Gemfields to sell its stake in Sedibelo Platinum
LONDON – Gemfields Group, a South African external company incorporated in Guernsey, has commenced a sale process for its 23.65% equity holding in Pallinghurst Ivy Lane Capital, a company incorporated in Luxembourg.
Ivy Lane in turn owns 27.64% of Sedibelo Platinum Mines (SPM) giving Gemfields an effective and indirect interest in SPM of approximately 6.54%. As previously announced, SPM is not considered a core part of Gemfields’ strategy.
SPM is a public (unlisted) company incorporated in Guernsey and owns and operates the Pilanesberg Platinum Mines (PPM) located in South Africa’s Bushveld Igneous Complex.
In its financial year ending 31 December 2019, SPM dispatched and sold approximately 127,000 4E ounces(comprising platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold) and generated EBITDA of approximately USD 13 million.
PPM comprises the operational West Pit (the sole source of reef to date), East Pit (a second reef source due to be commissioned shortly), a world class PGM concentrator, extensive mineral rights holdings on both the Western and Eastern limbs of the BC, and office infrastructure. All Eastern Limb assets are held by either Platmin South Africa or Tameng Mining and Exploration Pty Ltd.
The concentrator, West Pit and the offices are situated on the farm Tuschenkomst. East Pit is situated on the farm Wilgespruit. The Western Limb mineral rights are either on one of these two farms or other contiguous properties. These operations are 80km northwest of Rustenburg.
The design processing and milling capacities of the concentrator are 417ktpm and 285ktpm respectively. The 132ktpm difference is a dense medium separator for upgrading reefs. The two milling streams have design capacities of 220ktpm silicates (pseudo reef package) and 65ktpm for UG2 reef. The mills consistently operate at above design capacity.
Mining (drill, blast, load haul) is outsourced to contractors. PPM manages the concentrator (screen, crush, mill, float, thicken and dry).
In a favourable PGM price environment, PPM could establish underground mining infrastructure and massively expand production. It has established access to about 100MVA of Eskom power plus 25 mega litres per day of water, to fully service such expansion.
