1st Quarter Production Report
November 17 2010 - 9:15AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMIPLA
Impala Platinum Holdings Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration No. 1957/001979/06)
ISIN: ZAE000083648
JSE Share Code : IMP
LSE Share Code : IPLA
ADR Code : IMPUY
("Implats" or "the Company")
IMPLATS FIRST QUARTER PRODUCTION REPORT FOR PERIOD 01 JULY TO 30 SEPTEMBER 2010
Operational information Unaudited Unaudited
Quarter ended Quarter ended
30 September 10 30 September 09
Implats Gross Refined
Production
Platinum 000oz 441 413
Palladium 000oz 285 266
Rhodium 000oz 57 63
Nickel 000tonne 3.76 3.48
Impala
Tonnes Milled 000 3 979 2 997
Grade (6E) g/t 4.66 4.61
% Merensky (Ex underground) 42% 41%
Refined Platinum Production 000oz 251 180
Marula
Tonnes Milled 000 437 393
Grade (6E) g/t 4.32 4.41
Platinum in Concentrate 000oz 20 19
Zimplats
Tonnes Milled 000 1 043 869
Grade (6E) g/t 3.56 3.52
Platinum in Matte 000oz 44 36
Mimosa
Tonnes Milled 000 594 577
Grade (6E) g/t 3.91 3.86
Platinum in Concentrate 000oz 27 26
IRS
Refined Platinum Production 000oz 190 233
Prices Achieved
Platinum $/oz 1 528 1 211
Palladium $/oz 470 260
Rhodium $/oz 2 286 1 509
Nickel $/tonne 19 100 16 330
Average exchange rate R/$ 7.41 7.82
SAFETY
Regrettably, three of our employees lost their lives at work during the first
quarter of FY2011. Two of these incidents occurred at Impala Rustenburg, one
due to a fall-of-ground, the other the result of material handling. The third
followed an explosives incident at Mimosa in which one of our contractor
employees was injured and who later passed away in hospital. The Board and
management team extend their sincere sympathies to the families, friends and
colleagues of these employees.
The challenge the group continues to face is changing the safety behaviour of
all employees. Du Pont Sustainable Solutions have been contracted to assist our
Rustenburg and Marula operations with the introduction of a new Behaviour Based
Safety System. Key to this is zero tolerance for unlawful behaviour and
violations of the safety rules by all levels within the company and the
empowerment of employees to stop unsafe work places and practices.
PRODUCTION
Gross platinum production rose by 7% compared to the first quarter a year ago
to 441 000 ounces due to increased production from Impala and Zimplats.
Palladium production increased in line with platinum, but rhodium fell by 10%
as the pipeline in both the BMR and PMR were restocked during the period.
Impala
At Impala Rustenburg tonnes milled improved by 33% and platinum production
improved by 39% to 251 000 ounces. In the previous comparable quarter 70 000
ounces were lost due to the strike action and the major safety incident at 14
Shaft. The amount of Merensky ore milled continues to be impacted by limited
face availability at the major shafts. However, improvements in both headgrade
and yield have benefited production.
The focus at the operation remains on on-reef development at current shafts and
main development at the project shafts. Number 20 Shaft is on track for first
reef production early in the new year. The start of equipping at 16 Shaft and
first level development at 17 Shaft are scheduled to commence in the first half
of 2011. Impala is on track to produce 940 000 ounces of platinum for the full
year.
Marula
Production at Marula continues to be hampered by constrained mining
flexibility. While tonnes milled rose by 11%, a marginal decline in headgrade
as a result of increased on-reef development coupled with lower recoveries
resulted in platinum production only rising by 5% to 20 000 ounces of platinum
in concentrate.
Zimplats
Zimplats' platinum production in matte was up 22% in line with a 20% increase
in tonnes milled. This is reflective of the ramp up of the Phase 1 expansion
and the commissioning of the new concentrator which occurred in September 2009.
The Phase 2 expansion project has commenced with the earthworks for the Portal
3 boxcut scheduled for completion in the second quarter of FY2011. This project
will take production to 270 000 ounces of platinum by 2013.
Mimosa
Mimosa achieved a marginal improvement in tonnes milled which resulted in
record quarterly platinum in concentrate production of 27 000 ounces. The
operation is running at steady-state production of 100 000 ounces of platinum
in concentrate per annum.
IRS
IRS' refined platinum production declined by 19% quarter on quarter due to the
timing of a portion of deliveries. These deliveries will be processed in the
second quarter.
17 November 2010
Johannesburg
Issued by sponsor: Deutsche Securities (SA) (Proprietary) Limited
END
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