mineral resource and mineral reserve statement ... - Impala Platinum

ImpalaThe Impala Platinum mining operation is located just to thenorth of Rustenburg on the western limb of the BushveldComplex. Contained within this well-layered ultramafic tomafic succession are two horizons in the Critical Zonethat host economically exploitable quantities of PGMs,namely the Merensky Reef and the underlying UG2 Reef.Both reefs sub-outcrop in the mining right area and dipgenerally in a north-easterly direction at about 10°. Thevertical separation between the Merensky and UG2 Reefsvaries from about 125m in the south to 45m in the north.The Merensky Reef is generally composed of an upperfeldspathic pyroxenite, overlying a thin basal chromititestringer, followed by an anorthosite to norite footwall, withthe mineralisation decreasing from the basal chromititestringer into the hangingwall and footwall. The UG2 Reefis defined as a main chromitite layer, with most of themineralisation contained within this unit, followed by apoorly mineralised pegmatoidal pyroxenite footwall.7A6EF4782012N1212S141411 11C11Impala holds contiguous mining rights and prospectingrights for a total area of 33 191ha across 20 farms orportions thereof. The prospecting area involving thejoint venture with Royal Bafokeng Resources Platinum(Pty) Limited (RBR) has this year for the first time beenfactored into the Mineral Resource estimate. Agreementhas been reached in principle with a third party to transfera portion of the Mineral Resources in the southernextremity on the so-called Fourth and Fifth Bafokeng Areapending regulatory approvals. The corresponding MineralResources have been excluded from the 2010 statement.2A251910101 16170 5 10Scale (km)Current shaftsMajor capital projectsRemaining areasImpala/RBR JVDecline projectsImpala Merensky metal ratios% 5PGM+AuImpala UG2 metal ratios% 5PGM+AuPt 56.7%Pd 24.9%Rh 4.6%Ru 8.4%Ir 1.8%Au 3.6%Pt 47.9%Pd 25.8%Rh 8.8%Ru 13.4%Ir 3.4%Au 0.6%www.implats.co.za 24 Implats Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Statement 2010