Angloplat says that output at its Unki mine could be more than a quarter above the anticipated production level.

The platinum mining heavyweight, which is the majority owner of the mine, says that a review of the project has revealed greater potential than previously thought.

Initially monthly ore production was set at 85,000 tonnes but the figure has now been dramatically revised up to more than 100,000 tonnes - a 25 per cent rise.

Angloplat's Stuart Marchant told Reuters that he was confident of the project's prospects: "The potential to increase is there, and we are finalising that at the moment."

Angloplat is planning to sell a 20 per cent stake in the business to local investors as part of the empowerment process.

Robin Mills, Angloplat's executive director for projects, said he was hopeful of the new empowerment structure being in operation in the near future.

"We envisage a 20 per cent empowerment stake, but our preference will be a broad-based empowerment which will see workers taking up to five per cent in the mine," Mills told Reuters.