A decision on whether or not to pursue plans proposed by African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) and Impala Platinum (Implats) for a major new South African platinum mine is expected soon, according to reports on Mining weekly.

Comments from ARM's new chief executive Andre Wilkens suggest that the respective boards of executives behind the project will decide on the final go-ahead in the next few weeks.

The Two Rivers project is located on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, in Mpumalanga, and is split between ARM's 55 per cent majority stake and Implats' 45 per cent holding.

Mr Wilkens told analysts at a presentation that he expected the mine would enter production in the middle of next year, eventually boasting an output of 230,000 oz of platinum group metals per annum.

The chief executive went on to detail how initial trials at the mine have proved encouraging, with the project gathering momentum and no major drawbacks to the scheme envisaged.

He also revealed that the trial mining project, which has cost R50 million, has indicated a 2.95 g/t platinum to 1,73 g/t palladium split.

The project is still to be submitted for approval to the relevant boards, with Implats reporting that the green light is dependent on the results of the trial mining and the outlook for the rand.

Production is scheduled to begin around 18 months after the final go-ahead is given.