Platinum refiner Braemore Resources announced yesterday (12th November) that it has secured two offtake agreements with Anglo Platinum and Northam Platinum.

The deals are particularly significant as they guarantee that the company will have PGM concentrate feed supply to its 3.2MW ConRoast smelter in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The smelter furnace - which could produce around 70,000 oz PGM per year - was fully commissioned at the end of last month and will hit top capacity after a 24-hour shutdown for inspection on Saturday.

Braemore CEO Leon Coetzer explained that the deals will advance the company's strategy to become a PGM producer, while also advancing the establishment of South Africa's first independent, black-empowered smelter.

He said: "The utilisation by these major producers of Braemore's expanded smelter to process high-chrome concentrates is a significant endorsement of the ConRoast technology.

"Northam Platinum produces limited quantities of a high chrome content PGM concentrate and this technology will increase their operational flexibility."

ConRoast is ground-breaking in the sense that, unlike conventional smelters, it is not affected by the high chrome-content ores that are now being increasingly mined.



Source:

Braemore gets offtake deals for platinum group metals smelter (12/11/08)
Braemore Resources (11/11/08)
http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/3424/amplats-and-northam-commit-to-braemore-resourcess-conroast-3424.html