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The problem for Southern Palladium
remained that South Africa’s investment
Australia’s Bushveld climate was not conducive to junior miner
funding.
adventures “In South Africa it is difficult to find ven-
ture capital, we knocked on a lot of doors,
Aquarius Platinum including the International Finance Cor-

The most surprising ASX-South Africa poration and other development institu-
tions and while they all said they might
story, Aquarius sprouted out of the old be interested, they wanted to see a BFS,” Southern Palladium’s plan is to upgrade
Mount Monger Mines in the mid-1990s Odendaal said. both via the drill bit. And, like other Bush-
to break the dominance of South Afri- “I met Rob Thompson [Southern Pal- veld deposits, resource definition is a rela-
can platinum’s Big Three (Impala Plati- ladium non-executive director] at a 1-2-1 tively straightforward exercise.
num, Anglo Platinum and Lonmin). The conference and we began to look at Aus- “The next logical step is to increase con-
company’s success was based on the tralia together. We found a lot of develop- fidence in the resource, which is why we
Kroondal mine on the Eastern Limb of ment happening and the renewed interest went out and sough capital when we did,
the Bushveld. Long-serving managing in PGMs, so the ASX was the ideal plat- the timing was exactly right,” Odendaal
director Stuart Murray earned himself form to launch on. Now we have the best of explained. “Of the $19 million raised, 60%
and his company a reputation as tough both worlds: venture capital and a signifi- will go straight into the ground. We have
negotiators, switching offtake/toll-treat- cant orebody.” completed a geophysical survey which
ment agreements between Impala and The decision paid off with the company’s has confirmed our confidence in the geo-
Anglo Platinum during the 2000s. The $19 million IPO being strongly supported logical structure and the intention now is to
platinum downturn of 2013 signalled the prior to listing on June 8. The company has embark on a two-phase exploration pro-
beginning of the end for Aquarius, with since held its own on the bourse, posting a gramme.
the company eventually taken over by 25% increase through to June 30 while the “Stage 1 will start on the eastern side of
Sibanye Stillwater in 2016. the property, which is quite shallow, and
rest of the resources sector took a beating. will see 63 holes drilled for 25,000m to
For Odendaal, that performance is a re-
Platinum Australia flection of Southern Palladium’s unique of- increase confidence in the resource. Our
The “could’ve been a contender” of the fering to ASX investors. target is to deliver at least 2 moz into indi-
group, PLA came close to fulfilling its “Obviously, Chalice and the others have cated then reserves down to 500m depth
early promise on the ASX, only to be done well but when you look at PGMs, you and complete a PFS on that area.
scuppered by tough conditions – both still need to be in South Africa,” he said. “Then, during the second phase, we will
underground and on the markets. The A glance at the Bengwenyama project’s bring the exploration target into the inferred
company did achieve producer status, fundamentals supports Odendaal’s as- resource. That means within two years we
turning its Smokey Hills mine on the sessment. The project already boasts an will be in a position to double the size of the
Eastern Limb on in 2008 but continuing inferred resource of 143.89mt @ 4.07 g/t global resource. That is the nature of the
problems with the mining contractors, 3E plus gold for 18.8 moz. CSA Global has Bushveld, you don’t need to go out again
labour and reconciliation meant un- defined an exploration target of a further and drill extensively, it is a tabular orebody,
derground operations never hit steady 134-201mt @ 3.5-5.2 g/t 3E plus gold. fairly consistent in grade and ratio.”
state. In the meantime, its ambitious If Southern Palladium can stick to its
Kalplat project on the northern limb was
a victim of infrastructure problems (not
least power) and investor indifference
with South Africa. By 2012 the company
was in administration before striking a
merger with JSE-listed Jubilee Platinum
in 2013.

Nkwe Platinum
The strangest company on the list, Nkwe
at one point boasted of a 68 moz PGM
resource between its two projects on the
Eastern Limb. A series of legal disputes
around ownership followed (see main
story) and the company then struck a JV
with Chinese group Zijin Mining in 2013.
Zijin eventually took full ownership of
Nkwe, delisting from the ASX in 2019.
In May 2021, it was reported Zijin had
started mining at the Garatau project,
Nkwe’s original cornerstone asset.

The Southern Palladium management team at the company’s Bengwenyama PGM project

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