Francois Uys, business manager at the Amandelbult mine in South Africa, is looking ahead with confidence to new projects including the construction of a third shaft.

Already a successful operation for Anglo Platinum, Mr Uys hopes to drive Amandelbult forward over the course of next 12 months.

"The values in the new area are expected to be better than the values that are being mined from the existing No 1 shaft," he said during an interview with Mining Weekly.

"We are very positive about the whole No 3 shaft concept."

The No 3 shaft is intended to increase pgm yields from both the Merensky and UG2 reefs.

Mr Uys said the project would play a key role in driving Amandelbult forward. In October 2002, the mine produced an all-time record of two tonnes of platinum in one month.

"In the future, we aim to exceed that figure," he said.

"We have plans in place to improve dramatically, and we have been achieving that to an extent already."

The Amandelbult chief went on to say that he expected UG2 ore to become more significant at the operation this year.

"We actually achieve better efficiencies on the UG2 than on the Merensky," he said. "And, if you look at tonnage per in-stope employee, it beats Merensky mining hands down."

Amandelbult makes the largest operating contribution to Anglo Platinum.