The Modikwa platinum mine is a large underground mine in the north-eastern part of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

northwest of

Burgersfort Burgersfort is located in the valley of the Spekboom River at the edge of the Bushveld Complex in the Fetakgomo Tubatse Local Municipality, near the border of the two provinces Limpopo and Mpumalanga. The town was named after a hexagonal fort bu ...

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

. It is part of the

Bushveld Igneous Complex The Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC) is the largest layered igneous intrusion within the Earth's crust. It has been tilted and eroded forming the outcrops around what appears to be the edge of a great geological basin: the Transvaal Basin. It is ...

. Modikwa represents one of the largest

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

reserves in

having estimated reserves of 215.2 million tonnes of ore grading 2 g/t

, 1.87 g/t

palladium Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself nam ...

and minor grades of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

rhodium Rhodium is a chemical element with the symbol Rh and atomic number 45. It is a very rare, silvery-white, hard, corrosion-resistant transition metal. It is a noble metal and a member of the platinum group. It has only one naturally occurring ...

ruthenium Ruthenium is a chemical element with the symbol Ru and atomic number 44. It is a rare transition metal belonging to the platinum group of the periodic table. Like the other metals of the platinum group, ruthenium is inert to most other chemic ...

and

iridium Iridium is a chemical element with the symbol Ir and atomic number 77. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, it is considered the second-densest naturally occurring metal (after osmium) with a density of ...

. The mine has reserves of 13.8 million oz of platinum and 12.9 million oz of palladium and produces around 120,000 oz of platinum/year and 110,000 oz of palladium/year. The mine is owned under a 50%/50%

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

African Rainbow Minerals African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

and

Anglo American Platinum Anglo American Platinum Limited () is the world's largest primary producer of platinum, accounting for about 38% of the world's annual supply. Based in South Africa, most of the group's operations lie to the northwest and northeast of Johannesbu ...

. Each of these companies have part of their stakes subdivided between other companies.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Modikwa Mine Platinum mines in South Africa Economy of Limpopo Palladium mines