Platreef gets underway

Preparations have begun for a resumption of site work for the construction of the initial production shaft as part of the first phase of development of the planned underground mine at Ivanhoe’s R17-billion Platreef Project outside Mokopane.
“For a long time now, the development of our Platreef Project has been a destiny waiting to be fulfilled. It is said that great mines are ‘made’, as much as they are ‘found’. Now, thanks to the support of our partners – including the black economic empowerment (BEE) beneficiaries representing the 20 eligible Mokopane area communities, our eligible employees and SA entrepreneurs, plus our Japanese investors – Ivanhoe’s Platreef team is ready to begin building another great mine,” executive chairman Robert Friedland said.
 “The tremendous size and remarkable thickness of the Flatreef deposit is continuing to be revealed as a game-changing development for the platinum industry in SA. It also is a company-maker for Platreef Resources. Although recently renamed Ivanplats, the company preserves its singular, 26-year quest firstly to discover the mineral trove and now to develop the Platreef Project.
Dr. Patricia Makhesha, who became MD of the Platreef Project subsidiary, Ivanplats, last August, is a former transformation executive in SA industry who spent more than a year as an Ivanhoe consultant working cooperatively with Mokopane area communities and helping to develop Platreef’s BBEEE-structure.
Bill Hayden, founder of Platreef Resources, remains a director of Ivanhoe Mines and the chief geologist and discovery field leader, David Broughton, continues to head the company’s exploration efforts.
In Mokopane, the contractors are marshalling workers and equipment. The job of actually building the Platreef mine is about to get underway. Formal notifications of a return to work have been provided to provincial authorities and landowners in accordance with established requirements. In a coordinated ramp-up of preparations, plant and earth moving equipment is being moved back on to the site of Platreef’s first planned shaft.
“We are committed to resuming site work as soon as is practically possible,” said CEO Lars-Eric Johansson.
He said that a principal priority continues to be the completion of the excavation at the box-cut to establish access for the construction of the large concrete surface collar for Shaft #1. The collar also will serve as a base that will anchor the head frame structure and house the ventilation opening. Work on the shaft and related mining-plant components will take place within the 20-hectare, fenced construction compound. Work also is proceeding on primary components for Shaft #2, the 10m-diameter main production shaft. Murray & Roberts Cementation has begun the design and engineering of headgear and early works are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2015.
The mine is projected to require a workforce of about 2 200 within four years of the start of production operations.
Ivanhoe will invest a total of R160-million in the Platreef social and labour plan during the next five years. The plan includes R67.2-million for the development of job skills among local residents and R87.7-million for local economic development projects.
The Platreef Project has committed to building a R26-million community skills development and training facility in the Mokopane area within five years as part of Ivanhoe’s objective of helping to establish a roster of qualified, local candidates for jobs at the mine and its associated minerals processing plant. In addition, Platreef plans to launch five local economic development projects under the social and labour plan that will result in the creation of at least 820 jobs, including 660 positions that will be open to unskilled or semi-skilled candidates.
As part of an approved environmental management plan covering Platreef’s development and operational life, the project will comply with strict conditions for the conservation of the natural environment, including biodiversity, and the protection of surface water and groundwater resources.