Northam lifts chrome output 17% as Eland ramp-up drives record year

Northam Platinum lifted chrome production by 17% to a record 1.69Mt in the year ended 30 June 2026, with a sharp increase at its Eland mine in North West province adding to another year of record platinum group metal (PGM) volumes.

In an operational update released on 13 July 2026, Northam said total equivalent refined PGM output from its own mines rose 4.4% to 938,754oz. Purchases of third-party material climbed 24.4% to a record 158,138oz, and total metal sold reached a record 1.09Moz, 8% more than a year earlier. The group first passed one million ounces of production in 2025, a long-standing goal of chief executive Paul Dunne.

Eland's turn

Eland was the standout. According to Miningmx, Northam doubled the number of mining crews at the operation to 50 and reorganised ventilation to allow multi-blast mining. Eland also processed surplus ore from Zondereinde, the group's oldest mine, after Zondereinde's concentrator reached capacity. The result was a 49.5% jump in chrome production at Eland to 308,831t.

Chrome is becoming an increasingly important by-product for PGM producers, giving them a second revenue stream at a time of volatile metal prices. The PGM basket was trading about 40% below its January peak of roughly $2,900 an ounce when Northam reported. Chrome exports could, however, face limits under a proposed South African industrial policy intended to push more ore into local ferrochrome smelting. The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources has said that policy is a proposal and not yet a commitment.

Supply view

Northam expects higher tonnages and grades over the next two years as growth projects are completed. It repeated its long-held view that global primary supply will keep falling well into the next decade because new mines take so long to develop, and because swings in the basket price discourage investment.

Analysts quoted by Miningmx treated weakness in PGM shares as temporary. HSBC analyst James Steel forecast a 2026 platinum deficit of 531,000oz and a price recovery, even after trimming his average price assumption for the year. Platinum ETF holdings had fallen by about 574,000oz from their January peak, and Nymex holdings were down 288,000oz.

What it meant for results

The operating record fed directly into Northam's full-year results on 28 August, when the company reported a 699% jump in headline earnings per share and a record R10 final dividend. It also set out its Vision 2031 goal of annual sales above 1.5Moz of PGMs and 2Mt of chrome. Eland's performance suggests that chrome, once a sideline, will be a meaningful part of reaching that target.

Sources

• Miningmx: Northam Platinum in new output record as chrome surges, 13 Jul 2026
• Miningmx: Northam posts record payout after sharp earnings rise, 28 Aug 2026

Photo: A specimen of chromite, the chrome ore recovered as a by-product at Bushveld platinum mines. Darla Sondrol, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.