Lesego Platinum DD @ MT & MT3 Aug 2020 16:39
Sorry if this has been picked up before! Didn't realise Lesego have been undertaking DD at both sites (WK & MT)...?
Russia press article from last last year....
China. UFO Metallurgy, mining metalbulletin.ru, September 17, 2019
Manceloids of Monchetundra and Urals may be bought by Chinese-African company
Junior Eurasia Mining Plc, which owns assets in Russia, said South Africa's Lesego Platinum was conducting due diligence of two of its platinum deposits in the Kola Peninsula and the Urals. South African investors can buy a stake in junior subsidiaries or form a joint venture, but it is too early to talk about any solutions. According to experts, licenses for these assets can cost $5-6mn, and their development requires about $200mn, and the platinum market remains surplus.
China-South African Lesego Platinum has been conducting due diligence of the Monchetundra platinum deposits in the Kola Peninsula and West Kytl in the Urals, owned by British Eurasia Mining, the latter said. The Lesego delegation, led by CEO James Newvenhays, evaluated the availability of infrastructure, logistics, sampling and laboratory test results. Lesego may consider a partial acquisition of the Tersk Mining Company and The Cosvin Stone, which is part of Eurasia Mining, or the possibility of a joint venture. The statement emphasizes that there are no guarantees that the deal will take place.
Lesego Platinum is developing a platinum deposit of the same name, 300km from Johannesburg. Junior Eurasia Mining (21.79% from the directors, 12.48% from the company, which was formerly known as L.Ananyeva) is engaged in mineral exploration. Funding comes both from own funds and from established joint ventures.
Mining at the West Kytlym field has been underway since 2016. According to the company's presentation, which was reviewed by "Y", in 2018 165kg of platinum was mined with a projected production volume of up to 1t metal per year. Monchetundra's reserves are estimated at 60t platinum and palladium. Eurasia Mining has signed an EPC contract to develop and launch a 4t per year field with China's Sinosteel, which will attract $150mn of project financing. When the project level of production is reached at 4t per year, the revenue will be $160mn, EBITDA will exceed $70mn.
The South African company's interest in Russia can be explained by the relatively low capex and the cost of platinum group metals production, as well as the ability to mine in an open way in these fields and the availability of infrastructure. Thus, on The Monchetundra power lines are brought to the border of the facility, the federal highway and the branch of the Russian Railways are adjacent to the field. In South Africa, where 70% of the world's platinum production is concentrated, easily accessible reserves are depleted, and the profitability of most mines remains only a consequence of the weakness of the local currency.
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