Zimplats, a major producer of platinum group metals (PGM), just announced that phase two of its sulfur dioxide (SO2) abatement plant will kick back into construction mode in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2026. They plan to wrap it up by June 2028. This project is all about beefing up its processing capacity.
In their report for the second half of 2024, Zimplats said the SO2 abatement plant and smelter expansion projects were technically done. They've spent a cool US$444 million on these two projects so far. The sulfur dioxide plant is crucial for snagging and processing SO2 emissions, which come from smelting and roasting sulfide ores. The plant stops air pollution and could even turn the SO2 into useful stuff like sulphuric acid.
Sulfur dioxide is nasty. It causes acid rain, breathing problems, and ecosystem damage. Zimplats has a massive US$1.8 billion capital program in the works. They want to set up a whole network of projects, including a bigger smelter, a base metal refinery, a sulphuric acid plant, and a 110-megawatt power plant. These investments will help them crank up production.
Plus, the new furnace will take their smelting capacity from 135,000 tonnes per year of concentrate to a whopping 380,000 tonnes per year. Zimplats reported that the amount of ore they mined in the second half of 2024 took a hit. They had issues with the availability of trackless mobile machinery (TMM) and power outages that came and went.
The ore volumes dipped by 2.5%, from 4 million tonnes in the same period last year to 3.9 million tonnes. The amount of ore they milled also fell by 2.6% to 3.8 million tonnes. They didn't have as much ore to work with. This meant the metal in concentrate production slipped by 2% year-over-year to 279,890 6E ounces.
Zimplats said a few things affected their 6E production, which includes platinum, palladium, rhodium, gold, ruthenium, and iridium. The concentrator didn't produce as much as planned. There was more furnace lockup. The expanded smelter converters took longer to get up and running. All this caused 6E production to plunge by 15%, from 327,810 ounces to 279,890 ounces. In that period, 23,191 6E ounces piled up somewhere between concentrate and final production.
But there was a tiny bright spot. The mill head grade for those six elements went up a smidge, from 3.34g/t in the same period last year to 3.38g/t. Better mining quality across the board and more tonnage from higher-grade zones at the Rukodzi and Bimha mines helped out. Still, revenue took a 6% hit, dropping to US$350.2 million. Lower sales volumes, down 13%, were the culprit.
In their report for the second half of 2024, Zimplats said the SO2 abatement plant and smelter expansion projects were technically done. They've spent a cool US$444 million on these two projects so far. The sulfur dioxide plant is crucial for snagging and processing SO2 emissions, which come from smelting and roasting sulfide ores. The plant stops air pollution and could even turn the SO2 into useful stuff like sulphuric acid.
Sulfur dioxide is nasty. It causes acid rain, breathing problems, and ecosystem damage. Zimplats has a massive US$1.8 billion capital program in the works. They want to set up a whole network of projects, including a bigger smelter, a base metal refinery, a sulphuric acid plant, and a 110-megawatt power plant. These investments will help them crank up production.
Plus, the new furnace will take their smelting capacity from 135,000 tonnes per year of concentrate to a whopping 380,000 tonnes per year. Zimplats reported that the amount of ore they mined in the second half of 2024 took a hit. They had issues with the availability of trackless mobile machinery (TMM) and power outages that came and went.
The ore volumes dipped by 2.5%, from 4 million tonnes in the same period last year to 3.9 million tonnes. The amount of ore they milled also fell by 2.6% to 3.8 million tonnes. They didn't have as much ore to work with. This meant the metal in concentrate production slipped by 2% year-over-year to 279,890 6E ounces.
Zimplats said a few things affected their 6E production, which includes platinum, palladium, rhodium, gold, ruthenium, and iridium. The concentrator didn't produce as much as planned. There was more furnace lockup. The expanded smelter converters took longer to get up and running. All this caused 6E production to plunge by 15%, from 327,810 ounces to 279,890 ounces. In that period, 23,191 6E ounces piled up somewhere between concentrate and final production.
But there was a tiny bright spot. The mill head grade for those six elements went up a smidge, from 3.34g/t in the same period last year to 3.38g/t. Better mining quality across the board and more tonnage from higher-grade zones at the Rukodzi and Bimha mines helped out. Still, revenue took a 6% hit, dropping to US$350.2 million. Lower sales volumes, down 13%, were the culprit.
