| A growing number of joint ventures |
| The Group continued to develop expansion
projects and replace depleted Ore Reserves
in line with its long-term growth profile. The
project portfolio includes a growing number
of joint venture arrangements, such as the
Kroondal and Marikana pooling-and-sharing
agreements between RPM and Aquarius, as
well as the Modikwa phase 2 replacement,
Mototolo, Union, Lebowa and Booysendal
projects. |
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The Board approved the following major
projects in 2007: Townlands ore replacement
project, Union 4B and 4 South declines,
Union Spud UG2 conversion project, the
Base Metals Refinery expansion project and
the Mainstream Inert Grind projects at
various operations.
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 The implementation of Anglo Platinum's extensive
portfolio of mining and processing projects to maintain
and expand production, continues and are generally on
schedule and within budget. |
| Sean Chelius |
|
Three fatal incidents and 67 lost-time injuries occurred
within projects during the year. Managed project hours
worked totalled 30.5 million for 2007, with an LTIFR
of 0.44 down from 0.67 in 2006 for greenfields and
brownfields projects. Many projects worked the full year
without a single LTI. Greenfields projects achieved an
LTIFR of 0.13, an outstanding achievement. As part of
the greater Anglo American safety improvement plan,
the projects division has embarked on an enhanced
safety improvement plan to address the situation and
remains committed to our safety vision of zero harm.
The current commodity cycle and the economic
growth in South Africa has placed major demands on
project skills worldwide and this has had a major impact
on resourcing project teams.
Details of the brownfields projects are included under
the respective operational reports, while this section
only details the remaining major projects. |
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| MINING PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT |
| Pandora venture with Lonmin, Mvelaphanda
Resources and the Bapo Ba Mogale tribe |
| As per the strategy agreed by the partners in 2005 to
proceed with a phased implementation of the project, a
small-scale mining approach was implemented in 2006, while continuing with further
investigations on rescoping the project.
The small-scale mining approach was
based on continued development and
stoping in Lonmin's No 3 decline, and
the start of an opencast section. In 2007,
310,000 tonnes were mined from
Lonmin's No 3 incline and 560,000 tonnes
from the opencast mining operation. Ore is sold
to Lonmin until the concentrator is built, which is
part of the rescoping/pre-feasibility study under way.
The venture approved funding to proceed with a
pre-feasibility study. This work started in 2006 and is
expected to be concluded in the first half of 2008. It is
currently anticipated that further development in
Lonmin's No 3 decline will continue in parallel with the
study work. |
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| Ga-Phasha PGM project |
The joint venture will exploit PGM resources on the
farms Klipfontein 465KS and Paschaskraal 466KS
contributed by Rustenburg and the farms Avoca 472KS
and De Kamp 507KS contributed by the Department
of Minerals and Energy on behalf of Pelawan.
The successful conclusion of the BEE transactions
announced on 4 September 2007 would result in Anglo
Platinum selling an additional 1% interest in Ga-Phasha
to Anooraq to give Anooraq control of the asset.
Current project work will continue as normal until the
transaction is finalised by mid-2008. |
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| Der Brochen |
The 2006 pre-feasibility study at Der
Brochen Platinum Mine, 100% owned
by Anglo Platinum, was
extended to
develop the
g e o l o g i c a l
model further.
The updated prefeasibility
study was
submitted for internal
review during the
last quarter of
2007.
A bulk sample of the
Merensky reef has
been mined via one
of the existing audits
on the Richmond
property to further
define characteristics,
including recovery potential of the reef. Ongoing site activities include
additional infill exploration drilling aimed at optimising
mining plans. |
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| Booysendal Joint Venture |
| The review of the pre-feasibility study was delayed
while the geological model was developed further. The
successful conclusion of the BEE transactions announced
in September 2007 would result in the Anglo Platinum
Group selling its remaining 50% interest in Booysendal
to Mvela Resources. |
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| Central and Eastern Limb water supply |
| The Central and Eastern Limb is currently in
developmental phase and needs substantial volumes of
water to meet the envisaged development profile. The
following infrastructure needs to be developed by
government and its agencies: Richmond Dam and
Olifants River Water Resource Development project,
including a new pipeline from the Flag Boshielo Dam to
Pruissen Reservoir. In addition, the Group is looking at
securing additional effluent water from both Polokwane
and Mogalakwena municipalities for PPRust to alleviate
the load on fresh water sources. |
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| Unki |
This project is situated near Gweru, on
Zimbabwe's Great Dyke. Unki is planned
as a 120,000 tonne per month operation.
The mine and the concentrator have the
potential to be further expanded in
future. The mine uses a mechanised
trackless bord-and-pillar mining method.
Two declines have been designed, one
for people-and-materials and one for a
conveyor to extract ore mined. Both
declines will be developed on-reef
with strike belts from the seven
production sections transferring ore
directly onto the main decline conveyor.
The concentrator design has made
provision for capacity expansion with
minimal capital, and is based on a standard MF2
circuit. A tailings dam will be built approximately
one kilometre from the concentrator. Concentrate
produced at Unki Mine will be transported to the
Polokwane Smelter.
Development of underground declines is ahead of
schedule. The orebody was intercepted in September
2007 and stockpiling has started. The design of the
120,000 tonne per month concentrator plant is under
way. The project achieved 2 million fatality-free manhours
in October 2007.
The project is still subject to certain regulatory and
fiscal approvals, and negotiations continue with the
Zimbabwean government.
The initial approved capital has been used for design
work, on-site infrastructure implementation, securing
long-lead time equipment and initial mine
development. |
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