Marikana

The Marikana operations, acquired as part of the Lonmin acquisition, consist of PGM mining and processing operations located on the Western Limb of the Bushveld Complex, 40 km east of the town of Rustenburg, in the North West province of South Africa and smelting and refining operations located in Brakpan, east of Johannesburg.   

As at 30 September 2018, Lonmin had declared 31.2 Moz of 4E PGM mineral reserves and 160.8 Moz of 4E PGM mineral resources. These reserves and resource declarations will be re-evaluated as part of the Sibanye-Stillwater Group at the end of 2019.   

Our priority will be to integrate the Lonmin operations with the existing Sibanye-Stillwater SA PGM operations and deliver cost savings and synergies from the combined operations and processing, smelting and refining facilities. This will include ensuring that the ongoing economic viability of the Marikana operations is consistent with the regulatory conditions related to the acquisition as well as complying with other regulatory requirements, including delivery of appropriate social and labour plans for those operations.

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  We acquired the Lonmin operations on 10 June 2019 on the closing of an all-share offer for Lonmin plc valued at R4.3 billion (US$ 288 million) at a 1:1 share ratio on the day. The Lonmin assets also included the Precious Metals Refinery located near the town of Brakpan in the east of Johannesburg, the Limpopo and Loskop PGM projects, located on the eastern limb of the Bushveld complex, and the Akanani PGM project, located on the northern limb of the Bushveld complex.

  The completion of the Lonmin transaction constituted the fourth step in the implementation of our strategy to become an integrated, mine-to-market producer of PGMs in South Africa.

  The Marikana operations comprise four steady state Generation 2 shafts (namely K3, Saffy, Rowland/MK2 and E3 including Pandora), four depleting Generation 1 shafts (namely 4B, Hossy, W1 and E1), six concentrators, a smelter with five furnaces, a Base Metals Smelter (BMR) and associated additional processing facilities, including a bulk tailings retreatment project, and related surface infrastructure and mining rights. The Newman and E2 shafts (Generation 1) were placed on care and maintenance in 2017, while W1 and E1 shafts are close to the end of their reserve lives and mining is currently taking place in remnant areas. Contractor miners currently operate at these shafts and are responsible for all the costs associated with them.

  UG2 Reef and the Merensky reefs are mined simultaneously and are accessed via shallow incline and deep vertical shafts. The majority of ore at Marikana is extracted via conventional down-dip and breast stoping, while the balance is mined by a hybrid method which combines mechanised and conventional mining methods. Mining operations are also carried out at the Bulk Tailings Retreatment Project, which was commissioned in February 2018.

  The concentrate produced at the concentrators is dispatched to smelters where a sulphide-rich matte is produced for further processing at the BMR. At the BMR, base metals (nickel and copper) are removed and the resulting PGM-rich residue is sent to the Precious Metals Refinery at Brakpan for final treatment and production of the final precious metal products.