Eastern Platinum reaches agreement with Investec Bank to restart operations

Investec Bank and Eastern Platinum Mine have reached an agreement for working capital purposes and the mining company has announced the news.

Eastern Platinum says the agreement with Investec Bank is a bid to fund the restart of the Zandfontein underground section of its flagship Crocodile River Mine, located near Brits, North West.

According to the group’s statement, Eastern Platinum said the maximum size of the credit facility is R150 million and the interest rate is subject to the credit quality of the platinum group metals (PGM) off-taker on an annual basis.

The Canadian and JSE-listed group, Eastern Platinum, said the finance facility provided by Investec Bank includes a renewable 12-month revolving commodity finance facility secured by platinum group metal production from the tailings storage facility at the Crocodile River Mine.

“The finance facility will also provide guaranteed prices through a fixed-price swop hedge overlay on platinum, palladium, rhodium, and gold (4E) minerals,” the group said.

The mining company will also receive an immediate payout on the platinum group metals concentrate delivery date where its operations at the Crocodile River Mine include re-mining and processing its tailings resource to produce PGM.

On behalf of the mining company, CEO and president of Eastern Platinum Wanjin Yang thanked Investec Bank. 

“We thank Investec for its support and commitment to Eastplats. We look forward to working with Investec as we restart the Zandfontein underground section and develop our eastern limb projects. This facility is a result of the hard work of our respective teams over the past several months,” he said.

As per a report by IOL, Eastplats directly and indirectly owns a number of platinum group metals and chrome assets in South Africa. 

On top of that, all the company’s properties are situated on the western and eastern limbs of the Bushveld Complex. 

“Eastplats stopped production at its Crocodile River Mine at the end of July 2013 due to the stagnant global economic outlook, weak PGM pricing, and hostile labour relations,” reports the publication.

“It resumed operations in 2018 at its chrome facilities and is processing platinum group metals from the same processing circuit. In its latest results, released last month, Eastplats said its revenue for the second quarter of 2022 increased to $20.5 million, representing a 2.5% increase.

“Mine operating income increased by 25.2% to $4.2m, resulting in an improved gross margin of 20.3% from 16.6% in the previous year.”

Meanwhile, the mining group announced it would also continue prospecting and assessment work in relation to the Zandfontein, Crocette, and Spitzkop ore bodies.

Main Image: Eastern Platinum Mine/EastPlats