Jubilee Platinum plc is a mining exploration and development company with a primary focus on platinum group elements (PGE). Jubilee also has various operational exposures to ferroalloys and chromite. Through recent acquisitions, the Company has added PGE and ferroalloy smelting and refining to its capability.
Jubilee’s corporate mission in the metals industry is straightforward. The Company aims to create an integrated mine-to-metals company with a primary focus on platinum. This mission is based on modern and thoroughly-proven smelting technology to process the Company’s own and other’s high-chrome PGE concentrates and, importantly, to improve mining environments by reprocessing mine tailings dumped by other miners.
The Company’s prime asset in South Africa is the Tjate platinum project, in which it has a 63% beneficial interest. The project’s exploration area is judged to host the world’s largest undeveloped block of defined platinum ore, covering some 5,140 hectares to a potential target of some 65 million oz (41 million oz attributable) of PGEs and gold, net of geological losses.
Tjate Platinum Corporation (Pty) Ltd (Tjate), received a formal offer from a major mining company to acquire the Quartzhill farm portion of its Tjate Platinum Project for ZAR75 million (c.£5.95 million at current exchange rates) in cash.
In October 2009, Jubilee acquired Braemore Resources plc, which holds an exclusive licence to the ConRoast process for the smelting of high chrome-bearing PGE concentrates and has acquired extensive process development expertise. Jubilee’s first goal is to complete the establishment of commercial ConRoast operations to recover platinum group metals from difficult-to-treat concentrates, residues and tailings.
To this end the Company has letter of intent from Northam Platinum Ltd (Northam) to sole fund and establish a commercial ConRoast plant at its mine operations. Jubilee will have proportional rights to smelt its own platinum concentrates in the plant at no charge. A one-off upfront fee is payable by Northam for the right to use the ConRoast process.
Jubilee has a 70% interest in Power Alt (Pty) Ltd, which owns the on-site 11MW gas-fired electricity generation plant at the Company's Middelburg smelter (Smelter). Power Alt has a contract to supply 5.1MW of power to the national electricity utility company (worth an estimated ZAR12.4 million (GBP970 000 at current exchange rates) in annual sales, for an initial trial period of four months. The 5.1MW power is surplus to current requirements of the Smelter. More surplus power may become available pending on-going review of the operating costs of the older Smelter furnaces.
Jubilee has been awarded the right to recover PGEs contained in the dumped and current tailings (Tailings) of the Dilokong Chrome Mine (DCM) in the eastern Bushveld. In this regard, the Company has concluded a formal agreement, with Corridor Mining Resources (Pty) Ltd, who holds the PGE mining rights. The Tailings, which are estimated at 800,000 tonnes, are believed to assay between 3.5 and 4.0 g/t PGEs and to contain between 90,000 and 100,000 ozs PGEs.
The Company, through its subsidiary Pollux Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd has entered into an exclusive agreement with Phokathaba Platinum (Pty) Ltd, (Phokathaba) a subsidiary of ASX-listed Platinum Australia Limited (PAL) to toll process the Tailings for recovery of PGEs and Chrome using the concentrator nearby DCM on PAL’s Smokey Hills mine. The exclusive period of use is for 8 months with the option to extend the period on a non-exclusive basis.
The Company has entered into binding and exclusive memorandum of understanding and agreement respectively to acquire an interest in a PGE- bearing farm located in the western Bushveld and for the option to purchase platinum-bearing surface assets existing on various mining claims in Zimbabwe. The farm includes a PGE-bearing chromite tailings dump estimated to contain a minimum of 500,000 tonnes of material.
In Australia, Jubilee is evaluating the recovery of nickel from the tailings of the Leinster mine in Western Australia. The Company has rights through a tailings supply agreement with BHP-Billiton (BHPB) to test and, if appropriate, to process the nickel tailings from BHPB’s Leinster mine and conditionally thereafter, from its Kambalda and Mount Keith operations.
In Madagascar, the Company’s main asset is the nickel-copper-PGE Ambodilafa project located 160km south east of the capital Antananarivo. The project area also includes a 6 km long high intensity aeromagnetic anomaly related to iron ore, which has been sampled in outcrop. The Company has entered into a Farm-In-Agreement on this prospect with Australian incorporated (unlisted) Indian Pacific Resources Limited (IPR). Under the terms of the agreement IPR can earn in up to a 90% interest with the Company having participation rights. Iron ore is not focal to the Company’s operations.
Jubilee is dedicated to sustainable and socially responsible development and, as a company, ensures its projects adhere to the highest environmental standards. The Company is also a firm proponent for the role of foreign direct investment as a key form of social development in developing African countries.