Heritage Cases

Phokathaba Platinum (Smokey Hills Platinum Mine) is an existing mine with approximately 6 km of mapped UG2 Platinum Group Metals (PGM) reef outcropping around the margin of two primary hills. The mine produced its first platinum concentrate for shipment in 2009 but the facility went into care and maintenance in August 2012 and no mining or processing activities took place until it was reopened in January 2015. Continuing adverse local and global economic and market circumstances led to the mine being placed in care and maintenance again at end March 2016. Mine infrastructure consists of underground operations comprising of two Hills (Hill 2 & 3), each having 3 Adits spaced on dip to access the underground workings. Open pit mining was carried out when the mine first started operating. The mine extracted and processed +/- 417 500 tons of UG2 ore from this initial open pit mining, and thus has the benefit of experience in the open pit mining of this deposit. The project initially developed as an open cut operation. The shallow open pits provided waste rock for the development of the tailings impoundment, roads and civil works on the mine site. The open pits provided ore for approximately nine months. The underground mine operation commenced towards the end of 2008. Phokathaba wishes to consider re-starting short-term open pit mining (+/- 1 year) concurrently with the current underground mining. Phokathaba is the holder of the relevant Mining Right, and has also carried out open pit mining previously on the lease area under the Mining Right. In 2016, further Open Pit Mining was considered on Hill 2 and Hill 3. However, given the prevailing economic climate and its bearing on the immediate prospects for the mine in terms of operations and revenue, these plans were terminated. As a current project focus, three Pollution Control Dams management dams (north, central and south) are planned over surface areas of approximately 0.3ha, 0.35ha and 0.7ha respectively