Aquarius Platinum has claimed it hopes its acquisition or sharing of land near its Marikana mine will be complete by September.

The number four platinum producer in South Africa, hopes the move will transform profitability following difficulties concerning mining techniques it plans to use that are more commonly adopted in Australia.

According to the company's chief executive, Stuart Murray, the firm is now in talks with a host of other businesses that bordered the mine in the complex and are trying to buy assets or enter joint agreements with them.

"We are certainly wooing owners of mineral rights. Either buying something or sharing along the lines of what we did at Kroondal. [We are] close yes, but until a deal closes it is always far away," Mr Murray told Reuters.

It is thought pool and share agreements are likely to become more common in the Bushveld complex, where Marikana is situated, with its huge supply of pgms - the biggest source in the world.

Aquarius hopes an agreement will be reached by the end of the third quarter of 2005.