The tribunal said the conditions include Impala honouring its current contracts and securing commercial terms for the renewal of contracts.

The metals industry has spent weeks debating what to do about supplies from Russia, which is a major producer of copper, nickel, aluminum and palladium.

Northam has presented a formal offer of 172.7 rand per share, escalating a takeover battle with bigger rival Impala Platinum.

Magna is exploring the restart of a past-producing underground mine and adding an open-pit operation to the site, also known as Crean Hill.

The government plans to start collecting half of the royalties from gold, diamonds, platinum group metals, and lithium.

Prices of the two metals are largely unchanged from the start of the year.

Metal thieves in search of platinum, rhodium and palladium have been stealing catalytic converters in ever-greater numbers, sending auto-insurance claims soaring across the country.