Job creation exceeds 650 at Platreef

MOKOPANE – Ivanhoe Mines executive chairman, Robert Friedland and CEO Lars-Eric Johansson announced that the total workforce at the Platreef Project outside Mokopane now exceeds 650 men and women.
More than 500 of the jobs, representing 78% of the total workforce, are held by residents of the local Mokopane area.
Normal operations have been successfully re-established at the site of the company’s planned underground mine on the Platreef resource of platinum, palladium, nickel, copper, gold and rhodium following the formal activation of the company’s long-term mining right by the Department of Mineral Resources on November 4. Plant, earthmoving and mining equipment were returned to the site last week after a six-month suspension of activity.
The principal priority at the mine site is the completion of the excavation at the box cut to establish access for the construction of the large concrete surface collar for Shaft #1, which will be the initial production shaft in the first phase of Platreef’s development. The collar also will serve as a base that will anchor the headframe structure and house the ventilation opening.
Work on the shaft and related mining-plant components is being conducted within the 20-hectare, fenced construction compound that has been designed to enhance worksite safety, to minimize visual impacts on residential areas and to contribute to the effectiveness of environmental management programs.
Upgrading work on the stage and hoist winders for the sinking phase of Shaft #1 has been completed and steel fabrication for the sinking stage and headgear has commenced. Design and engineering work is proceeding on the primary components for Shaft #2, the 10-metre-diameter main production shaft that will be capable of hoisting six million tons a year and also will be fitted with a 150-person equipment cage.
Ivanhoe expects to receive results of a pre-feasibility study (PFS) later this month that will expand on the phase-one development scenario outlined in the preliminary economic assessment that was released in March this year. Ivanhoe has also retained Whittle Consulting, of Melbourne, Australia, to conduct an optimization study using as a base the Platreef PFS production schedules, revenues and costs. The Whittle study’s main focus will be on increasing cash flow by enhanced mine scheduling techniques, stope cut-off optimization and the matching of hoisting and milling capacities through the planned, subsequent expansion phases. The study’s recommendations are intended to provide guidance for the feasibility study, which is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2015.