Impala Platinum and Zimplats to go ahead with Mupani underground mine
Impala Platinum subsidiary Zimplats will invest $264m in Zimbabwe to develop a new underground mine to replace two depleted mines in that country. Zimbabwe, which has the second-largest known platinum deposits after SA, is a difficult place to make investment decisions, with the cash-strapped government placing numerous demands on the company and forcing through policies that damage investor confidence. Zimplats, a Sydney-listed company that is 87% owned by SA’s Implats, opted to make the investment after the completion of a bankable feasibility study into the new 25-year Mupani mine that will keep output from Zimbabwe at a steady 260,000oz of platinum and 220,000oz of palladium a year, replacing the Rukodzi and Ngwarati mines. The internally funded 2.2-million tonnes a year mine will add 3-million ounces of platinum to Zimplats’s 6-million ounces of reserves and it will reach steady state production by 2025 after the first mining teams are sent underground in January 2021. Zimplats...
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