in the auditorium of this 92-year-old State-owned research organisation, which is situated at 200 Malibongwe Drive in Randburg.

Displayed were comminution circuits within the PGM processing space. The first was a mill float two circuit, showing the primary mill and the secondary ball mill. The second comminution circuit was a circuit with a semi autogenous grinding (SAG) mill and the third an autogenous grinding (AG) mill followed by low-grade ball mill circuit.

"What I want to stress is that the primary mill, which is either the run-of-mine ball mill, SAG mill, or AG mill, is usually the bottleneck when you're trying to increase throughput in your circuits," Nkwanyana pointed out.

Also learnt over the years is that throughput does not respond linearly to parameter changes.

Having a signature grind curve was described as being important.

Mintek conducts full surveys around the circuit for the purpose of generating a grind curve to provide insight into where peak performance resides.

What is shown is the load level that gives the peak in power and going above that load is not necessarily beneficial for the mill.

Following the conducting of surveys, Mintek favours mill modelling to gain insight into other performance improvement opportunities around the circuit and to ensure mass balance.

The modelling exercise involves the use of in-house coded models as well as the JK Cement modelling platform.

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

Lynas Rare Earths said on Tuesday it has signed a partnership deal with South Korea's JS Link to develop a magnet factory in Malaysia.

The Australian rare-earths producer will also supply rare-earth materials to JS Link's magnet factory in South Korea and the planned factory in Malaysia until January 2038.

The partnership follows a magnet manufacturing deal between the two companies last year.

Under the latest deal, JS Link will establish a magnet factory in Kuantan, Malaysia, with an operating capacity of 3 000 tonnes a year of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) permanent sintered magnets. Lynas said it will invest around A$50-million ($34.78-million) in JS Link shares to support the development of the facility.

The produced magnets will supply automotive, wind energy and electronics manufacturing supply chains in key markets including Korea and Malaysia, Lynas added.

The company expects the Kuantan magnet factory to create up to 400 new jobs.

Meanwhile, Malaysia said on Monday it would review a $96-million rare-earths supply deal signed earlier this year between Lynas, the operator of one of the world's largest rare earths processing plants located in the Southeast Asian country, and the US Department of Defense.

The four-year deal has faced protests, with some rights groups accusing Lynas of supplying materials for US-made weapons used by Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

Muslim-majority Malaysia has long been supportive of the Palestinian cause and does not have diplomatic ties with Israel.

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

Seven relatively shallow primary adjoining mining projects that focus largely on upper group two (UG2) reef and mainly mechanised mining are at various stages of development within the South African Platinum Group Metals (PGM) portfolio of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Sibanye-Stillwater.

Demonstrated by Sibanye-Stillwater EVP Head of Projects Ralph Lombard was that these projects are higher-margin projects of low capital intensity, with most of them brownfield extensions. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

The seven are the Siphumelele and Thembelani extension reserves projects in Rustenburg, the East 4 reserves project at Marikana, the Kopaneng extension resources project at Rustenburg, the East 3 extension resources project at Marikana, the Bathopele extension resources project in Rustenburg, and the Saffy extension resources project at Marikana.

All are envisaged for mechanised mining with the exception of Thembelani and all the projects are on contiguous property that is owned by Sibanye-Stillwater.

Also listed are two secondary mining PGM recovery surface tailings projects as well as two processing projects, one a PMR upgrade project and the other a smelter project to support blend optimisation.

Highlighted was that:

integration of mining across contiguous boundaries unlocks additional value;shaft connectivity improves mine planning flexibility and sequencing ; andexisting infrastructure and shared services improve economics, reduce complexity and cut production lead time.

Acquisition of 100% of the Kroondal PGM mine and its integration into the Rustenburg operation facilitates optimisation of cross boundary operational synergies and earty value from combined resources, Lombard pointed out in his presentation covered by Mining Weekly.

The Siphumelele extension in execution consolidates the Bambanani and Siphumelele operations into a single, mining complex, which allows for the full extraction of the Bambanani reserve.

The first blast in May was achieved a month ahead of plan and connection with Bambanani mine is targeted for June 2028.

Production is expected from March next year and the planned capital footprint has January 2031 as its scheduled completion date.

Value is being generated by eliminating mine boundaries and payback of the R2.8-billion capital expenditure for Siphumelele is expected in seven years.

Expected mine life extends to 2039. Net present value is R2-billion, and a 40% internal rate of return is calculated.

Mining through the old Kroopdal/Rustenburg boundary unlocks synergies between the operations and establishment of shared services reduces unit costs for both operations.

"What's quite exciting is seeing our K4 Marikana project, which in our half-year results will show a positive contribution from this year onwards, which is part of the good news as we keep on developing these projects," Lombard enthused.

Because of the mining of the Merensky reef ahead of the UG2 reef, there is significant amount of legacy infrastructure that it is again being utilised, which lowers capital cost.

"We're not trying new mining methods. We know quite well how to do mechanised low-profile mining and board-and-pillar mining, and with that also comes the benefit of an experienced workforce, which is one of the other benefits we have by operating in this brownfields environment, which can assist us tremendously as we ramp up these projects, and these crews move down dip," Lombard pointed out.

Everything shown was shallow to intermediate depth, with no deep level type of PGM mining being planned at this stage.

Key in the Rustenburg/Marikana area are the orebody declines of nine degrees to 13.5 degrees, which allows for a continuation of mechanised mining.

"We also have the...