| Rustenburg Section (managed – 100% owned) |
| SAFETY |
| Regrettably, Rustenburg experienced 16 fatalities during
2007. The majority (12) of these incidents occurred in
the first half of the year. In June 2007, a comprehensive
safety intervention programme was launched. This
initiative was focused on employees' attention to safety
and that only safe production would be accepted in
future. The safety performance improved substantially
after the shaft interventions and associated safety
improvement initiatives. Due to poor safety
performances in the first half of 2007, the lost-time
injury frequency rate deteriorated from 2.30 in 2006
to 2.53 in 2007. |
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| PRODUCTION |
Equivalent refined platinum ounces declined by 20%
from 2006 to 665,400 ounces in 2007. This decline
highlights the difficult year the mine experienced.
Contractor labour activism resulted in many production
interruptions. Following the spate of fatalities in the first
half of 2007, a decision was taken to 'stop and fix'
Rustenburg. This entailed stopping production at each
of the five shafts on the lower mine for seven days. The
ramp-up in production following the shaft closures took
longer than anticipated and production levels dropped
in the second half of the year. A decision was also taken
in November to suspend operations at Turffontein shaft
and rehabilitate some of the shaft steel work.
Consequently this shaft will not be producing until the
second quarter of 2008.
Output from UG2 ore sources increased from 63% to
69%, impacting on 4E built-up head grades which
reduced to 3.98 g/t from 4.26 g/t reported in 2006. The
immediately available ore reserves have declined by
26% to 11.8 months due to the suspension of
development activities during the safety intervention. |
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| Noel Williams |
Peter van Dorssen |
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| COSTS |
| Total cash on-mine costs increased by 22% to
R5.7 billion, due to increased labour complement in
anticipation of higher production, above-inflation wage increases, increased primary and
secondary support costs and costs
associated with the safety initiatives
and rehabilitation of working areas.
With lower production, the cash onmine
unit cost per equivalent platinum
ounce increased by 53% to R8,517. Cash
on-mine cost per tonne milled increased by
42% to R532 in 2007. |
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| CAPITAL EXPENDITURE |
| Total capital expenditure increased to R2.2 billion in
2007, due to the Frank shaft clusters, Paardekraal No 2
shaft and the Townlands Ore Replacement projects. |
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| OUTLOOK |
| The primary focus at Rustenburg is to ensure all
working places are safe. The mine will continue to focus
on the development of the ore body to increase
immediately available reserves, thereby lifting the current
production constraint. The Turffontein shaft, closed in
the latter stages of 2007, is expected to return to
production during quarter two of 2008. With the
rehabilitation of shaft infrastructure, the shaft will be
able to return to full production. |
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