At Marula three boreholes were drilled on the lower portion of an extension of the Driekop mining right as part of the agreement with the Anglo Platinum/ARM joint venture. One borehole was completed at Afplats on the Kareepoort/Wolvekraal extension. In the Imbasa/Inkosi area, drilling continued and an additional 20 boreholes were completed. At the Tamboti Project 17 boreholes were drilled on Portions 4, 5 and 6 of Kalkfontein in conjunction with Two Rivers and in fulfilment of prospecting right obligations.

Great Dyke in Zimbabwe

Zimplats stepped up its exploration programme at Ngezi during the year with detailed drilling at Portals 5W and 5E in preparation for a feasibility study. At Portals 7 to 10, a one kilometre grid of boreholes was completed, and north of Portal 10 widely spaced drilling continued (4 by 1km). Geotechnical drilling for ventilation shafts and underground crusher positions at Portal 3 was also undertaken.

At Mimosa, the focus was on the characterisation of shallow oxide ore at both North and South Hill and 38 boreholes were drilled.

Offshore projects

Offshore exploration activity continued at a modest level against a background of recovery in the broader exploration sector but with limited good quality PGM opportunities worldwide. The main focus area was Canada where, in conjunction with Wallbridge Mining and HTX Minerals, we continued to explore for PGMs in the Sudbury Basin and in the Mid Continental Rift area around Thunder Bay.

Further encouraging results were obtained in drilling at the Wallbridge Milnet/Parkin project, which led to the decision by Implats to vest its 50% share and continue exploration on a fully fledged joint venture basis.

HTX continued its target generation work on the Mid Continental Rift area. Some 2 200m of drilling returned disappointing results with no significant mineralisation intersected. However, additional targets have been identified for follow up. At Hele, a joint venture with HTX, additional gravity and soil gas geochemical surveys have identified areas for further prospecting.

Implats entered into an agreement with Northern Shield Resources to further investigate surface occurrences of PGM mineralisation in the Labrador Trough, Quebec.

In southern Africa our strategic alliance with Impact Minerals focused on a PGM opportunity in Swaziland. Elsewhere, Implats maintained a watching brief on exploration developments worldwide and numerous exploration opportunities presented to us by junior exploration companies were assessed.