Waterberg PGM project shifts to phased, gold-weighted plan as partners grow more upbeat

The long-stalled Waterberg platinum group metal (PGM) project in Limpopo is being reshaped into a smaller, phased development, and one of its most sceptical partners is warming to it.

Implats chief executive Nico Muller said after the group's annual results on 3 September 2026 that the options now under consideration looked far more attractive than earlier plans built around a large, single-step build. Implats owns just under 15% of the Waterberg joint venture, which is led by Toronto-listed Platinum Group Metals (PTM), and holds a right of first refusal over a concentrate offtake agreement that it had been reluctant to take up.

What changed

Johan Theron, Implats group executive for corporate relations, told Miningmx that two things had shifted the group's view. The first was a stronger outlook for PGMs, helped by slower adoption of battery electric vehicles and new industrial demand, including from artificial intelligence. The second was a change in how new mines are being built, in stages rather than through one large upfront investment. He cited Ivanplats' Platreef mine in Limpopo and Tharisa's Karo project in Zimbabwe as examples.

Muller added that Implats expects any concentrate eventually produced at Waterberg to be processed through its own smelting and refining facilities.

A frustrated shareholder

A day earlier, Johnny Copelyn, chief executive of Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI), which holds about 26% of PTM, voiced frustration at the company's annual meeting. Miningmx reported that he blamed the delays on smelting, saying PTM had been blocked by the government's refusal to support processing concentrate outside South Africa and by a lack of enthusiasm among local refiners to offer smelting services at acceptable prices. PTM has previously explored smelter and refinery options in Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

Copelyn said PTM now intends to build the mine in stages that it can fund, probably focusing on zones richer in gold, which accounts for about 19% of the metal content. A feasibility study is expected by November, after which the company will decide whether to pursue the whole mine or a more limited project.

The numbers

HCI's annual report put peak funding for the full Waterberg mine at $776m under an updated definitive feasibility study, with about $93m already spent on exploration and engineering. PTM has no debt and roughly $45m in cash. The project has been promoted as one of the lowest-cost large-scale PGM deposits in the world, with a projected 45-year life, but it has struggled for years to secure a processing route.

Implats is meanwhile studying Styldrift II, the large resource it acquired with Royal Bafokeng Platinum in 2023, at concept stage, and has approved life extensions at its Rustenburg 14 and 20 shafts. Theron said Styldrift II could eventually match the volumes of the existing Styldrift mine.

Sources

• Miningmx: Implats takes shine to bite-sized Waterberg JV, 03 Sept 2026
• Miningmx: HCI's Copelyn dismayed at Waterberg JV's multiple headwinds, 02 Sept 2026

Photo: Countryside near Mokopane in Limpopo, the region of the northern Bushveld where the Waterberg and Platreef projects are located. hermansmit, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.