science

Northam Platinum

Northam Platinum is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Northam Platinum rather than just read about it. In short: Northam Holdings is a South African platinum group metal producer, headquartered in Johannesburg. Founded in 1977, the company is listed on the JSE.

Key takeaways

Northam Platinum belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Northam Platinum to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Northam Platinum from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Northam Holdings is a South African platinum group metal producer, headquartered in Johannesburg. Founded in 1977, the company is listed on the JSE. Northam's primary operations are centered on three wholly-owned mines - Zondereinde, Booysendal, and Eland, and additional metallurgical operations at Zondereinde, which includes a smelter and base metals removal plant. The company's three main mined products are platinum, palladium, and rhodium. The raw materials are consumed by various industrial sectors, including automotive manufacturing, and jewelry.

Operations Northam Platinum has three main mines in South Africa located at Zondereinde in Limpopo, Booysendal in Mpumalanga, and Eland in the North West. Located close to Thabazimbi, the Zondereinde mine produces 280,000oz of refined PGMs a year in 2016 and has an expected life of more than 20 years. Close by is Northam Chrome, which obtains chrome from the material mined from Zondereinde. The Booysendal site consists of three mines, Booysendal UG2 North, Booysendal Merensky North and Booysendal South. UG2 North opened in July 2013 and produces 160,000oz a year with a 105 million ounces available. Merensky North is under development and the South mine also consists of the Everest platinum mine purchased from Aquarius Platinum in 2015. In a joint venture project, it has a 7.5% interest the Pandora mine with Anglo American Platinum and Lonmin. Northam also has a 50% interest in the Dwaalkop joint venture and a 51% interest in the Kokerboom exploration joint in the Northern Cape. During February 2017, Northam announced a proposal to purchase the Eland platinum mine for R135 million from its owner Glencore. The mine, said to have 21.3 million ounces of product, had been closed since 2015, due to price falls and difficulties in its operations. The purchase includes the mines two mining rights, surface and underground infrastructure. Northam had also reached marketing deal for the sale of its chrome product through Glencore.

Ownership As of June 2026, Northam's shareholders are as follows:

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Northam Platinum

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Northam Platinum claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Northam Platinum before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Northam Platinum ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Northam Platinum

In research: Northam Platinum appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Northam Platinum in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Northam Platinum is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Companies based in Johannesburg, Companies in the FTSE/JSE Top 40 Index, Companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Northam Platinum outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Northam Platinum in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Northam Platinum means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Northam Platinum out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Northam Platinum in simple terms?

Northam Holdings is a South African platinum group metal producer, headquartered in Johannesburg. Founded in 1977, the company is listed on the JSE.

Why does Northam Platinum matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Northam Platinum?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Northam Platinum.