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Pandora Platinum Mine

South Africa / North West / Brits /
 mine, platinum mine/processing

Pandora was originally developed as a joint venture between partners: Lonmin with 50%, Anglo American Platinum 42.5%, and Mvelaphanda Resources Proprietary Limited 7.5%. Mvelaphanda is a wholly owned subsidiary of Northam Platinum Limited. On November 11 2016, Lonmin announced agreement to acquire Anglo American Platinum’s 42.5% interest in the Pandora Joint Venture, and that deal was finalized in December and announced on December 14, 2017. In May 2017 Lonmin also acquired Mvelaphanda Resources 7.5% stake in Pandora for R45.6 million to become 100% owner of Pandora. Lonmin holds their interest in their wholly owned subsidiary Eastern Platinum Limited. In December 13, 2017 Sibanye-Stillwater offered 285 million pounds ($383 million) to buy Lonmin in an all-share offer which closed in March 2018, and gave each Lonmin Shareholder 0.967 New Sibanye-Stillwater Shares for each Lonmin Share. Subsequently Sibanye-Stillwater is the owner of Pandora.


Pandora mines from both the Merensky and UG2 reefs and underground access is from the Marikana E3 Decline shaft belt. Mine workings extend to 300m below surface and the mining method utilized is conventional breast stoping with strike pillars. With the purchase of Pandora the Marikana Saffy shaft can be used to access the western portions of the deposit. In the long term there are plans to construct the E4 shaft on the eastern portion of the property to access what is termed as the "Pandora Shallows", which is a shallow high grade resource.

Pandora is located on the western limb of the Bushveld Ingeous Complex (BIC). The BIC was intruded about 2,060 million years ago into rocks of the Transvaal Supergroup along an unconformity between the Magaliesberg quartzites (Pretoria Group) and the overlying Rooiberg felsites (a dominantly felsic volcanic precursor). The BIC is one the largest mafic/ultramafic layered intrusions in the world, covering an extent exceeding 66,000km2 and a maximum thickness of 8km. It compromises the largest known Platinum Group Metals resource in the world. The mafic component of the BIC hosts layers rich in PGE’s, nickel, copper, chromium and vanadium. All ore produced at Pandora is sold to Lonmin for processing and refining, and as of December 2016 the reserves at Pandora were:

Proven & Probable: 6.4 mt grading 4.2% for 0.9 m oz.

Measured & Indicated: 61.3 mt grading 4.63% for 9.1 m oz.

Inferred: 9.8 mt grading 4.73% for 1.5 m oz.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   25°39'34"S   27°41'26"E
This article was last modified 7 years ago