Company profile

Northam Platinum Limited (Northam) is the only fully independent, black-owned and controlled integrated platinum group metals (PGM) producer, listed on the JSE Limited (JSE). The company wholly owns and operates the cash-generative Northam platinum mine and metallurgical complex on the western limb of the South African Bushveld Complex, and the 103Moz-resource world class Booysendal platinum asset. The company has a combined resource base of 133Moz (9.2Moz in the reserve category), with more than 50 years life of mine. Booysendal could potentially add some 350,000oz to the Northam mine’s existing annual output of some 300,000oz. As an independent, fully integrated PGM producer, Northam has full control over the entire beneficiation stream of its metals from mine to market.

The existing Northam mine comprises underground workings at an average depth of 1 750 metres. On surface the mine operates two concentrators for treating Merensky and UG2 ore respectively, a smelter and base metals removal plant (BMR). The Northam mine, now at a mature state, produces some 325 000oz (3PGEs + Au) annually.

The Northam mine’s final concentrate is refined at W.C. Heraeus’s new precious metals refinery in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, the Heraeus Refinery South Africa (HRSA) and at its refinery in Hanau, Germany. Northam markets its precious metals to a customer base in South Africa, North America, Europe and Japan.

The independence of Northam’s metal beneficiation stream and marketing channels provides a competitive advantage not readily available to junior platinum companies in South Africa.

The proposed Booysendal project, currently at a pre-feasibility stage of development, contains an estimated resource of 103Moz (3PGE+Au), indicating an extended life of mine. First production at Booysendal is anticipated to start in 2010, doubling the company’s output to some 650 000oz annually by 2013, after which further expansion is envisaged.

The company’s shares are listed on the JSE Limited (JSE).