Ivanhoe says majority of locals support Platreef

When Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) eventually starts cranking out an estimated 785,000 ounces of platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold from at its Platreef project in South Africa, the underground operation 280 km northeast of Johannesburg will be Africa’s lowest cost producer of platinum group metals, the company says.

Based on the findings of a preliminary economic assessment completed in March, the project in the heart of South Africa's Bushveld Complex will rank at the bottom of the cash cost curve at US$341 per oz of platinum, palladium, rhodium (3PE) and gold, net of by-product base metal credits of nickel and copper. (Platreef has the highest concentration of base metals among Africa's platinum group metals producers, according to the company.)

Since the release of the PEA, the company has pushed ahead with the project and in early September signed off on an agreement giving a combined 26% of Platreef’s ownership to 20 host communities, plus employees and local entrepreneurs, under a broad based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) structure.

Read the complete article at NorthernMiner.com/news/ivanhoe