Platinum group metals (PGM) mining group Valterra Platinum holds much promise, mining operations executive head Willie Theron says, affirming the significance of the newly separated group as a leading Southern African mining company.

Earlier this year, Valterra, formerly Anglo American Platinum, separated from its parent company Anglo American, listing on the JSE and LSE as a standalone entity.

During a site visit to the company’s Mogalakwena mine, 30 km north-west of Mokopane, in Limpopo, the senior leadership and executive team showcased the mine and the company’s progress moving forward, highlighting that, while maintaining a balance between production and the quest for zero harm, Valterra had been simplified and strengthened to ensure it was able to stand on its own.

“We are strengthening our key capabilities, [and while] it is a work in progress, we believe that if we are a simplified, strengthened organisation, we will have that competitive advantage,” said Valterra corporate affairs and sustainability executive head Yvonne Mfolo.

“It is important that we are efficient, sweat our assets, manage our cash flows and expand our margins, as well as invest in our portfolio for maximum value and ensure disciplined capital allocation,” she said of the company’s capital allocation framework.

As the company continues to review growth, demand and use case creation and market development opportunities, one such opportunity is the growth of the Mogalakwena mine, which is said to have had only 14% of the 86-year reserve touched over the past 30 years.

With an 86-year reserve and a resource of 150 years, there is opportunity for more success as the largest openpit PGMs mine in the world.

“We are the industry’s most exciting endowment,” said Mogalakwena mine senior general manager Kobus van den Berg, noting that the operation had blending and scaling ability, depending on market needs, and continued to operate on the first half of the cost curve.

Equipped with a revised mine plan, which examined pit optimisation, dumping optimisation and grade, the mine had also received approval to conduct a feasibility study into the development of Sandsloot Underground at Mogalakwena.

“Through a resource development plan, Sandsloot was identified as the first transition into understanding how an underground operation will potentially look for Mogalakwena,” Mogalakwena underground exploration project and studies GM Stephan Nothnagel added.

Sandsloot was the first openpit at the mine. However, it was stopped in 2012, owing to technical considerations.

In 2022, Valterra started with an exploration decline of the Tier 1 orebody, ultimately deciding on a two-phased approach, aligned with capital preservation and to derisk the profile.

The prefeasibility study was completed in the first half of 2025, confirming a reef grade of 4 g/t to 6 g/t, with a feasibility study now under way, targeted for completion in the first half of 2027, at which point an investment decision will be made.

Should Phase 1 pass capital allocation scrutiny, the miner envisions a trucking scenario – trucking first ore out of the top part of the orebody to the surface to support an initial production rate of two-million to 2.5-million tonnes a year.

As part of the feasibility study, trial mining will be undertaken, followed by a ramp-up to Phase 1 steady state towards the end of the decade.

“If we continue with the study, and beyond 2030, we envision a ramp up to 3.6-million- to 4.5-million-tonne-a year operation,” he said.

This will require an ore handling facility, and while there are numerous options available, a conveyor system is being considered.