London-listed development company African Platinum (Afplats) has completed the fieldwork on a three-dimensional seismic survey of its Leeuwkop project on the Western Limb of the Bushveld Complex in preparation for a bankable feasibility study, the company announced on Tuesday.
The results of the pre-feasibility study on the project were released last month.
The 3D survey is being conducted for Afplats by Compagnie Generale de Geophysique at a cost of R30-million.
The final interpretation of the data is due for completion by the end of 2005.
Afplats chief executive Roy Pitchford said that initial results from a line traversing the entire property from north to south confirmed the company’s geological model, which is based on its own drilling and the original two-dimensional seismic survey conducted by Rand Mines about 20 years ago.
“The quality of the results is very good and will allow us to define faults to some ten metres, identify medium and large scale pot holes and highlight any significant rolling of the reef. The increased structural confidence will facilitate detailed mine planning during the bankable feasibility,” he said.
“The final interpretation, expected at the end of 2005, will enable us to upgrade our indicated resource to the measured category and to convert some of the inferred ounces to indicated status. This will provide a more robust resource statement for the bankable study,” he added.
Afplats recently reported that its new resource numbers for the Leeuwkop project were in line with its original estimates. – I-Net Bridge