Aquarius Platinum has revealed that its pgm production may be significantly reduced in the 2011 financial year due to a major mine closure.

The world's fourth-largest platinum producer claims on its official website that it plans to increase output during the 12-month period to about 120,000 oz pgm.

However, it has now announced that it may need to shut down its Blue Ridge mine in South Africa for up to seven months to carry out safety and efficiency improvements.

The mine was only purchased last year in a joint venture with Imbani Platinum but requires fundamental redevelopment and changes to senior personnel.

Aquarius decided to conduct a safety review at Blue Ridge after experiencing two fatalities in the quarter to the end of June.

The subsequent stoppages, ordered by inspectors who paid eight visits to the site, saw 22 production days lost and the mine's pgm output falling by a third to 10,202 oz for the quarter.

Aquarius has also had safety issues at the 4 Shaft of its Marikana mine - a joint venture with Anglo Platinum - where five miners died in a rock fall on 6th July.

Meanwhile, Northam Platinum has revealed that the closure of its Zondereinde mine last week has caused it to lose about 1,500 oz in platinum output every day.

In an interview with Reuters, spokeswoman Marion Brower revealed that operations would not resume until the ongoing investigation into the fall of ground incident is concluded.

"The mine is still not operational since the accident last week," she told the news provider.

Sources:



Aquarius Platinum May Close Mine For Up to 7 Months (29/07/10)



Northam output down 1,500oz/day after mine closure (29/07/10)

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