South Africa's Mogalakwena Platinum Mine Resource Life Potential Exceeds 300 Years

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 16, Valterra Platinum disclosed that its Mogalakwena platinum group metals mine in Limpopo Province, South Africa, has approximately 285 million ounces of 4E inclusive mineral resources. The company's current long-term 6E metal production target for the mine is 900,000 to 1 million ounces per year, which, based on the existing resource scale, corresponds to a resource development potential of more than 300 years.

Mogalakwena primarily develops the Platreef orebody on the northern limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, currently producing platinum group metals via large-scale open-pit mining, with associated copper, nickel and gold. The ratio of platinum to palladium in the orebody is close to 1:1, and it also contains relatively high proportions of copper, nickel and gold. The company disclosed that nearly 70% of its gold production comes from Mogalakwena, at close to 100,000 ounces per year.

Valterra's 2025 mineral resources and ore reserves report shows that the ore reserve life corresponding to Mogalakwena's existing approved open-pit life-of-mine plan is 85 years, a decrease of 1 year from 86 years in 2024. The mine's current mining right term runs to 2040, and the company plans to apply for an extension at an appropriate stage. The above 85 years is on the basis of existing ore reserves and the approved mine plan, which is a different basis from the more than 300 years of resource development potential corresponding to the 285 million ounces of inclusive mineral resources.

Mogalakwena's 2025 platinum group metals production was approximately 948,000 ounces. The company maintains production through open-pit optimization, improving concentrator processing efficiency, reducing concentrate quality pull rates, and processing low-grade ore stockpiles. In the second quarter of 2026, Mogalakwena's platinum group metals production was 228,900 ounces, down 2% year-on-year, mainly affected by lower processing volumes after the Baobab concentrator lease expired at the end of 2025.

Valterra is advancing the Sandsloot underground mine project at Mogalakwena. The project is located beneath the former Sandsloot open pit. The pre-feasibility study has been completed and it has now entered the feasibility study stage. The company plans to complete the study and make a final investment decision in the first half of 2027. After the project's first phase is approved, it plans to increase Mogalakwena's production by 10% to 20% before 2030.

As of the latest disclosure, the Sandsloot underground project has completed more than 10 kilometers of underground roadway development and approximately 52 kilometers of exploration drilling, and has built up a bulk ore sample stockpile of approximately 80,000 tonnes. In full-year 2025, approximately 3.2 kilometers of underground development was completed, and the 80,000-tonne ore sample is planned for processing tests in 2026 to provide metallurgical and ore characterization data for the feasibility study.

The Sandsloot underground mine targets an ore grade of approximately 4 to 6 grams per tonne, and plans to use long-hole open stoping with remote-controlled loading equipment. Some of the tailings generated from underground mining will be used for backfilling mined-out areas. The company previously disclosed that after the Sandsloot underground project enters the development stage, medium-term capital investment is expected to be approximately 1.5 billion to 2.5 billion rand per year.

Mogalakwena's underground development also includes the South and Central areas. Valterra's mineral resources report shows that Sandsloot is in the feasibility study stage, while the Mogalakwena South and Central underground resources are currently in the concept study stage. The existing open pit and the Sandsloot underground project will form Mogalakwena's subsequent mine development system.