Impala Platinum confirmed today (4th December) that platinum output at its Marula mine increased by five per cent during the 2009 financial year.

A total of 74,000 oz was produced in concentrate at the South African facility, although the company revealed that it was disappointed with the final figure.

Operations at the mine were impacted over the 12-month period by a combination of new teams being introduced to the conventional section, safety stoppages and industrial action.

In addition, the world's second-largest platinum producer announced that 1.57 million tonnes were milled, which represented a slight rise from the 2008 financial year.

However, this total also fell short of Impala's targets, mainly due to a lack of adequate on-reef development, which subsequently caused mining flexibility to be limited.

"The mine started as a mechanised operation in 2002. However, the reef was not conducive to this mining method and the decision was taken to convert to conventional mining," CEO David Brown told Mining Weekly.

"At the same time, the decision was also taken to move from contractor mining to in-house mining. Our focus on building relationships with local communities and to instil a work ethic in the local workforce has also hampered the ramp-up of this mine."

Mr Brown added that the company expects further challenges in the 2010 financial year but explained that the full annual production of 125,000 oz should be achieved by 2015.

Impala Platinum produced 1.7 million ounces of platinum in the 2009 financial year, which represents approximately 25 per cent of global supply.

Source:

Changes implemented to tackle challenges at Marula (04/12/09)

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