SOUTH Africa’s Impala Platinum, the world’s second-largest platinum miner will set up a refinery in the country by upgrading its existing facilities, with the first phase scheduled to start in July alongside work on a new underground mine, an official said on Friday.
The platinum refining process goes through two significant stages; in the base metal refinery – which separates base metals such as nickel and copper – and then the precious metal refinery which processes the various platinum group metals and gold to high levels of purity.