Implats is confident that it will soon be able to end a bottleneck at its Springs base-metals refinery.

This could potentially lead to an increase in mine-to-market platinum ounces, in line with Implats' intention to lift platinum production to two million ounces a year by 2006.

Chief financial officer David Brown said Impala Platinum Refineries (IRS) has provided a growth path for the company that could not be seen at the end of the last decade.

IRS has become increasingly important for Implats through tollrefining platinum, with toll feeds at the refinery last year in excess of R200 million.

Although toll margins are 15 per cent lower on IRS-refined metals than those mined and processed by Impala, margins are still good.

'The trick in mining is to push as many production units across a fixed-cost asset base, thus reducing units costs', said Mr Brown.