Valterra Platinum is nearing a decision that\u2019s likely to take the world\u2019s largest platinum mine underground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mogalakwena \u2014 halfway along the road from South Africa\u2019s capital Pretoria to the Zimbabwe border \u2014 is the company\u2019s flagship asset, with more than eight decades of reserves remaining. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as ore grades decline in its open pits and mining the material becomes more expensive, Valterra is exploring deep beneath the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That underground project, known as Sandsloot, has been under evaluation for years but finally appears on the cusp of becoming a reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Valterra plans to begin trial mining later this year and to reach a final investment decision in 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe believe that going underground is the most cost-effective option for us,\u201d Chief Financial Officer Sayurie Naidoo said in an interview with Bloomberg Television\u2019s Chief Future Officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The green light for an underground mine at Mogalakwena would be the firm\u2019s most significant step forward since being spun off from Anglo American in June 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would unlock millions of ounces of high-grade ore at a time when global production of platinum-group metals is expected to dwindle in the years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have many, many decades of PGMs available just within our portfolio, so the supply is not a concern,\u201d Chief Executive Officer Craig Miller said on the same show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Valterra owns three operations in South Africa, which hold nearly 80% of global reserves of the metals, but the evolution of Mogalakwena would be pivotal for the future of the country\u2019s biggest PGM miner by value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s partly because the project comes as the biggest source of demand for PGMs \u2014 devices that curb harmful emissions from gasoline and diesel cars \u2014 is under pressure from the rise of electric vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Valterra\u2019s leadership remains bullish, saying that forecasts on the uptake of battery EVs have consistently proved to be overoptimistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe still feel that PGMs will have a role to play in future mobility,\u201d Chief Executive Officer Craig Miller said on the same show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He points to the staying power of internal combustion engines, the role played by hybrid cars and \u2013 in the longer term \u2013 the potential for transport powered by hydrogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, the artificial intelligence build-out, involving massive investments in data centres and advanced chips, \u201cis an area where we see a lot more potential,\u201d Naidoo said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Valterra Platinum is close to a decision on changes to its operations at the world’s largest platinum mine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":826442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2110647127516831747","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2237822350371497","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18181954771425126","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26817,26818,23641],"class_list":["post-879930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-anglo-gold","tag-sayurie-naidoo","tag-valterra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879930"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":879935,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879930\/revisions\/879935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}