Summit TV speaks to Bongani Mbindwane from platinum metals group exploration company Platfields that’s going to list in the near future as they gear up for production
Giulietta Talevi: Welcome to Face to Face. Junior platinum exploration company Platfields is about to listing - I’m joined by chief executive Bongani Mbindwane. Bongani, Platfields has actually been in existence since 2002 so why has it taken so long to get the exchange?
Bongani Mbindwane: One had to develop the projects to a level where there was confidence from the market, also we had to refine our strategies going forward. There was a belief that one should go to market much earlier - but we thought let’s wait a bit and spend private shareholder money first before going public.
Giulietta Talevi: If you had listed in the boom days of 2006 and 2007 you would have done quite well - you’re listing now at a very difficult time for platinum companies. Things have stabilised a bit - but the appetite is still not what it was for platinum giants like Anglo Platinum and Impala that are already producing - so what prospects do you think you will have as a junior exploration company on the exchange?
Bongani Mbindwane: If we’d listed earlier it could have been a mixed bag of results. What we have now are lessons that have been learnt - the advantage is that we were outside and looking at our listed peers saying what is it that they were doing right, and what were they doing wrong? Having learnt all that we see ourselves as very much ready. Platfields is highly prospective in that when we go to production we will not need to inject huge capital to actually have production on line - we have near-surface projects, in fact all of our four projects including the gold project are near-surface so they will require a very modest capital injection in the beginning.
Giulietta Talevi: Perhaps you could talk a bit about those projects - where are they located, what kind of reserves are you looking at and how far away are they from production?
Bongani Mbindwane: Platfields is a pre-feasibility model for its projects at this point. We have one gold project that’s not far from the Beta Mine owned by Simmer & Jack in the Transvaal Drakensberg, and we’ve got three highly prospective platinum group metal (PGM) projects. One project in Limpopo is not too far from the current Lebowa Mine owned by Anglo that’s currently in negotiation with Anooraq on a take-over there. Next door to that we have Tigerpoort that’s a natural extension of the Leeuwkop project in the southern part of the Bushveld Complex. We have the Berg project that’s also near the known mineralization of Aquarius Everest South that’s not too far from us, and Booysendal and Der Brochen are not too far from us - in fact we share properties with some of these known mineralisations.
Giulietta Talevi: Those projects are also battling to raise finance. Before we get back to the question of when you might be able to start production - what kind of money are you looking to raise from the listing?
Bongani Mbindwane: The first thing that I have to make clear is that when Platfields lists we will not be raising money - we are well capitalised for at least another 24 months to continue in the mode we’re in with our drilling to prop up the resources. A couple of months after listing around July we will go to the market back to our investors primarily in Europe and North America to seek financing. Part of that will be sourced in South Africa. Why July? We very much believe that July will see the stimulus dollars we’ve seen in China, Europe and America coming into the field and getting to work and the cycle will change.
Giulietta Talevi: So as I understand it you will be listing fairly shortly and then you will wait before you go to the market to raise capital. You’ve got quite a lot of shareholders that have obviously stood by you for quite a long time - are they institutional shareholders based in South Africa?
Bongani Mbindwane: No, we only have funds that are based in Europe at this point - in Switzerland and Luxembourg - but none in South Africa yet. These are the entities we will be targeting in July…
Giulietta Talevi: What kind of free float would you be looking for? The South Africa retail investor?
Bongani Mbindwane: I think what we will have is up to about 60% available - minus the BEE shareholders that will be locked in until 2014.
Giulietta Talevi: Who are your BEE partners?
Bongani Mbindwane: It’s private individuals - in fact sophisticated private investors. It isn’t any of the groups that have been known to attract attention…
Giulietta Talevi: Getting back to the issue of production you have the near-surface mines - when will you be able to start producing platinum? Does it depend on the amount of money raised? Does it depend on the feasibility studies?
Bongani Mbindwane: Our current time line indicates that we will be in production from 2011. We will start with the shallower areas and focus on those primarily so in 2011 you will see Platfields emerging from just being an explorer to being a miner.
Bongani Mbindwane
Chief Executive
E-mail: bongani@platfields.co.za
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