Sylvania Resources announced that construction for the production of the Lannex and Elandsdrift-Mooinooi plants is on schedule. The platinum producer is set to begin production by the end of this year when the R320 million project is completed.

Last month, the firm also announced that it had ramped up production at its Millsell and Steelpoort plants. According to Louis Carroll, the Executive Director of the firm, they were needed to boost production to the level the company required. Sylvania Resources plans to produce 70,000 oz of platinum by 2010.

Platinum Australia revealed that its drilling programme on the Kalahari Platinum project identified further wide zones of target grade mineralisation. A statement from the company revealed the findings were uncovered in the Crux and Orion Deposits, as well as the Mira Prospect. John Lewins, Managing Director of the firm, said that the inspection at the "Crux Gap" revealed one of the best areas of mineralisation on the project. He was also pleased with the results from Mira, which is increasing confidence in the continuity of mineralisation.

Anglo Platinum and Schneider Electric formed a strategic partnership to collaborate the development of manufacturing execution systems. Mining Weekly reported that the three-year deal will see the two firms develop a manufacturing execution system solution for the minerals processing industry. The software will be delivered through Ampla, which will be deployed to help Anglo Platinum increase production for the world-wide demand for platinum. It will focus on modelling, event integration, operational analysis, metal balance, maintenance management, production planning, plant scheduling, genealogy and energy management.

Nevoro's acquisition of the issues and outstanding shares of Aurora Platinum Exploration was completed during June. The move will see Nevoro acquire the Stillwater Project, which has potential for platinum group metal exploration.

At the end of the month, Platmin announced an off-take agreement between its Pilanesberg platinum mines and Northam Platinum. As part of the agreement, Northam Platinum will provide smelting and refining facilities for the Pilanesberg mine, which is currently under construction. About 75 per cent of the plant capital expenditure has been committed. It could produce production of 250,000 oz of platinum group metals by mid to late 2009.

Nkwe Platinum has increased the resource at its Eerste Geluk and Nooitverwacht properties by 64 per cent to 20.4 million ounces. According to reports from Mining Weekly, the company is now renaming the properties to call them the Tubatse platinum group metals project. A statement from the firm said that assays from the 30 boreholes drilled at the project showed a UG2 grade of 8.17g/t of platinum group metals.