Unki Mine output surges 5pc
Anglo American Platinum’s local unit, Unki Mine, platinum group metals (PGM) production surged by 5 percent to 53 300 ounces in the first quarter to March 31, 2022 compared to the same period last year.
The South African PGMs miner’s Zimbabwe unit is one of three active PGM producers in the country, including Impala Platinum’s 87 percent owned Zimplats and Sibanye Stillwater and Implats 50-50 owned Mimosa.
PGMs and gold represent the biggest exporter earners for Zimbabwe while mining in general generates more than three quarters of the country’s annual export earnings.
Government has designated mining as the engine for short to medium term economic growth and intends to grow the sector’s exports to US$12 billion by 2023.
Anglo’s platinum production rose by 8 percent to 24 500 ounces while palladium output recorded a marginal increase of 2 percent to 20 300 ounces in the period under review.
The group said the concentrator debottlenecking project at Unki Mine was completed in the last quarter of 2021, which increased concentrator capacity by 16 percent.
Increased underground mining and ore stockpile availability led to a 21 percent increase in tonnes milled and further work is planned to increase plant stability, which should lead to an improvement in throughput.
At group level, Anglo’s total PGMs production decreased by 6 percent to 956 000 ounces.
Own-managed mines PGMs production of 529 200 ounces represented a decrease of 11 percent primarily due to lower production from Mogalakwena, which was impacted by heavy rainfall and redirected mining into lower-grade areas, coupled with impact of Covid-19, which affected delivery of equipment, but the impact was partially offset by improved performances at Amandelbult, Mototolo and Unki.
“Whilst seasonally Q1 is generally a lower production quarter, as employees complete medical onboarding following the December break, we saw total PGM production decrease by 6 percent.
“The severe rainfall across South Africa in the first quarter impacted mining activity at Mogalakwena, leading to mining activity being redirected to lower grade areas, as well as utilising low-grade ore stockpiles to offset this headwind.
“This was partially offset by improved performances at Amandelbult, Mototolo and Unki.
We continue to feel the impact of Covid-19, with supply chain disruptions impacting delivery of heavy mining equipment (HME), delaying our ability to drill and develop at Mogalakwena,” said group chief executive officer Natascha Viljoen.
Anglo said refined PGMs production (owned production, excluding tolling) also went down by 26 percent to 718 500 ounces due to more normalised throughput, as the prior year comparable quarter benefited from higher-than-normal work-in-progress inventory following the Anglo Converter Plant (ACP) Phase A rebuild and commissioning in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The group’s PGMs sales volume (from production, excluding sales from trading) decreased by 26 percent to 838 200 ounces in line with lower refined production.
Ms Viljoen added that the planned annual maintenance and the annual stock count resulted in additional downtime of processing assets in the first quarter of 2022 and sales volumes were lower in line with refined production.
The group has revised downwards its production forecasts for the full year 2022.
“The delay in delivery of HME, and with the planned maintenance in the third quarter, we will see an impact on production, with little ability to catch-up in the year.
“In addition, we anticipate lower receipts of third-party purchase of concentrate and as a result, we have conservatively decided to revise down metal-in-concentrate production to 3,9 million to 4,3 million PGM ounces.
“Refined production will therefore also revise down to between 4 million to 4,4 million ounces and our unit cost guidance is revised to between R14,000 to R15,000 per PGM ounce due to lower anticipated production and the continued inflationary pressure on input costs,” she said-The Herald
