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Ivanhoe mulls possible Platreef opportunities from Sibanye shaft closures

Canadian mining exploration and development company Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. will be looking for opportunities arising out of the closure of three of Sibanye Gold Ltd.'s shafts to further expand its Platreef platinum group metals project in South Africa.

Ivanhoe's president Tony Giardini told investors at a conference in London that development at the Platreef mine was proceeding very well, and the company is now looking at the best way to advance the project. "We are looking at capital allocation and part of that will depend on the changing landscape in the PGM world in South Africa, and whether there will be changes that happen in terms of production facilities and the amount of material produced as a result of the decision by Sibanye Stillwater to close some unprofitable shafts," he said.

Sibanye announced on Sept. 25 that it planned to cut 5,270 jobs and close three unprofitable shafts at its Marikana platinum mines, acquired when it purchased Lonmin Platinum. Sibanye said the retrenchments would have been higher were it not for the recovery of platinum prices.

Ivanhoe's plan for the Platreef project targets significantly lower initial capital to accelerate production by using Shaft 1 as the initial production shaft, he said.

The company received a large cash injection in in the first half when Ivanhoe's largest investor CITIC Metal Company Ltd. invested an additional C$612 million into the mining company, and in May Ivanhoe fetched C$67 million as shareholder Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. exercised its anti-dilution rights at C$3.98 per share. The proceeds, according to Ivanhoe, will be used to advance its Kamoa-Kakula and Kipushi copper projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as the Platreef project.