The Platinum Jewellery Trust of South Africa is in the process of
developing a platinum design, manufacturing and training facility
in the North West Province that will ensure increased beneficiation
of platinum, at the same time improving the level and availability
of platinum jewellery manu- facture in the country.
Involved in the trust are the South African jewellery industry,
Anglo Platinum, Northam, Mintek and the National Business
Initiative (NBI).
The facility is an initiative of the North West Provincial
Government, the Department of Economic Development and Tourism and
is part of the pro-vincial economic strategy.
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The project also falls under the Millennium Development Fund, which
is managed by the NBI. The Platinum Jewellery Zone is to be
established at Pelindaba and will create platinum jewellery for
local industry as well as countries in the Southern African
Development Community and the international market.
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“Because platinum jewellery is difficult to work with, it
requires specific competence, which is the purpose of the
facility,” explains NBI programme manager Wagied Allie, who
is responsible for the project.
The metal requires specially-skilled people who work in an
environ-ment where the metal is nolayout spring cone stone crusher crusher mining processt easily contaminated.
“Should the metal be contaminated it needs to be rerefined,
which adds significantly to the cost,” he adds.
Allie says the zone will be a fully-fledged world-class facility
with laser welders and computer-aided design equipment that will
ensure high-quality jewellloan against crusher stone crusher indiaery design and manufacturing.
The facility will initially house about 30 workbenches, as well as
other state-of-the-art equipment, and is scheduled for
commissioning in mid-2004.
It will be open to individuals, small-to-medium companies and large
jewellers, remarks Allie.
“We are inviting the industry to make use of the facilities
and to market under the umbrella brand that will be established. It
is envisaged that a platinum hive will be created in the
process,” he says.
The training facility is targeting semiskilled, skilled people and
gold-smiths trained and experienced in other metals, wishing to be
retrained in platinum.
The training period ranges between six months and three years, with
a specialised training programme having being developed by Dieter
Setz, one of the few master platinum and goldsmiths in South
Africa.
In the medium term, the facility will design and manufacture
jewellery that will be marketed locally and abroad, while gaining a
foothold in the US market is a priority, he says.
The idea of a platinum-jewellery zone can be traced back to 1998,
when the province identified the need for better use of its
resources. Allie recalls that a feasibility study was conducted in
2001 to establish the viability of a platinum design and
manufacturing facility that will improve the quality of platinum
jewellery.
The provinicial Department of Economic Development and Tourism
decided to undertake the project, which was initially funded by the
Millennium Development Fund.
Allie notes that, initially, there was some reluctance in the
industry towards sponsorship of the project due to declining
platinum prices in 2001/2. He believes the Mining Charter has had a
positive effect on the project, which has seen significant interest
from industry participants.