Ivanhoe Mines achieves breakthrough in Platreef polymetallic complex discovery

Ivanhoe Mines, a Canadian mining and exploration company known for several high-profile discoveries, has driven underground development into the high-grade Platreef orebody for the first time. The company’s Executive Co-Chair Robert Friedland and President and Chief Executive Officer Marna Cloete detailed the breakthrough, with mining crews entering the orebody at the 850-metre level with the first blast of high-grade ore in early May. This announcement comes in advance of commercial production, which is slated to begin later this year.

Ivanplats, a subsidiary of the company, first acquired an exploration license 30 years ago, making the initial discovery of the 26-metre-thick Platreef orebody 15 years later. The sinking of Shaft 1 was initiated in 2016, and it reached a depth of 996 metres in 2021. In the period since, 5.5 kilometres of tunnelling has been constructed at three levels: 750, 850 and 950 metres. The latest news comes in the immediate aftermath of the Phase 2 and Phase 3 technical studies, which were carried out earlier this year.

The Platreef Project is located around 280 kilometres northeast of Johannesburg, in close proximity to Mokopane, a town in South Africa’s Limpopo Province. The deposit itself is formed on the Northern Limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, the largest layered igneous intrusion within the earth’s crust.

Platreef has a unique polymetallic orebody, characterized by its thickness, high grade and flat-lying orientation, and is set to produce platinum, palladium, rhodium, nickel, gold and copper. There are 93 million ounces in Indicated Platinum Equivalent Mineral Resources of platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold at 1.0 g/t cut off, and 144 million ounces in Inferred Platinum Equivalent Mineral Resources.

Friedland commented that the latest breakthrough “represents the culmination of over 30 years of relentless dedication by thousands of our talented and hardworking people… Their efforts have spanned decades, from the early stages of discovery to meticulous delineation, permitting, engineering… and now the construction of this world-class polymetallic mining complex that will benefit humanity for generations.”

Phase 1 production is likely to get underway in Q4, with ore to be hoisted to the Phase 1 concentrator at the surface by Shaft 1 – currently the only access to the three underground mining levels, which are located at 750, 850 and 950 metres below ground. Construction is ongoing on Shaft 2, which will become Africa’s largest hoisting shaft when its diameter is expanded to 10 metres in early 2026. The second shaft is designed to provide for over 12 million tonnes per annum in overall hoisting capacity. Ivanhoe Mines has set its sights on mechanized bulk mining methods, which are safe and highly productive, achieving superior economies of scale.

Ivanhoe Mines held an initial IPO in 2012, and is registered on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: IVN) and the US-based OTCQX market (IVPAF). It holds a 64% operating interest in the mine through Ivanplats, while 10% is owned by Japan-based ITOCHU Corporation. The remaining 26% belongs to the B-BBEE Partners (broad-based, black economic empowerment partners) consortium, which represents 150,000 local residents living across 20 communities in South Africa, along with employees working at the project and local entrepreneurs. Ivanhoe is also focused on several other projects in Southern Africa, including the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex and the ultra-high-grade Kipushi Zinc Mine, both of which are located in the DRC.

Source: ivanhoemines.com