Rock on

Production of platinum group metals (PGMs) and nickel in South Africa is revving up.

African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) is spending ZAR15.2 billion to upgrade the plant at its Bokoni PGMs operation in Limpopo and is also investing US$46 million to restart mining at the Nkomati open-cast nickel mine in Mpumalanga.

According to Reuters, the phased expansion of the Bokoni plant will involve adding a new 120 000 ton per month PGMs concentrator to the existing 60 000 ton per month plant, which will also be refurbished.

The new plant is expected to come on line by 2030, and ARM expects the project to reach steady state in 2032, with annual output of up to 400 000 ounces of PGMs.

ARM projects that the restarted Nkomati nickel mine and plant, which entered care and maintenance in 2021, will produce more than 56 000 tons of nickel concentrate annually.

ARM is backing PGMs, used in catalytic converters to curb vehicle emissions, despite the trend towards battery-powered electric vehicles.