| Marikana Platinum Mine
(non-managed – 50:50 joint venture with Aquarius Platinum South Africa) |
| In 2005, Anglo Platinum and Aquarius Platinum reached
an agreement to mine adjacent properties on their
respective Rustenburg and Marikana mining areas and
entered into agreements establishing the Marikana
unincorporated pooling-and-sharing agreement
(Marikana PSA). This PSA comprises the Marikana
orebody, a concentrator and the No 4 shaft. Production
from the Marikana Section (opencast and underground)
is sold to Impala Platinum in terms of an orebody-based
concentrate offtake agreement, while production from
No 4 shaft is refined by Anglo Platinum. These
agreements are for the life of the Marikana PSA. |
|
|
| SAFETY |
| Regrettably, Marikana reported one fatality for 2007.
The LTIFR improved from 0.43 to 0.33 in 2007. |
| |
| PRODUCTION |
| The Anglo Platinum share of Marikana ramp-up
operating results was reported for the first time in
2006. Marikana continued its ramp-up in 2007 and
delivered 23,200 equivalent refined platinum ounces
attributable to Anglo Platinum from No 4 shaft.
Marikana, as a whole, underdelivered its expected
ramp-up potential in 2007 due to lower recoveries as a
result of increased proportions of opencast material,
lower grades, labour disruptions and similar strike action
to that experienced at Kroondal. The 4E built-up head
grade declined from 3.26 g/t to 3.08 g/t. |
| |
| COSTS |
| The Anglo Platinum share of total cash on-mine costs
increased by 44% to R419 million due to a ramp-up in
production, inflation, higher contractor costs associated
with rate increases following the unprotected strike and
increased development costs. The cash on-mine costs
per tonne milled increased by 5% to R368, while cash
on-mine costs per equivalent platinum ounce increased
by 18% to R10,095. |
| |
| CAPITAL EXPENDITURE |
| Anglo Platinum's share of capital expenditure at
Marikana decreased by 5% to R77 million. |
| |
| OUTLOOK |
| Marikana is set to continue ramping up production
throughout 2008, and the production of equivalent
refined platinum ounces attributable to Anglo Platinum
is expected to increase. Steady-state production of
approximately 74,000 equivalent refined platinum
ounces is expected to be achieved during 2010. |
|
