Northam Platinum is close to completing the acquisition of the Booysendal platinum project, it has been revealed.

According to Damian Smith, Northam Platinum's Chief Geologist, the only obstacle to the deal's completion is shareholder approval, which is expected to be granted in the first week of June.

Acquiring the Booysendal platinum project would help double Northam Platinum's production of platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold to around 700,000 oz a year by 2015.

"The acquisition of Booysendal will grow our resource base six fold and that will give us operations which we can run for more than 50 years," Mr Smith confirmed in an interview with Reuters.

Mr Smith went on to note that the cost of mining in South Africa was rising.

However, these escalating costs are not confined to Northam Platinum, as Mr Smith says other South African producers are also suffering.

"Some of that is due to the weakening of the rand. A lot of prices, for example steel and oil, have been fixed in the dollar and that's resulting in a double digit inflation year on year," he explained.

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