Valterra Platinum is closing in on a strategic decision that could take the world’s largest platinum operation underground. Mogalakwena, positioned midway between Pretoria and the Zimbabwean frontier, remains the company’s flagship mine, boasting more than eighty years of remaining reserves. Yet declining grades in the open pits and rising extraction costs are pushing the business to look deeper, prompting a renewed focus on the subsurface potential of the orebody.
The underground initiative — the Sandsloot project — has been under technical and economic review for several years, but now appears poised to move from concept to execution. Trial mining is scheduled to begin before year‑end, with a final investment decision targeted for 2027. According to CFO Sayurie Naidoo, the economics are increasingly clear: transitioning Mogalakwena underground offers the most cost‑effective long‑term pathway for the operation.
A formal go‑ahead would mark Valterra’s most consequential move since its separation from Anglo American in June 2025. It would open access to millions of ounces of high‑grade ore at a time when global output of platinum‑group metals is expected to tighten. CEO Craig Miller remains confident in the company’s resource base, emphasising that Valterra holds decades of PGM supply within its existing portfolio.
The company operates three South African mines, in a country that hosts nearly four‑fifths of the world’s PGM reserves. Even so, Mogalakwena’s evolution is central to Valterra’s future, particularly as the dominant demand driver for PGMs — catalytic converters for petrol and diesel vehicles — faces structural pressure from the rise of electric mobility.
Valterra’s leadership is not convinced that battery‑electric adoption will erode demand as quickly as some forecasts suggest. Miller highlights the enduring presence of internal combustion engines, the expanding role of hybrids, and the longer‑term prospects for hydrogen‑powered transport as evidence that PGMs will remain integral to mobility technologies.
Beyond automotive demand, the company sees emerging opportunities in the accelerating build‑out of artificial intelligence infrastructure. Massive investment in data centres and advanced semiconductor manufacturing, Naidoo notes, represents an additional frontier where PGMs could play a growing role.