Eland Platinum has announced that open-pit mining has begun at its Elandsfontein project in South Africa.

The platinum mining company's Managing Director, David Salter, told Mining Weekly that Eland had secured the rights to land on the western limb of the Bushveld Complex in South Africa at the end of December last year.

The granting of rights to the land was unusually quick, according to Mining Weekly - a factor put down to accurate planning of the application by Mr Salter.

However, Mr Salter admitted that his company's fund-raising efforts for the project were "not going perfectly", with delays in financing currently being experienced.

The company also plans to have 600,000 tonnes of platinum ore stockpiled at Elandsfontein by the time its concentrator comes on line at the end of the year.

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