PGM Arc: Burgersfort and the Eastern Limb’s Dream Deferred
Southern Palladium, Valterra, Implats and ARM in the Steelpoort Valley
Originally published on LinkedIn. This work is AI-assisted - read about how I work.
If you drive into Burgersfort on the R37 you can almost taste the optimism that once defined this place. Chrome trucks, Steelpoort Valley, Drakensberg escarpment – built to burst at the seams during a boom. And then wait. Below it all lies the Eastern Limb – the lion’s share of South Africa’s in-ground PGM inventory. The geology that convinced industry insiders in the late 90s that we were entering the corridor that would redefine southern Africa’s relevance.
Centuries ago the Bapedi inhabited Sekhukhuneland. In 1879 it was conquered by the British. By 1945 the Bengwenyama-ya-Maswazi had been dispossessed of their farm Eerstegeluk (First Luck in Afrikaans). Southern Palladium Limited is building the Bengwenyama Project on that land.
Anglo American Platinum was at the heart of it all. A JV with African Rainbow Minerals Limited at Modikwa, community equity built in from groundbreak. Other mines in that stable: Mototolo, a JV with Glencore, Der Brochen, Twickenham and a BEE JV at Bokoni, now owned by ARM. Implats meanwhile held a JV with ARM at Two Rivers, community equity ramping against production, and Marula. Amplats ended the Mototolo JV and integrated Der Brochen. Despite billions spent, Twickenham went into care and maintenance. Bokoni was restarted by ARM, then suspended again in 2025.
Communities waited. Investors bought into assets that couldn’t even service capital while government poured money into well intentioned development agencies. A SA Human Rights Commission investigation in 2016 found non-compliance with SLPs across all commodities mined in the valley. Built on a resource pricing cycle that didn’t last, non compliance was the result of economics rather than bad faith.
In 2025, Amplats was demerged by Anglo American into Valterra Platinum.
It took the Bengwenyama community years to secure their right to participate. When they applied for a mineral right over Eerstegeluk it was given to someone else. They fought it out in Court from the High Court all the way up to our Constitutional Court from 2006 to 2014 before their right was finally restored.
Southern Palladium now holds the rights to Bengwenyama and has offered the community 30% equity from day one, to be repaid out of production. The Environmental Authorisation was granted in May 2025. First reef intersection is expected in February 2027. 40 M ounces of 3PGE+Au at 6.17 g/t. For the first time ever that community will be inside the ownership structure of their land.
In the meantime, Modikwa and Two Rivers are producing at scale and Mototolo’s Der Brochen reefs have been intersected.
Communities, employees and investors have waited for far too long for this. Burgersfort’s story is far from complete. It has started a new chapter.
The deferred dream of the Eastern Limb seems closer now than it has been for 25 years.