Under the terms of the agreement Aquarius will develop relatively smaller PGM projects with the objective of lifting production to about 500,000oz per annum in a three-to-five-year timeframe.

Conditional to this will be that Aquarius supply the South African giant with flotation concentrate on a “fair and reasonable basis” and that it give Implats the opportunity to invest in the projects.

Aquarius now has an Implats-backed brief to rove the world for new projects. Its latest planned acquisition is a property in South Africa called Everest South. This comes on top of its two existing projects in the Bushveld complex — Kroondal and Marikana.