TSX-listed Ivanhoe Mines Executive Co Chairman Robert Friedland and CEO Marna Cloete have announced that mining crews have driven underground development into the high grade platinum, palladium, rhodium, nickel, gold, and copper orebody for the first time, as the mine rapidly advances to commercial production later this year.
The significant milestone comes over 30 years since Ivanplats, the company’s subsidiary, acquired the first exploration licence and 15 years since the discovery of the 26-metre thick, flat-lying Flatreef orebody was announced. The milestone also comes nine years since the initiation of the sinking of Shaft #1. After completing the sinking of Shaft #1 to a depth of 996 metres in 2021, Ivanhoe has completed 5.5 kilometres (over 3.4 miles) of tunnels on three levels; the 750-metre level, 850-metre level, and 950-metre level.
Ivanplats’ mining crews entered the Flatreef orebody on the 850-metre level, with the first blast of high-grade ore on May 7, 2025. Underground development on the 750-metre and 950-metre levels will also enter the Flatreef orebody in the coming weeks. Ore from the ongoing underground development will be stored on surface ahead of the first feed of ore into the Phase 1 concentrator in the fourth quarter of this year.
Construction of Africa’s largest hoisting shaft, Shaft #2, is advancing well. Raiseboring to a depth of 950 metres and an initial diameter of 3.1 metres was completed at the end of the first quarter. Shaft #2’s expansion out to a final diameter of 10 metres will commence in early 2026. In the meantime, construction of the Shaft #2’s concrete and steel headframe is advancing on schedule. The completion of Shaft #2 will increase the total hoisting capacity from the Platreef Mine to over 12 million tonnes per annum (mtpa).
Ivanhoe Mines’ Robert Friedland commented: "Having our thrilled mining crews enter the high-grade Flatreef orebody - rich in platinum, palladium, rhodium, nickel, gold, and copper- represents the culmination of over 30 years of relentless dedication by thousands of our talented and hardworking people. Their efforts have spanned decades, from the early stages of discovery to meticulous delineation, permitting, engineering and now the construction of this world-class polymetallic mining complex that will benefit humanity for generations. Contrary to predictions that the Platreef Mine might not be built; the mine is now a reality. This colossal mine will grow in rapidly-phased expansions, positioning the Platreef Mine as one of the lowest-cost, if not the lowest-cost, and largest primary producers of platinum group metals on our planet. With a globally significant precious metals endowment exceeding 50 million ounces of gold-equivalent, Platreef is the world-leading polymetallic mine in development. The discovery remains open in many directions, with vast additional untapped opportunities, despite already having proven an astounding mineral inventory containing 2.0 billion tonnes of the world’s richest platinum, palladium, rhodium, nickel, copper and gold system. This year, we are excited to offer institutional investors and analysts guided tours of the magnificent Platreef Mine. Our guests will witness firsthand the scale, innovation, and electrifying possibilities of what will redefine the polymetallic mining landscape."
Platreef’s 30-year journey from tier-one discovery to construction of one of the world's largest, and lowest-cost, primary platinum group metal producers
The Platreef Mine is located on the “Northern Limb” of the Bushveld Complex in South Africa, approximately 11 kilometres from Mokopane, and 280 kilometres northeast of Johannesburg. The Northern Limb is the newest mining area in the Bushveld Complex, which currently contains only one other operating mine, Anglo American Platinum’s Mogalakwena Mine.
Platinum, palladium, rhodium, nickel, gold, and copper mineralization in the Northern Limb is primarily hosted within a mineralized sequence over 30 kilometres in strike, called the Platreef.
Ivanplats acquired a prospecting permit for Macalacaskop and Turfspruit in February 1998 and began a series of drilling campaigns, totaling more than 726,000 metres, to delineate Platreef from a greenfield exploration project initially focused on shallow mineralized zones, before shifting exploration focus in 2007 to deeper extensions of this original discovery.
A significant breakthrough came in 2010 when Ivanhoe’s geologists discovered that the thick, high-grade, down-dip extension of the system started to flatten out from a depth of between 750 and 850 metres, hence the name Flatreef. Upon the discovery of Flatreef, Ivanplats conducted a major exploration program in 2011 of 260,000 metres, which had at the height of the drilling campaign 30 diamond drill rigs producing more than 10,000 metres of core per week.
The Flatreef orebody consists of two mineralized zones (T1 & T2), which combined are up to 29 metres thick. This thickness is exceptional when compared to the typical, approximately one-meter-thick reefs currently mined by incumbent platinum group metal mining operations in the Western and Eastern Limbs of South Africa's Bushveld Complex.
The Flatreef orebody is situated on two contiguous properties, Turfspruit and Macalacaskop, which total approximately 78 square kilometres (km2). The northern edge of the Turfspruit licence borders with, and is contiguous along strike from, Anglo Platinum’s Mogalakwena Mine.
