A collaborative project by South African and Chinese geoscient-
ists, which could result in the exploitation of some of
China’s platinum-group metal (PGM) resources, is showing much
promise and is said to have influenced Anglo Platinum’s
decision to initiate talks on an exploration joint venture in the
world’s most populous nation.
The world’s number-one PGM miner announced in April that it
was negotiating with unnamed partners in Sichaun, the province
covered by the Chinese/South African collaborative study.
The South African representatives on the project team are Prof.
Morris Viljoen, of the University of the Witwatersrand’s
Geology Departmaustralian coal crushing equipment suppliersent; his twin brother and colleague Prof. Richard
Viljoen; Dr Yung Yao, also of the University of the Witwatersrand;
and Prof. Alan Wilson, of the Geology and Computer Science
Department at the former University of Natal, now part of the
merged University of Kwazulu-Natal. The Chinese con-tingent
comprises experts from the Chinese Academy of Science, the
Institute of Geoused jaw rock crusher for sale in italylogy and Geophysics, and the Sichuan Bureau of
Geology and Mineral Resources.
“The project is going on very well, and we have produced
several papers and are busy analysing data relating to PGM deposits
in China,” Morris Viljoen tells Mining Weekly.
Chinese PGM deposits occur in a variety of environments and have
not been well investigated in the pabrazil asbestos crushing plantst.
Available data indicate that most of the deposits are clustered in
well-defined tectonic zones, such as the Panxi rift, to the west
and south-west of the city of Chengdu and to the west and
north-west of the city of Kunming, in the provinces of Sichuan and
Yunnan, in south-east China. Mineralisation in these regions was
not known until the 1980s, when a regional multi-element
geochemical expthe use of iron in industriesloration programme was undertaken by the Sichuan
Bureau of Geology and Minerals Resources.
However, it was not until recent years that investigation of their
economic potential intensified, following the surge in the prices
of PGMs. It has been evident from initial studies that the
PGM-bearing complexes in the Panxi region share some common
features, in terms of mineralisation and metallurgy, with South
Acontinuous ball mill manufacturers mumbaifrica’s Bushveld Complex, which contains most of the
world’s known PGM resources.
The aim of the collaborative project is to compare and contrast
these features and provide models for ore geology and exploration.
The detailed goescientific and exploration data being collected,
synthesised and interpreted will be made available to interested
companies in China and South Africa.
“We should be able to finalise the project soon, and several
mining companies have shown an interest,” says Viljoen,
revealing that the collaborative project was one of the factors
which influenced Anglo Platinum’s decision to seek
exploration projects in China.
Commentators said at the time of Anglo Platinum’s
announcement that finding significant quantities of PGMs in China
would be a surprise, as the country is currently not a producer of
the metals.
The Asian country, the world’s biggest consumer of platinum
jewellery, buys platinum worth $1-billion a year, importing all its
needs. Last year, it used 1,2-million ounces of the metal, about
18% of global demand, according to precious-metals refiner Johnson
Matthey.
Currently, Anglo Platinum produces all its platinum in South
Africa, but has exploration joint ventures in Canada and Russia and
is developing a new mine in Zimbabwe’s Midlands province in
partnership with Anglo American’s Zimbabwean
subsidiary.
The company has curbed its expan-sion plans in South Africa, as
some of its projects have been rendered un-economical due to the
strong rand.