South Africa-focused Sylvania Platinum’s production target for the financial year (FY) 2025 is expected to range from 73,000 to 76,000 4E platinum group metal (PGM) ounces.
Company chairperson Eileen Carr said this only includes a marginal contribution from the Thaba joint venture as the operation will only commence commissioning in the late third quarter of FY2025.
The Sylvania Dump Operations (SDO), which consists of six chrome beneficiation and PGM processing plants focusing on the retreatment of PGM-rich chrome tailings materials from mines in the Bushveld Igneous Complex, recorded an annual output of 72,704 4E PGM ounces in FY2024.
This was 4% lower than the prior financial year, largely due to the slower-than-expected ramp-up of operations after the wage-related strike action in February 2024 at the company’s Western operations that impacted production at Mooinooi and Millsell.
Sylvania said the slower-than-expected ramp-up was a result of a backlog of maintenance during the strike period due to limited resources at the time, which ultimately resulted in lower plant availabilities and runtime, and process stability on the Mooinooi run of mine (ROM) section.
It said the Western operations have since improved with enhanced maintenance and runtime. At the same time, measures are being implemented to address the lower-grade feed material and related recoveries at affected operations.
“Whilst the PGM prices currently remain subdued, PGMs remain critical to the motor industry for both internal combustion engines and hybrid vehicles and will continue to play their part in the energy transition,” said Carr.
“For these reasons, I think it is shortsighted to write off the future of PGMs and although we may not see the stellar performance of recent years, we are confident that prices will remain at a level that will promote continued profitable production for Sylvania.”
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief, Rough&Polished
