JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Platinum group metals project developer Wesizwe Platinum has delayed the publication of its financial results for the year ended December 31.

The Johannesburg-listed company put the reason for the delay down to South Africa’s Covid-19 lockdown, which required the Bakubung platinum mine project to be put on care and maintenance for 21 days.

The company said in a stock exchange news service announcement that its financial statements had not yet been formally approved by the board at the time of the announcement of the lockdown. Updating of its forward-looking assumptions on the possible impact of the lockdown was required and would be released as soon as was practically possible.

Wesizwe's Bakubung project  is being developed through the group's wholly owned subsidiary, Bakubung Minerals, and comprises an underground mine accessed by twin independent vertical shafts and a shorter third shaft.

Mining Weekly reported in September that the development of the project, near Rustenburg, was continuing in line with a new business plan that set out the commissioning of a smaller mine with a process plant to produce and treat one-million tonnes a year by the third quarter of 2020.