MiningWeekly.com Audio Articles: Recent Episodes
Mining Weekly
This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist. South Africa's sole listed copper producer Copper 360 (AltX CPR) has announced a significant upgrade of its mineral resources at the company's Rietberg mine in the Northern Cape. The total resource of contained copper increased by 220% from 25 275 t in 2022 to 81 200 t with the maiden and indicated resource of 60 800 t of copper declared. The total of indicated and measured resource declared is immediately accessible on five levels with mining expected to commence in the fourth quarter of this year. The company's modular floatation plant is also scheduled to commission at the same time. "We'll soon be moving the resource into reserve, but if you look at the average value we expect to get from the copper, you're now looking at about R12-billion to R15-billion rands worth of copper in the ground, which is it is quite significant," Copper 360 CEO Jan Nelson told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) "If you relate Reitberg to water sports, we thought we were going to ride a jet ski but what we've found is an aircraft carrier. There's no doubt that we're going to have to resync our growth and we'll definitely need more capital but we will do that mostly out of debt. "We don't want to dilute our shareholders, but we are going to use more capital because it's one thing to ride a jet ski, it's another thing to steer an aircraft carrier," said Nelson. The resource is underpinned by closely spaced drillholes showing ore ready for mining on at least five levels that are open and accessible. Mining Weekly: How far is Rietberg's underground mine development from the copper mineralisation? Nelson: We're fortunate that there are five levels that go into the mine and all of those levels are open. We've accessed them. Many of those levels are actually almost on reef. You can break away on reef. The open ventilation is in order. The rock mechanics on order, so when we start mining, it's just a question of breaking away on reef, and that's another major advantage of having this deposit with the predevelopment that is in place. Copper 360 first announced drilling results at Rietberg in June 2023 with copper mineralisation of over 150 m wide by 200 m in length, with a down-dip strike of over 400 m and open to depth at in situ grades of between 2.5% and 3.5%. But the upgrade changes the growth outlook significantly. Where one plant was contemplated, building another plant to potentially triple output now has to be worked on. Multiple levels will have to be mined and much more copper produced than planned, which is good news for the Northern Cape, where there is potential to create more jobs in an area that is presently challenged by unemployment. Beyond direct employment, the up and downstream potential of economic development and concomitant employment opportunities that it will create is equally promising. Mine development is planned to commence in the fourth quarter of this year and a floatation plant is scheduled to commission in November with expenditure forecast to be 8% under planned budget. The experienced technical and operational team assembled is looking forward to starting the first pure copper mine production in the Northern Cape Copper Province in over 20 years. The measured and indicated resource is being converted to reserve and the stating of a maiden resource for the Wheal Julia surface deposit is now expected in the next few weeks. What role will Rietberg play in Copper 360's overall 12-mine cluster mining plan? Rietberg plays a central role and is the core asset. It's the first asset that we're starting up but we've drilled Wheal Julia and we will be carrying a resource there soon and that is a surface deposit that's yielded fantastic results - 3% to 5% copper on surface, open to depth. We are looking to drill Koeëlkop another deposit and what's nice about then is that they will potentially be openpit depo...
This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist. The first 10 MW solar plant at Evander gold-mining operation of Pan African Resources is reducing group all-in sustaining costs (AISC) by more than $10/oz with this number set to increase in coming years as Eskom tariffs continue to escalate, Pan African Resources CEO Cobus Loots said during the presentation of the London- and Johannesburg-listed company's dividend-yielding 2023 financial results. In May 2023, construction of the group's second solar plant commenced at Barberton Mines. This plant, with a capacity of 8.75MW, will supply most of the daytime power requirements for the Fairview Mine. A third-party power purchase agreement for the off-site provision of 40MW of wheeled power beginning in early 2025 will extend over a period of up to 15 years. Along with Evander Mines' operating solar plant, these projects are expected to reduce Pan African's carbon emissions by up to 30% by 2030, as well as deliver associated cost benefits, as the price of grid power continues to increase at above-inflation rates. Evander Mines' water recycling plant is also expected to generate attractive cost savings as underground water can now be used as process water, reducing our reliance on municipal resources. "You can also expect other announcements on renewables from us in the year ahead. Hopefully we can add even more capacity and also possibly diversify into wind energy," Loots added during the presentation covered by Mining Weekly. The first 10 MW solar plant at Evander is already reducing group AISC by more than $10/oz, with this number set to increase in coming years as Eskom tariffs continue to escalate, if we then proceed to keep production, cost and financial features from the last year. From production aspect, our surface assets performed in line with expectations and we will demonstrate the progress with Barberton's underground The addition of the Mintails gold-from-dumps project west of Johannesburg, close to Krugersdorp and Mogale, means that Pan African now has three large mining complexes in South Africa, where its surface operations reduce unit costs and turn legacy liabilities into profits. Its underground mines provide long life-of-mines and solid returns on investment as a result of a large sunk capital base and attractive optionality, demonstrated by the Evander underground expansion. The company is growing profitable production very materially in the years ahead and expects to be well north of 200 000 oz of annual production in 2025, with Mintails coming online at the same time as the Evander underground expansion. This growth is funded with either banking facilities or with cash generated from operations. The coming two years will see Pan African moving towards an even more balanced portfolio of low-cost surface remining and high-grade long-life underground mines. This asset mix should reduce the company's AISC profile, with Elikhulu Tailings Retreatment Plant and Mintails Tailings Retreatment producing at an AISC of about $1 000/oz. Pan African continues to seek ways of making its business less susceptible to adverse internal impacts in South Africa. In addition to reducing its reliance on Eskom, its assets have long lives with extended mining rights. The Evander complex's rights are valid until 2038 and the Barberton assets have rights until 2051. The Mintails new order mining right extends to 2029 and extension will be sought in due course. It has one year remaining on its Barberton wage agreement and the underground contractor at Evander has entered into a three-year wage agreement with the union, which will provide stability as production is grown. "Pan African's track record demonstrates that we can operate and grow in South Africa and do so very successfully," said Loots. To elaborate further on our renewable energy roadmap, with construction having commenced at our Barberton solar facility, we are set to almost double our behind...
This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist. The Copper 360 School of Mining, which announced the development of the training facility in August, has launched its first set of courses at the Concordia operation in the Northern Cape, which are aimed at nurturing human capital in anticipation of an expected provincial minerals development surge. The school's first courses are unaccredited and Copper 360 needs-based, but on the near-term horizon are accredited courses as well as diploma and degree fields of study, including an association with the Camborne School of Mines in the United Kingdom. The seven initial courses are basic surface geology, sampling, orebody technician, mineral resource management, drone technology, introduction to mining law and urban design for mining communities. Thirty students were accepted at the first intake, including women and persons with disabilities. "The initial course offering will focus on developing practical knowledge for students," Copper 360 executive director Quinton Adams stated in a release to Mining Weekly. Adams heads up the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Alternative Exchange-listed copper mining and beneficiation company's community engagement arm. "Skills development will initially be based on the needs of the company, whereafter, as the school grows, a wider net will be cast," Adams added. The courses were developed in-house, and the company has sourced experienced geologists and other mining professionals to contribute to and present the material. A further 300 staff members have enrolled in an extended apprenticeship programme that will be simultaneously rolled out. Personnel will also enjoy access to School of Mining courses. Adams foresees the Northern Cape, with its mostly untapped natural resources, becoming South Africa's next mineral province and economic driver. But unemployment is at near 60% in some areas and poverty widespread. Copper, nickel, manganese, and other minerals have attracted significant interest in the province's reserves, but joblessness remains high. With structural unemployment posing a substantial provincial challenge and for its citizens to enjoy the opportunities that are likely to arise, Adams expressed the strong belief that education must be at the top of any line-item agenda. He emphasised the challenge being presented by the gap between the skills of the population not matching the opportunities the labour market will be presenting "The workforce is there, but it is not employment ready. In anticipation of growth in the resource sector, the School of Mining is in place to mend this chasm," he explained. Adams expects the school to contribute substantially to the nurturing of human capital as the minerals boom takes shape in the province. Copper 360, which is focused on exploring, developing, and mining copper resources, is a producer and exporter of copper plate.
Impala Platinum (Implats) CEO Nico Muller says platinum group metal (PGM) market fundamentals are stronger than what current pricing suggests. He also does not expect there to be further significant price declines. Reflecting on the company's results for the financial year ended June 30, Muller says the company had anticipated a fall in PGM prices - "admittedly it happened much faster than originally expected". He adds that the current prices are "not bad" compared with the last 15 years, particularly as 2021 and 2022 had record price spikes. Implats declared a 63% lower dividend at R5.85 for the financial year, on the back of lower PGM prices. This compares with the dividend of R15.75 it paid out in the prior financial year, when it reported a stellar R53-billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda). The group posted a 32% year-on-year decline in Ebitda to R36-billion for the financial year under review. Implats' profit for the year amounted to R6.1-billion, marking an 81% decrease on the prior year's profit of R33.1-billion. Headline earnings per share (HEPS) came to R22.11 in the reporting period, which marks a 42% decline on the HEPS of R38.53 for the 2022 financial year. Gross refined production of 2.9-million ounces compares with the 3.08-million ounces produced in the prior year. Tonnes milled from the group's managed operations increased by 7% year-on-year to 23.8-million tonnes, with higher reported volumes at Impala Rustenburg, Zimplats and Impala Canada, together with a consolidated contribution of 403 000 t from its newly acquired Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) subsidiary, which all offset lower throughput at Marula. Platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium and osmium (6E) production at managed operations increased by 6% to 2.42-million ounces, and a maiden contribution of 43 000 oz in concentrate from RBPlat was recorded for the month of June. 6E concentrate production of 541 000 oz from joint venture operations was 1% lower year-on-year. Implats realised an average platinum price of $962/oz in the year under review, an average palladium price of $1 763/oz and an average rhodium price of $11 696/oz, compared with prices of $1 008/oz, $2 211/oz and $16 544/oz for the three metals, respectively, in the prior year. The group's production was somewhat constrained owing to smelting capacity being unavailable during the scheduled rebuild of the Number 4 furnace in Rustenburg. The company also experienced load curtailment in the period, ending the year with about 245 000 oz of excess inventory. Muller says the financial year was challenging amid widespread power shortages, softening prices, rand depreciation and persistent inflation. Notable rand depreciation compounded the impact of high consumable and utilities inflation on the translated cost and capital expenditure (capex) at the group's Zimbabwean and Canadian operations. Total cash operating costs increased by 19% year-on-year, while unit costs benefitted from higher throughput at managed operations and, despite lower refined output, increased by 14% to R19 834/6E oz, compared with a unit cost of R17 364/6E oz in the prior year. Capex at managed operations rose by 27% to R11.5-billion, compared with capex of R9.1-billion in the prior year, as spending on replacement and growth projects accelerated and the rand weakened against the dollar. Implats' stay-in-business spend of R7.3-billion, replacement capital of R2.3-billion and expansion capital of R1.9-billion increased by 16%, 61% and 41%, respectively, in the year under review, compared with the prior year. The group's financial performance was ultimately negatively impacted on by the retracement in rand PGMs pricing, lower refined production and sales, continued high levels of inflation and the accounting impact of end-of-period inventory valuations and impairments related to Impala Canada and RBPlat, as required by its consolidation. Implats accounted for three ...
Gold miner Harmony Gold has posted a 46% increase in production profit to just under R14-billion, or $774-million, for the financial year ended June 30. The company swung from a net loss of R1-billion in the 2022 financial year to a net profit of R4.8-billion in the reporting year, enabling it to declare a final dividend of 75c, or $0.04, apiece, against a prior full-year dividend of 22c, or $0.01, apiece. Earnings a share increased by more than 500% to R7.80, or $0.44, from a comparative loss a share of R1.72, or $0.08, in the prior year. In turn, headline earnings per share (HEPS) increased by 60% year-on-year to R8, or $0.45, compared with HEPS of R4.99, or $0.33, in the prior year. Harmony met its full-year production, grade and cost guidance, having recorded an 8% increase in underground recovered grades to 5.78 g/t from 5.37 g/t in the prior year. Gold production of 1.46-million ounces in the year under review compares with the 1.48-million ounces produced in the prior year, despite the Bambanani operation having closed at the end of the 2022 financial year. Production was mainly driven by a solid operating performance at the South African underground mines and an 18% year-on-year increase in production from the Hidden Valley mine, in Papua New Guinea. Harmony reported a 108% year-on-year increase in group operating free cash flow to just over R6-billion, from R2.9-billion of free cash flow generated in the prior year. The company's cash generation was supported by a 15% higher average gold price realised in the reporting year of $1 829/oz. The group managed to reduce its net debt-to-earnings ratio to 0.2 times, compared with 0.6 times as at December 31, 2022. "The past financial year was filled with many highlights as Harmony delivered on its strategic objectives of producing safe, profitable ounces through operational excellence and value-accretive acquisitions. "We saw an improved safety performance, while meeting our production, cost and grade guidance as we continue navigating a challenging operating landscape," CEO Peter Steenkamp explains. He adds that it is worth noting that the company's costs have remained under control despite the current high inflationary environment. Steenkamp says continued embedded sustainability practices, improved asset quality and operational consistency resulted in a strong and sustainable group performance with solid operational free cash flows in the year under review. The company plans to allocate growth capital towards high-margin, long-life operating assets in the copper space, including by progressing its two key projects Eva Copper, in Australia, and Wafi-Golpu, in Papua New Guinea. At the Eva project, Harmony is progressing a feasibility study following its acquisition of the project in December last year, while Harmony is progressing towards permitting of the Wafi-Golpi project. Copper now comprises about 20% of groupwide mineral resources. Harmony will also allocate capital to projects aimed at achieving net-zero emissions by 2045, including by investing in more renewable energy and reducing energy consumption through various energy efficiency programmes. Harmony saved about R394-million in electricity costs in the reporting year, owing to 41 energy optimisation programmes having been implemented to save 295 GWh. Harmony has saved a cumulative R1.7-billion in electricity costs since 2016, on the back of more than 240 energy efficiency projects. Phase 1 of Harmony's renewable energy programme was commissioned in the reporting year, delivering 30 MW of solar generation capacity to its Free State operations, in South Africa, which will reduce the operations' daytime grid demand by about 20%. Phase 2 of the renewable energy programme is in progress, which will add a further 137 MW of renewable energy generation to the portfolio. Harmony expects completion of this phase in the 2025 financial year. The first 100 MW will largely be funded using a R1.5-billion green loan that Harm...
Globally diversified Indian-headquartered mining company Vedanta Resources chairperson Anil Agarwal has told Mining Weekly that the company aims to complete its commitment to invest $1-billion in South Africa in the near future, although its plans are being held up by a lack of reliable infrastructure and energy security. Vedanta has already invested significantly in zinc mining in South Africa. Agarwal revealed that Vedanta's investment journey in South Africa was prompted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's sentimental attachment to the region, as it holds significance as the starting point of pacifist Mahatma Gandhi's freedom-fighting movement. In 2018, during a visit with the Prime Minister, Agarwal committed to investing $1-billion in South Africa, with the aim of creating a substantial number of jobs. Highlighting their progress, Agarwal said Vedanta had already invested $500-million in the Gamsberg zinc mine, in which Vedanta holds 69.6%, while Exxaro Resources owns 24.4% and an employee stock ownership plan 6%. This project has infused capital and brought job opportunities to an area previously devoid of significant employment prospects. Through collaborative efforts with the South African government, Vedanta has initiated the development of an industrial hub, leveraging the region's natural and human resources. "We are going to invest another $500-million for a smelter and making the final product. The government has been working with us, creating an industrial hub in that area because they have human resources and natural resources," Agarwal said. He said that, although Vedanta wanted to make the additional $500-million investment as quickly as possible, the timing was dependent on the availability of the necessary infrastructure. "If I know that infrastructure is going to be provided now and it will be available, I can tell you that I can have $500-million to be invested within 12 to 18 months. But it all depends on the power supply and the railroad," he explained. The company's commitment to social responsibility is showcased through its employment of 3 000 individuals, with plans to add another 2 000 jobs upon the completion of a smelter, bringing its total investment to $1-billion. However, Agarwal identified two critical challenges that needed to be addressed for the successful realisation of these plans: power security and infrastructure development. He underscored the significance of a consistent power supply for industrial operations and hinted at Vedanta's interest in renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. Agarwal lauded South Africa's potential for renewable power generation and alluded to Vedanta's ongoing exploration of these avenues. "Renewable power has a big potential in South Africa, not only solar but wind as well. We have seen that the velocity of the wind is quite favorable. So we are working on it," he said, noting Vedanta's record as one of the leading renewable power producers. He added that State-owned power utility Eskom would only improve if it were to be privatised. "Eskom can be privatised. Trust me, it has huge potential. At least 50% to 100% more power can be generated. The government should consider that, and speed is very important because people are suffering," Agarwal said. He acknowledged that collaboration between the private and public sectors was essential to overcome infrastructure constraints. He expressed optimism about the prospects of South Africa as an investment destination, citing Vedanta's previous commitment to keeping major companies rooted in the region. "I have a feeling that now zinc and the metal downstream have huge potential in South Africa - galvanising, pharmaceuticals, chemicals - all these are required all around the world, and South Africa can be an attractive place to produce this as it is a land of entrepreneurs," Agarwal said.
Think tank the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra) has reiterated its call for the formation of a Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) Exchange in South Africa, given that many stakeholders are losing out on value that could have been created in a less volatile market system. The organisation on August 28 convened a dialogue between stakeholders including the South African Reserve Bank, trade unions, platinum producers and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, to iron out some of the concerns around the practicality of such an exchange. Mistra in 2013 set out to investigate the desirability of a PGMs Exchange in the country, particularly with the rise of the global hydrogen economy and platinum being a key commodity to this value chain as well as that of other emerging green energy technologies. The International Energy Agency's statistics show that demand for hydrogen has grown more than threefold since 1975, reaching 95-million tonnes in 2022. The World Bank valued the hydrogen market at $130-billion in 2021, and estimates that it will grow by up to 9.2% a year to 2030. Hydrogen is essential to decarbonise sectors where emissions are hard to abate, including aviation, maritime and high-heat manufacturing. International registrar and classification body DNV forecasts global investment in producing hydrogen for energy purposes from now until 2050 will be $6.7-trillion, with an additional $180-billion poised to be spent on hydrogen pipelines and $530-billion to be spent on building and operating ammonia terminals. Given the massive concentration of PGM endowments in South Africa and other Southern African countries for that matter, with South Africa holding 70% of the world's PGMs reserves, Mistra, the JSE and financial services firm Pan-African Investment and Research Services (Pairs) deems it prudent to extract the maximum value from this national resource. During the dialogue, Mistra executive director Joel Netshitenzhe emphasised that South Africa must carve its rightful place in the global PGMs value chain, and not do future generations a disservice by not leveraging this unique opportunity. He said a PGMs Exchange could unlock financial and marketing services development, human resource benefits and, most importantly, price discovery benefits. Apprehensions have been raised, however, with regard to the ability to implement a PGMs Exchange, given that it would be a voluntary initiative for PGM producers. There are also the technical matters involved, including whether the implementation of an exchange should be conducted in a phased approach or not. Essentially, Pairs head Dr Iraj Abedian noted, a PGMs Exchange would create a platform for exchange of capital between those who have it and those who need it, as well as introduce a new mechanism for price discovery, lest the commodity's pricing continue to be determined by a select group of stakeholders in London, which are not part of the South African PGMs value chain, as has been the case with the PGMs market for decades. The establishment of a commodity exchange is an example of a strategic industrial policy intervention, which creates a marketplace to facilitate the exchange of mineral commodities and related derivatives. Effective price discovery is important for PGM producers and beneficiators to extract the maximum value from this asset, to which an exchange can be a reliable mechanism, Abedian pointed out. He highlighted that market prices were currently being manipulated and abused, in a process that contributed to value being lost for mineworkers, government and the industry in general, since PGM producers are highly vulnerable to market volatility. Price discovery results from the rules-based interaction among market participants, including buyers and sellers, for the exchange of a commodity. During this interaction, process information reflecting supply and demand fundamentals is revealed by the market participants, which facilitates the d...
The current platinum group metals (PGMs) basket price puts 70% of the South African production base at a loss when taking into account replacement capital requirements on top of the working costs. A final gross cash dividend of R2.4-billion from income reserves has been declared. "The industry at this price is in a very substantial squeeze and pretty precarious position should prices not recover," Northam CEO Paul Dunne said during the company's results presentation for the 12 months to June 30. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Northam will be conservative in this market in terms of what it will do from the current position. "We need to be inwardly focused rather than outwardly focused in this market. This market has changed very significantly over the course of the last 12 months. We are cautious about the forward market condition and we'll behave appropriately on that basis," said Dunne. A contraction in the three main metals of platinum, palladium and rhodium over the coming two decades is forecast "If we overlay the current economic headwinds on the natural depletion profile, we can reasonably expect earlier closure of marginal mines and the potential to delay projects. "This will potentially lead to a dramatic contraction in mine supply should current prices prevail," said Dunne during the presentation covered by Mining Weekly. If palladium prices remain as they are, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed PGM mining company expects significant pressure on supply and the potential for not insubstantial decline from 2025. The mainstay of production for rhodium is upper group two reef on the western limb of the Bushveld Complex, where operations are amongst the oldest and highest cost in the industry. "They are vulnerable to a low price environment. We anticipate lower production into the future even if rhodium prices recover somewhat. "Supply of PGMs will become increasingly constrained and if the world truly needs these critical and strategic metals, then the markets must incentivise additional supply from here. If this is not the case, the world's primary PGMs production base will rapidly shrink," Dunne forecast. A fall in the average price received from over R80 000 per platinum ounce to R67 000 per platinum ounce is expected amid a combination of global inflation and consequential rising interest rates, together with Russian metal flows into the Chinese market and automotive original equipment manufacturers destocking. Prices declined further after Northam's June 30 financial year end and today's spot for Northam offers around R53 000 per platinum ounce. In addition, the fibreglass industry has liquidated rhodium into an already soft market, leading to a fairly extreme price reduction and subsequent negative impact on the basket. "This depressed price environment may last for some time in our opinion and we will act accordingly, maintaining focus on operational performance and productivity, cost control and prudent management of the balance sheet and liquidity position. "Current pricing will place great stress on the sector and Northam maintaining its position in the lower quartile of sector cost curve is a business imperative," Dunne said. To manage what could be a difficult period, Northam's focus will be on safe production, continued project execution and efficient mining at the right cost. Northam is forecasting a production of 850 000 oz to 880 000 oz in its current financial year to the end of June next year, at units cost of R40 000/oz to R42 000/oz on inflation experience. Sales will be higher than production in the range of 950 000 oz to 990 000 oz including material from third parties. Capital expenditure of R4.5-billion to R4.8-billion allows for continued development of Northam's Eland PGMs mine, as well as provision for the renewable energy programme. Growth from the Booysendal and Zondereinde mine over the next few years, together with the progressive ramp-up of Eland, which will deliver into ...
During the 12 months to June 30, diversified mining company South32 has progressed initiatives to support its target of halving operational greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. At Worsley Alumina in Australia, which supplies South Africa's Hillside Aluminium smelter in KwaZulu-Natal, conversion of the first onsite boiler from coal to natural gas has commenced and conversion of the second boiler will begin this financial year (FY23). At Sierra Gorda copper mine in Chile, the company has transitioned to an agreement for cost-efficient 100% renewable electricity supply. In South Africa, the Sydney-, Johannesburg- and London-listed company, headed by CEO Graham Kerr, is continuing to work with Eskom and other stakeholders in this country's energy sector on pathways to secure lower carbon electricity supply for the Hillside smelter, which produced a production record in the 12 months to June 30. The company has also signed a non-binding memorandum of agreement with Eskom to explore the potential to purchase nuclear energy attributes in the near term as it continues to investigate and undertake market testing for renewable power supply at Hillside in the longer term. Also achieving a yearly production record were South Africa Manganese and Australia Manganese, with aluminium production increasing by 14% and manganese production increasing by 4%. The company expects to increase low-carbon aluminium production by 12% in FY24 as Brazil Aluminium and Mozal Aluminium in Mozambique ramp up. On how much time South32 is giving itself to transition away from carbon-intensive energy at Hillside, Kerr said in response to Mining Weekly that the current contract in place with Eskom runs to 2031. Although South32 thus has time on its side in its climate change commitment, it is also acutely aware of Europe's particular preference for green aluminium and its need to ensure that Hillside has the option to sell into Europe and other green preference jurisdictions such as the Americas. "So, we're doing a lot of work on this space," Kerr emphasised to Mining Weekly. Hillside plays an important role in keeping South Africa's national electricity grid stable and helping to manage loadshedding given its consistent level of electricity consumption and the interruptibility provision in its energy supply agreement. During times of high strain on the national grid, Eskom interrupts around 450 MW of supply to Hillside's potlines to support the grid, which means less loadshedding for other customers. Taking into account Hillsides' linkages to numerous other sectors, the smelter's economy-wide contribution amounts to an estimated R25.8-billion, or 0.4%, of South Africa's gross domestic product (GDP). Hillside's economy-wide contribution to KwaZulu-Natal's GDP amounts to R10.1-billion, or about 1.3%. Moreover, Hillside is one of the largest industrial employers in Richards Bay, directly employing close to 3 400 people in the 2022 financial year. MANGANESE LOGISTICS On whether the company's talks with Transnet on improving manganese logistics were enhancing confidence that efficient logistics would be restored, South32 COO Noel Pillay said the company was collaborating to arrive at concrete solutions. "My teams are hopeful that we can recraft some of the lost navigation," Pillay added. Secure access to rail and port infrastructure is critical to South32 being provided with confidence for future investment decisions at the Wessels manganese mine in South Africa's Northern Cape. Meanwhile, reliable supply of electricity at an affordable price is what will be required to take the company's Manganese Alloys plant in Meyerton, Gauteng, out of care and maintenance. LOW-CARBON COMMODITIES The Hermosa project in Arizona, in the US, is presenting an opportunity to produce low-carbon commodities for several decades, with a final investment decision at Taylor's zinc/lead/silver deposit planed towards the end of this calendar year. Separately, the opportunity to produce batt...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses DRDGold's 16th consecutive dividend and its move to solar energy; a best-of-breed approach to put South Africa on a competitive logistics path; and the launch of Thungela’s nursery and its hatchery which is breeding fish.
The decision of DRDGold to expend capital of R3.5-billion this financial year is based on the cash-flush Johannesburg- and New York-listed gold-from-dumps mining company firmly concluding that it is responsible to investment in South Africa amid seemingly unstoppable private sector turnaround momentum. The board has given the nod for R2-bilion of this year's R3.5-billion capital expenditure (capex) to go into solar power and into long-term sustainability creating deposition facilities. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) A big part of the R800-million expenditure in the Far West Gold Recoveries operation is for a tailings dam and, in the not-too-distant future, an amount not quite as high but similar will be invested at Ergo on the East Rand to expand the size and capacity of the Brakpan/Withok tailings facility. Debt-free DRDGold, headed by CEO Niël Pretorius, had net cash of R2.47-billion as of June 30, after paying R515.3-million in dividends, re-investing capex of R1.1-billion and paying R314.8-million in income tax on a gold production of 169 820 oz in the 12 months to June 30 this year. "A question that one has to pass when looking at these sorts of capex numbers is whether you are investing in an environment where it is responsible to invest this level of capital," Pretorius said during the presentation of 2023 results, covered by Mining Weekly. "When we switch on the television we maybe wonder. You read the Fraser Institute's report and maybe wonder. You look at where capital is going and a lot of it is going away from South Africa and less is coming into South Africa. "So, one has to reflect on this level of investment carefully before you commit your shareholders. "We believe that it is responsible to invest in South Africa. We do believe that South Africa doesn't stand or fall based on the quality of political governance in the country. There is a private sector and there's a society which, when they join forces, become unstoppable and can really turn things round. "Increasingly, in order to assess whether or not it is responsible to invest, one looks not so much at the kind of challenge that we face, but also at what the response is to those challenges, and the responses to some of those challenges have been remarkable. "Firstly, what we are seeing is that the face of political leadership is systematically changing. We're seeing a different kind of leader emerging, younger, dynamic with lots of energy, firm values. At the moment, maybe more at local and provincial level, but increasingly I think we'll start seeing those faces and those profiles finding their way into the national leadership as well. "People who are externally focused are genuinely wanting to deliver into the well-being of the constituency, so that certainly is changing. It's going to take a while before it changes completely, but we are seeing very positive first indications of a change of face of political leadership. "A second thing that's really encouraging is that it seems private capital has found its voice. We're seeing less in the way of nuanced utterances on the part of business leaders and more and more very prominent leaders are becoming involved in initiatives that contribute towards some of the very pressing challenges that we are faced with, like crime and logistics," he said. But amid all that, he noted that very recognisable groups and influential people, with command over vast capital, are activating the capital over which they have custodianship quite quickly to bring about positive change. Very encouraging, he added, was the way private capital is being mobilised, exemplified by the volume of energy being generated from rooftop solar panels reaching the 4.4 GW level, which is equivalent to two phases of loadshedding. "The private sector has come to realise that sitting around and waiting is not going to be the solution. We've got to jump at it and they are jumping at a rate that is catching us by surprise. Generating suc...
Once short-term and medium-term rail restoration has been achieved, a best-of-breed approach should be adopted to put South Africa on a competitive logistics path, says thermal coal exporter Thungela. "We need to develop a model that allows a best-of-breed to be able to run some of the critical infrastructure so that our national logistics are much more efficient," said Thungela CEO July Ndlovu, who questioned the sustainability of the traditional South African model of the State providing all critical infrastructure and highlighting the distinct 'swim lanes' that need urgent attention in restoring this country's broken rail logistics infrastructure. "We continue to work tirelessly with the industry, government, and Transnet to find sustainable solutions for the logistics challenges that continue to bedevil South Africa, the industry, and our company. "We're encouraged by the setting up of the national logistics committee to tackle some these issues on an urgent basis," Ndlovu added. Mining Weekly: What needs to be done by Transnet in the short, medium, and long term and is that being matched by what is being done in the short term for the medium term and long term? Ndlovu: The best metaphor for this is swimming and swimming lanes and the swim lanes that we ought to be looking at. Secondly, what we also have to accept as business and as stakeholders in South Africa is that this problem has become bigger than merely Transnet, and our expectation that Transnet must do everything themselves. That horse has bolted. My standpoint is, firstly, what we've got must be made efficient by fixing the rail infrastructure, improving maintenance, enhancing planning scheduling and working to ensure that security incidents are managed at an acceptable level, and when security incidents happen, we can we recover with speed - and I've seen significant improvement following incidents. We had two significant derailments in May and we recovered from both in record time. Secondly, I spoke to all of you about the state of the rail infrastructure in the North and Northeast Corridor and the speed restrictions and I pointed out that there was roughly 273 km of speed restrictions. All those have more or less been removed, except for about 38 km, so progress continues. That is one swim lane. The second swim lane relates to the fact that we will not be able to get Transnet back to its capacity of railing more than 70-million tonnes of coal a year unless we bring back both the long-term standing locomotives and the new locomotives, and the new locos can be sourced from the Chinese that was supposed to supply them or from somebody else. I'm personally encouraged by the continues discussions that we're having with the Chinese to ensure that we find a solution to that, whether through the Chinese or somebody else. We need that capacity to be able to go beyond 60-million tonnes. The third swim lane is a more macroeconomic policy environment. What this has demonstrated very clearly is that the model that we've had in South Africa of the State providing all critical infrastructure may not be the most sustainable model. We need to develop a model that allows a best-of-breed to be able to run some of the critical infrastructure so that our national logistics are much more efficient. That is a separate swim lane and that means we have to continue to work on the others. The White Paper that came through is quite encouraging. That work has become urgent but deregulating a broken piece of infrastructure is not good enough so we've got to fix it as we do the others. Those would be the three that I see. I raise the issue of best-in-breed to make a point that globally what we are seeing is that nation states budgets and fiscus are stretched to the limit by the need to provide services to people and there are private players who've got the skills and the capital to be able to provide critical national logistics. COAL EXPORTS LOWEST SINCE 1993 As reported by Mining Weekl...
To navigate the considerably softer coal prices, as well as inflationary pressures and the underperformance of Transnet Freight Rail, export coal-mining company Thungela has enhanced its business resilience by reducing the number of geology-challenged underground sections and ramping up production at the opencast Khwezela colliery. Khwezela, 22 km southwest of eMalahleni in Mpumalanga, was formed in 2016 through a merger of the mining operations of the Kleinkopje and Landau collieries. Board approval has been obtained for the capital investment of R2.4-billion into the Zibulo North shaft, which is expected to extend the life of Thungela's flagship Zibulo operation by 10 to 12 years. The anticipated completion of the Elders and Zibulo North Shaft projects, with R3.8-billion yet to be invested, is integral to uplifting portfolio quality and competitiveness and extending the business, Thungela stated in declaring a R10-a-share interim dividend worth R1.4-billion from 33% of operating free cash flow. First coal from the Elders production replacement underground operation is expected in the first half of next year and the close of the acquisition of Australia's Ensham coal mine for R4.1-billion is due on August 31. "Our focus to increase our competitiveness by improving productivity will produce superior results for our shareholders," Thungela CEO July Ndlovu predicted in a release to Mining Weekly. The half-year profit of R3-billion was well down from R9.6-billion in the same period in 2022, owing to the sharp decrease in thermal coal prices. Net cash of R13.6-billion was on the balance sheet as of June 30. A R156-million distribution is being made to employees through the Sisonke Employee Empowerment Scheme and Nkulo Community Partnership Trust. The company contributed R896-million to these trusts in 2022, with the total since listing approaching the R1.4-billion level. FATALITY REPORTED Although the total recordable case frequency rate safety measure improved in the half-year from 1.59 last year to 1.33 this year, a fatality was recorded in the period when Breeze Mahlangu passed away in February following complications from an accident in December. The most notable external factor of the period was the sharp fall in the benchmark seaborne coal price as European buying slowed after a mild winter. In addition, global inflation management resulted in slower growth and a related reduction in demand for energy. Following a particularly poor first quarter, Transnet rail performance stabilised in the second quarter, notwithstanding two derailments that cost Thungela at least 340 000 t in rail capacity. Improvements in rail performance during the second quarter were the result of intensive collaboration between Transnet and the South African coal industry, including Thungela. "A consistently performing and well-managed bulk rail infrastructure is critical to the coal mining industry and the South African economy," said Ndlovu. Through ongoing collaboration with Transnet, Thungela is dedicated to optimising the performance of this critical infrastructure, benefiting its own operations and those of the broader South African coal industry. Based on first-half operations - and excluding Ensham until the transaction has been completed - the company's operational outlook for 2023 for export saleable production for the year has been revised to between 11.5-million and 12.5-million tonnes. The free-on-board cost per export tonne guidance for 2023 has also been revised. This cost, excluding royalties, is expected to be between R1 120/t and R1 200/t. Including royalties, the guidance range has been revised to between R1 170/t and R1 250/t, based on a forecast benchmark coal price of $100/t. Together with industry, government and Transnet, Thungela is continuing what Ndlovu describes as a relentless journey to find sustainable solutions to the logistics challenges facing South Africa. Ndlovu expressed confidence that strategy and resilience wou...
Kinetiko reports reserve at pilot field ASX-listed Kinetiko Energy has announced a maiden gas reserve of 3.1 BCF over its pilot gas production field in South Africa. An independent gas reserve and resource report has also resulted in a 20% increase in the 2C contingent resource to 3 TCF over the company's' granted exploration rights, with the expectation of further significant upgrades from adjacent application exploration rights. "This is one of the most significant and exciting moments in Kinetiko's corporate journey to date in South Africa. It should be well understood that the maiden gas reserve was issued on the basis of a very small project. The area considered is minute by comparison to our overall geography (about 0.2%) and yet the economics work out to be substantially positive with 2P certification for the project at about 6.4 BCF of gas," said CEO Nick de Blocq. "Each time Kinetiko adds commercial production plans within its exploration rights, it will be able to grow reserve certifications by eventual orders of magnitude, with assumptions based on increasingly positive economics driven by deeper wells in the south with potentially higher flow rates, and larger gas contents and better geophysical properties of the sediments to the north," he said in a statement on Monday. "The company also requested an updated resource assessment due to the results and consistency of recent exploration. The new resource assessment has reflected the upside of the sand-driven gassy reservoirs and returned a substantial 20% increase in 2C contingent resources to just over 6 TCF. It has also added a similar level of prospective resources which will move into the contingent category as further exploration confirms the geological potential." The report certified 5.8 TCF of prospective resource on the two exploration rights where work is continuing.
This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist. Probably by the middle of next year, if things go well, Exxaro will likely achieve financial close on a renewable energy project, which, from a sizing perspective, will probably be north of 100 MW,and located in Mpumalanga. This was made clear by Exxaro MD for Energy Leon Groenewald in response to Mining Weekly on progress being made by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company in its partnership with independent energy company Enertrag. Last month, financial close was achieved for the 68 MW Lephalale solar project to supply renewable energy to Exxaro's Grootegeluk coal mine in Limpopo. This was announced by Cennergi, a subsidiary of Exxaro Resources, Grotegeluk's owner and operator. Cennergi will supply renewable energy to the flagship mine for 25 years through a power purchase agreement. Of the Mpumalanga project, Groenewald added: "We're working very hard at it. It's an interesting and tough project, but we're looking forward to that and the good part is that the work is very complementary to the solar profile, so that helps a lot in terms of saving electricity, plus electricity cost and also having Scope 2 reductions. We'll keep you posted as that progresses." As reported by Exxaro in April, its partnership with independent energy company Enertrag aims to develop wind and solar solutions for the mining industry in Mpumalanga. "We've basically done all of the permitting exercises, so now we're in the conversation regarding offtake and financing. "Just to give you some idea, the project per se is a bit more complex than the 68 MW Lephalale solar project because we're looking at multiple offtakers with different life-of-mines and then project financing. "Where Grootegeluk was one project with a long power purchase agreement, a single off taker and able to be project financed, here we're looking at a different configuration, so it's interesting and we're looking forward to that," Groenewald added. On Thursday, August 17, Exxaro reported that worsening electricity shortages are presenting opportunities for its renewable energy business, which delivered improved 17% higher half-year revenue. This was on a 28% overall decrease in earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) to R7 661-million for the coal-mining company. Mining Weekly: Is that wonderful 80% margin that you report on your renewables business sustainable? Groenewald: Yes, it's an industry norm, but what you must understand so that's an Ebitda margin. On a net profit margin, you've got to take the cost of debt into consideration and that's different, but we seeing 70% to 80% is not outside the norm. If you look at your cost levels, they are fairly low and most of them are CPI linked. It is true that in some cases, you have a bit of pushback in some of your operation and maintenance contracts that have a dollar or a Euro component and that makes it slightly challenging, but over the long term those numbers are, I think, fairly predictable, as 80% is not outside the norm and we see new projects we are testing as well looking to be okay. As reported earlier by the black empowered diversified resources and renewable energy company Exxaro, the partnership with Enertrag has a potential pipeline of 700 MW. Furthermore, Exxaro is in discussion with various parties to acquire near-permitted sites to further boost its entry into the energy market. The potential pipeline ranges from 370 MW to 975 MW. It so doing, the company is mindful of South Africa's electricity grid constraints, which remain a challenge. There are around 9 GW of renewable energy projects under development in South Africa, of which the mining sector is said to account for 6.5 GW. Having created renewable-energy company Cennergi in 2012, Exxaro built two wind farms with a combined capacity of 229 MW in the Eastern Cape in 2016, which is underpinning its foray into solar power. By accelerating its de...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the green electrons now flowing into Harmony Gold mine shafts that will reduce carbon emissions by 65 000t; the first phase of Vedanta Zinc International’s renewable energy programme; and Glencore Alloys solar power project.
Decarbonisation of coal mining company Exxaro's operations and entire value chain is an urgent imperative to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which will result in the additional benefits of avoiding market barriers, fines and the loss of social licence to operate. Exxaro Resources CEO Dr Nombasa Tsengwa highlighted this on Thursday, August 17, when the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company reported that worsening electricity shortages were presenting opportunities for its renewable energy business, which reported improved 17% higher half-year revenue. Overall, the JSE-listed black-empowered diversified resources and renewable energy group reported a 28% decrease in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) to R7 661-million. "By accelerating our decarbonisation plan, we can also realise cost savings, partnership opportunities and favourable financing terms," Tsengwa said during the half-year results presentation covered by Mining Weekly. (Also see attached Creamer Media video.) Decarbonisation is described as being central to the strategy of the company, which is looking to contribute "meaningfully" to the energy transition, through renewable-energy generation for its own operations and other customers, alongside the production of critical minerals, such as copper, manganese and bauxite. Outlined was how the transition to clean energy hinged on clean energy technology supply chains to source critical minerals, as steel from manganese and iron-ore will be required for wind turbines, plus more copper for transmission lines and offshore wind power, and even more aluminium from bauxite to support solar photovoltaic plants. "We are aware as well of the increasing scrutiny and pressure to which coal companies are subjected. This manifests through the exit of some international investors from the sector, while multinationals reorganised their portfolios. "As a result, we are happy to report that we have revised our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emission targets to 40% by 2026. We have finalised our value chain Scope 3 analysis with the majority from our Eskom supply, very much around 97% of our Scope 3. Hence we need to pursue other Eskom suppliers to partner with us in dealing with Scope 3 emissions," said Tsengwa. DEVASTATING WAR The challenges presented by the prolonged and devastating war in Ukraine, together with its knock-on implications for broader Europe and energy security across vulnerable economies softened volatile commodity prices, and high inflation, were having a significant impact on the mining industry, hurting margins and cash flows. The 28% decrease in half-year Ebitda to R7 661-million was driven by lower thermal coal prices, which slipped by over 60% from the highs of 2022, and lower production volumes owing to sub-par rail performance and lower offtake from Eskom arising from equipment unavailability. The company's resilient performance despite lower export sales prices and volumes, and ongoing logistical challenges, has been reported amid: added uncertainty around the intensity and the duration of global macroeconomic volatility; the much-anticipated tailwinds from the Chinese economic recovery not yet being realised; and the continued increase in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve contributing to the lingering retreat of global markets and the softening of commodity prices Securing a sustainable future remains a key priority for governments and businesses around the world, which translates into intensified opposition to coal mining and coal-fired power generation. So, too, however, has the need to ensure that the future supply of critical minerals is secured to meet the rush to the net-zero emissions target by 2050. Given all the market dynamics in play, it is essential that companies have the balance sheet strength to navigate the volatility and uncertainty, which means adopting a bias towards cash preservation in anticipation of headwinds. "The preservation results in under-...
Platinum-enabled hydrogen fuel cell technology is taking the pollution out of the city of Berlin, as it may in time also do in Johannesburg given the local projects that are under way. By hailing a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), more than 100 000 customers have chosen to desist from adding to the world's unhealthy transport fume problem. First launched at the end of 2022, H2 Moves Berlin is Germany's largest FCEV fleet, and forms part of Anglo American's strategy to help accelerate zero emission transport through the deployment of platinum-enabled hydrogen FCEVs. When used in a fuel cell, platinum serves as the catalyst to generate electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. This is then used to power the motor of an FCEV, which can be refuelled in five minutes and drive 650 km without needing to refuel - and it's all squeaky clean. This has all been brought about by Anglo, Toyota Germany and taxi operator SafeDriver Group-ENNOO. H2 Moves Berlin, which is leveraging Berlin's existing hydrogen refuelling infrastructure and the Uber ride-hailing platform, currently has 115 Toyota Mirai vehicles in use, with the fleet looking to expand to as many as 200 vehicles in the coming months. "The last few months have shown that our passengers are very enthusiastic about the sustainability and comfort that FCEVs can provide," SafeDriver Group MD Thomas Mohnke stated in a release to Mining Weekly. "Our drivers meanwhile appreciate the driving performance of an electric car with the range and refuelling speed of a combustion engine. As a fleet operator looking to minimise cars' downtime while delivering zero emission mobility, FCEVs simply make sense," Mohnke highlighted. The Mirai's long range and short refuelling times have proven popular with both drivers and users, with the FCEV fleet providing significantly more rides per vehicle than other zero emission ride-sharing options. Beyond the Uber platform, the project has also been supporting Berlin's public events calendar by providing shuttle services at high-profile events such as the Berlinale, Greentech Festival and the Special Olympics. "H2 Moves Berlin proves that alternative drivetrains and everyday use go hand in hand. In more than 100 000 trips across the capital, the Mirai taxis have easily covered more than a million kilometres. This milestone underlines the reliability of hydrogen-powered vehicles," Toyota Germany president and MD André Schmidt stated. Initiatives like H2 Moves Berlin help the uptake of FCEVs both by aligning end-user demand locations with the supply of vehicles and infrastructure access, but also by providing passengers with the opportunity to directly experience the benefits and convenience of hydrogen-powered mobility. In addition to its existing activities in Berlin, Anglo is identifying future light-duty FCEV deployment opportunities in Europe, China and the US. Anglo market development head Benny Oeyen described hydrogen fuel cells as critical technology for zero emission electric vehicles. "We believe that FCEVs are particularly well suited to vehicle fleets, such as taxis and buses, as well as to heavy duty trucks that require the range and rapid refuelling times without the weight of batteries. At the same time, we are also seeing that FCEVs offer relief to increasingly pressured battery minerals supply chains and hence can contribute to the stability and sustainability of electric vehicle supply. "As a leading producer of the platinum needed for fuel cell technology, we have been an early supporter of the potential for a hydrogen economy and will continue to actively support the emerging ecosystem of hydrogen-powered transport in Germany, and beyond," Oeyen added.
South African mining company Vedanta Zinc International has begun the first phase of a renewable energy programme. The company has signed a power purchase agreement with independent power producer Enernet Global to build, own, operate and maintain a 12 MW direct current solar photovoltaic plant for Vedanta Zinc International's Black Mountain Mining operations in the Northern Cape. Construction of the solar plant, which will generate about 29 gigawatt hours of electricity a year, is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2024 and take nine months to complete. Along with construction, the 25-year operational tenor of the plant is poised to generate direct and indirect employment opportunities for communities within the Khâi-Ma municipal area and the broader Namakwa District. Through its renewables energy programme of reducing carbon emissions and enhancing energy reliability and security, Vedanta Zinc International has further decarbonisation advancement on the way, with Phase 2 of the programme encompassing entry into a new power purchase agreement. Executive director and CFO Pushpender Singla highlighted environmental social and governance (ESG) as the company's key focus. "In line with our agenda to transform the planet for the greater good, we have committed to reducing carbon emissions by 35 000 tons and installing 76% renewable energy by 2027. Our goal is carbon neutrality by 2040," Singla stated in a release to Mining Weekly. Enernet MD Africa Bart Haverkamp expressed excitement at being the company's long-term partner for power on its decarbonisation journey, working together on the roadmap, phasing, and roll-out of renewables. The mining company's ESG thrusts are on community programmes, workplace enhancement and green zinc advancement.
Chrome ore has been headlined by ferrochrome and chrome producer Merafe Resources as the star of the show in the six months to June 30. Production volumes of ferrochrome and chrome were lower in the six months to June 30 and production costs increased by double digits as power and logistics challenges persisted, Merafe CEO Zanele Matlala reported on Tuesday, August 15, when company FD Ditabe Chocho presented dividend-yielding R1-billion-profit half-year financial results. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) But buoyed by logistics constraints in South Africa and port stocks remaining low in China, chrome ore prices increased significantly, in the six months to June 30. China, which sources 80% of its chrome ore from South Africa, imported 3% more chrome ore in the period. On the other hand, ferrochrome prices were weaker, owing to subdued demand and over supply. Ferrochrome prices have been trending lower, with current Chinese prices just below $1/lb. Ferrochrome is a main ingredient of stainless steel and only China showed growth in stainless steel production, amid a 2% decline in global production of the corrosion-resistant metal. China continues to dominate stainless steel production, accounting for almost 60% of global stainless steel output, and 65% of global ferrochrome demand. Only China registered ferrochrome demand growth, while globally, half-year uptake showed marginal decline. Contributing to ferrochrome over-supply was a 6% increase in production by China and Kazakhstan. In reporting an 11% increase in revenue to R4.8-billion, Chocho referred to the weakness of the rand for most of the half-year reporting period being one of the key contributors to Merafe's financial performance. Despite the 10% reduction in prices achieved, Chocho drew attention to ferrochrome revenue increasing by 5% to R3.8-billion on marginally lower ferrochrome sales volumes. "Chrome ore was the star performer this time around," he said during the online presentation of results covered by Mining Weekly, with the higher prices holding up during the reporting period and higher volumes sold resulting in a 49% revenue increase to R936-million. Platinum group metals (PGMs) revenue of R35-million was negatively affected by feed and yield production issues as well as PGM prices being under pressure. Sustaining capital expenditure increased by 56% to R222-million as a result of capital expenditure rolled over from the previous years and price increases. Expansionary capital expenditure of R5-million includes R0.3 million spent on the PGMs processing plant. The main focus of the business of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Merafe is on the 20.5% participation of wholly owned subsidiary, Merafe Ferrochrome and Mining, in the earnings before tax, depreciation and amortisation of the Glencore-Merafe venture, in which Glencore has a 79.5% participation.
The use of hydrogen in difficult-to-electrify applications is being assessed at Worsley Alumina, the integrated bauxite mining and alumina refining operation in Western Australia, which supplies alumina to Hillside Aluminium in South Africa, Eskom's largest single industrial customer. However, production costs, markets and associated infrastructure will need to develop substantially for it to become a viable alternative, South32 stated in an emailed response to Mining Weekly, on the prospect of the company using green hydrogen to lower the carbon factor in producing alumina, as is being piloted by Rio Tinto and Sumitomo, for example, to build Gladstone hydrogen pilot plant to trial lower-carbon alumina refining. Work to date has indicated that electrifying steam generation is likely to be preferable to the use of hydrogen. However, hydrogen may have a role to play in achieving the high processing temperatures required for calcination. The Sydney-, Johannesburg- and London-listed South32, as a founding member of Australia's Heavy Industry Low-Carbon Transition Cooperative Research Centre (HILT CRC), partnered in five of HILT CRC's QuickStart projects in its 2022 financial year, covering topics such as low emission calcination and steam generation, energy storage, regulatory implications, and emissions profiling. HILT CRC, a collaborative venture between industry, government and research organisations, was formed to develop and accelerate technologies for heavy industry to transition to net zero. On the steps taken so far to self-generate clean electricity at Hillside, South32 described its near-term decarbonisation initiatives at Hillside as being focused on energy efficiency, while it investigates options for an alternate low-carbon energy solution to transition Hillside's energy source from coal-based power supplied from South Africa's national electricity grid to secure, reliable and affordable low-carbon energy in the medium-term. It is seeking to partner with entities that focus on utility-scale energy projects and support their investments through long-term power purchase agreements, subject to them being financially viable. "We continue to work with Eskom, government, and commercial partners to develop and implement an energy solution at the scale required for a large aluminium smelter. "Core streams of work to decarbonise Hillside Aluminium include engaging with Eskom to explore opportunities to convert our existing power agreement to low-carbon energy, and investigating options for sourcing and securing low-carbon power through power purchase agreements with independent power producers and aggregators of renewable energy," said South32, headed by CEO Graham Kerr. Mining Weekly: How much has South32 benefited over the years by being allowed to pay electricity tariffs very well below the going rate at Hillside? The negotiated pricing agreement (NPA) in place at Hillside was approved by National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) in 2021. At the time, Nersa publicly outlined its rationale for supporting the agreement, stating that there was a "net benefit to the rest of the customer base in putting this agreement in place." The pricing agreement helps the smelter to remain internationally competitive so it can continue to deliver benefits in South Africa. Eskom has outlined in detail its rationale for the NPA with South32 in a publicly available submission to Nersa in February 2021. In its submission, Eskom noted Hillside's role in supporting stability of the electricity grid. Hillside plays an important role in keeping the electricity grid stable and helping to manage loadshedding given its consistent level of electricity consumption and the interruptibility provision in its energy supply agreement. During times of high strain on the national grid, Eskom interrupts around 450 MW of supply to Hillside's potlines to support the grid, which means less load-shedding for other customers. Taking into account Hillsides...
The decarbonisation and solar power plans of Glencore Alloys are coming to the fore with the first 25 MW solar plant on the way, Glencore Alloys head Japie Fullard told Mining Weekly at question time during this week's media call. Glencore Alloys is a large producer of ferrochrome and a major producer of primary vanadium. "We've got all our approvals in place so we will be starting to build that at the Rhovan vanadium operation," Fullard said. Rhovan is situated about 30 km to the northwest of Brits, in South Africa's North West province. On Glencore Alloys' other renewable energy projects, Fullard said that as part of a virtual power purchase agreement process, the company is working with two independent power producers (IPPs) where the company will be receiving wheeled energy. "With one of our IPPs, we're about 95% complete and with the other about 40% complete. On the one IPP, we're talking about 200 MW and on the other 150 MW solar. It's quite substantial," Fullard added. Glencore Alloys produces and markets chrome ore, ferrochrome and vanadium, as well as manganese ore and alloys. Forming part of Glencore Alloys' decarbonisation commitments are potential on-site projects involving possible cogeneration, which involves turning currently wasted operational offgas into electricity. Elaborating on the company's overall decarbonisation implementation, Glencore Industrial Assets head Peter Freyberg described Fullard's South African ferroalloys team as the poster boys for getting things done on the decarbonisation front, driven by necessity. The London- and Johannesburg-listed company, which set a short-term target of a 15% reduction in total Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2026, is on track to achieve those targets, and has works in place to achieve what it is saying it needs to do by 2035. "We've got a broad range of initiatives worldwide, the main ones right now being focused on Scope 2 emissions, which are one-third of our Scope 1 emissions, and are probably the quickest that we can do to switch from carbon-intensive electricity that we're buying around the world, to renewables. This is happening whether it's in South America, Australia, Europe or wherever, and making sure that we take this initiative early and lock-in those reductions. "In terms of Scope 1, we're also doing a lot of work around waste heat and the electrification of mining fleets. We expect in the next 18 months or so to be running trials. We're looking at fuel switching where that's possible and also, where feasible - and this is going back to Scope 2 - we have solar projects worldwide," said Freyberg, who added that in South Africa, there are a wide range of initiatives within Astron Energy to make that refinery more efficient and reduce its carbon. Regarding the extent to which the winddown of South Africa's coal operations will be balanced by participation in the Just Energy Transition, Glencore Coal CEO Murray Houston said: "Our amount of assets and our life-of-mine long-term planning to 2026, 2035 and ultimately 2050 strategy fits very well within the early stages of the Just Energy Transition. "We're engaged by the coal leadership forum at the Minerals Council South Africa on this transition because it's going to be a huge focus regionally on the Highveld, and a massive challenge with that concentration of economic activity there. Along with the coal industry, it's also hugely important that Eskom's part of that, but also key players in the Highveld area like Transnet and Sasol. "It's relatively early days of this holistic engagement and the intensity is still evolving but that's the picture in terms of how we see our business fitting in with that country transition," said Houston. On Glencore's vision for petroleum supplier company Astron, Glencore CEO Gary Nagle said: "Astron is up and running. We've got a terrific management team that has done a terrific job in rebuilding the refinery, and motivating the team. The refinery is operating at full cap...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses major global mining companies choosing Africa as their biggest and best investment destination; metals and minerals from Africa vital for fight against climate change; and Namibia catching the eye, yet again, as a country of choice when it comes to foreign mining investment.
The all-time-high second-quarter (Q2) gold price is less about the forecast decline in interest rates and more about risk-on amid global economy wrestling and world deglobalisation, Barrick president and CEO Dr Mark Bristow highlighted this week, following his round-the-world travel. "China is certainly going to recover - but not back to where it was," Bristow forecast during the Q2 results presentation of the New York- and Toronto-listed gold and copper mining company. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Without investment, supply chains and more challenged economies stand to be hurt and a future created in which "the rich continue to get richer and the poor get even poorer," said Bristow, in reporting 6%-higher Q2 gold production to more than one-million ounces, and 22% higher copper production to 107-million pounds. Barrick's operating cash flow rose by 7% to $832-million, net earnings jumped 143% to 17c a share, and adjusted net earnings increased by 36% to 19c a share, with the quarterly dividend maintained at 10c. Year-on-year, the total recordable injury frequency rate was 8% lower and greenhouse gas emissions 12% down. The call for new advances was driven home to Bristow at the mining summit held by Barrick in Islamabad, Pakistan, where the company's Reko Diq project is being progressed. Bristow found interesting the realisation that things need to change amid criticism of 70 years of mistakes having taken place in Pakistan, despite the country having everything needed to get on top of things. "It's got the people, by far, but it needs to care about them," said Bristow, drawing on the addresses of leadership at the mining summit, which emphasised the country's need to focus on development and not just exploitation. He found a great need for Pakistan to attract foreign investments, with Pakistan's Minister of Petroleum spotlighting the country's new strategy of turning red tape into a red carpet for investors - "and that's very interesting and a massive transition in a country that has many challenges". NEED FOR WORLD RELOOK Barrick, through merging with Randgold Resources, has more than a quarter century of asset-building history in West Africa. Against that background, Bristow made these points: "We've seen in West Africa what happens when we neglect developing countries. We've spoken many times to some of the major economies in the world about West Africa and the importance of staying there and engaging in conversation and working on investment, instead of just lecturing. "The elected governments right across that region have failed and we don't seem to want to do anything about it except lecture, and so there's a big need for the world to relook at how it manages its business," Bristow pointed out. As far as the policy towards mining and metals is concerned in the US, there is a need in Bristow's view for reflection on just exploiting other people's natural resources rather than developing some of its own, "and engaging and supporting a real mining industry, because that's what's required if we're going to have a better world ahead of us". "There certainly is conversation starting around those topics and I've spoken a lot about the importance of partnerships and development across the world and the real results that are starting to materialise in Barrick's policy of driving partnerships with our host countries around the world." Regarding exploration, Bristow outlined how Barrick would be able to share real borehole results by the end of Q3 because of its success with the drill bit and community development. Well ahead of actual mining, Barrick has already established two primary schools in Pakistan's Balochistan province that have a more-or-less 50:50 split between boys and girls, which is seen as being a considerable achievement given the current gender retrogression in neighbouring Afghanistan. As Barrick has done at its Kibali gold mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Balochistan people are being ...
In addition to the interim dividend of $2.8-billion, diversified mining company Glencore on Tuesday announced a top up of $2.2-billion, which lifted this year's total announced shareholder returns to $9.3-billion. "If you look at the results as a whole for 2023 versus some of our history, and if we exclude 2022 - which, as we know, was an exceptional year because of its circumstances - this is the best first half we've had in the last 20 years," Glencore CEO Gary Nagle said during the London- and Johannesburg-listed company's presentation of half-year results, covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Glencore reported half-year earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of $9.4-billion, $7.4-billion of that from the industrial asset business and on the marketing side, an adjusted marketing Ebit of $1.8-billion, annualising above the guidance range of $2.2-billion to $3.2-billion a year. With the top end of range exceeded, the company is guiding between $3.5-billion and $4-billion for the year. "We're nicely on track to meet that guidance for the full year on a very solid and strong set of results from the marketing side of $1.8-billion. The business remains highly cash-generative and through the first half of the year, the cash generated by our operating activities was just short of $8.5-billion, which has allowed us to return additional cash to our shareholder," said Nagle. The $2.2-billion top-up shareholder return is broken up between R1-billion in cash dividends and $1.2-billion of share buyback, taking the already announced 2023 returns to the R9.3-billion return. ENVIRONMENTAL SCORECARD On the environmental side, during the early part of the year the company published updates on its progress in the three main areas of climate, water and nature, with the 2022 Climate Report and 2022 Sustainability Report providing transparency on how it approached its ESG and in particular, the environmental side of the business. On the social side, the loss of life of an employee has resulted in an intensification of efforts to strive for zero harm. On the back of record 2022 profits, Glencore paid $12-billion in tax, royalties and levies, compared with $7.6-billion in 2021, On the governance side, under agreements with the Department of Justice, two independent compliance monitors have begun work. Overall tailings conformance has also been achieved to the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) for "extreme" and "very high consequence" tailings dams, which have been independently assured by third-party assurance. Work is continuing on full tailings dam disclosure, with the remainder to be made known by 2025, as required under GISTM. TRANSITION METALS Glencore took first-half steps to invest in three transition metals opportunities that firmed up its copper, cobalt, aluminium-alumina and zinc decarbonising metals range. The first, in Alunorte, provides Glencore with long-term exposure to carbon alumina and bauxite. The second makes Glencore the sole owner and operator of the MARA copper project in Argentina, and the third involves an agreement to acquire the remaining 17.8% of Polymet to gain access to copper, nickel and platinum-palladium. "Zinc is sometimes the forgotten commodity of decarbonisation, but it is absolutely critical in the decarbonisation journey," said Nagle. As a producer of a million tons of copper a year, Glencore has considerable brownfields copper leeway to add another million tons of copper, which will be brought on as the world needs it. "We also continue to grow our recycling business and we promote circularity and will continue to invest in that, both organically and inorganically. "We're already producing a significant amount of metals through our recycling business and it gives us an added advantage in being able to add third-party material, our own material and recycled material. "Not only is it the responsible thing to do but when you lo...
Four out of the five the top-tier gold-mining assets of AngloGold Ashanti are in Africa. As the cornerstones of the company, these tier 1 mines are Geita in Tanzania, Obuasi and Iduapriem in Ghana, and Kibali in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) The fifth tier 1 mine is Tropicana in Australia. In all metrics, the top-tier mines form part of the first quartile of big assets in the world and account for 80% of AngloGold's earnings and 75% of the mineral reserve. Collectively, the five tier 1 assets account for 1.7-million ounces a year at a total cash cost of $940/oz and an all-in sustaining cost of $1 200. These are the longer life and lower cost companies that have potential to increase their production. When it comes to projects, the advancing tier 1 project pipeline is in the United States, where five projects are being progressed in the Beatty District, where there is potential to produce more than 300 000 oz of gold a year over multi decades at all-in sustaining cost in the high $900/oz, with first production planned at the end of 2025. In a reassessing of its portfolio, AngloGold Ashanti has subdivided its assets into tier 1 assets, tier 2 assets and 'other'. The second-tier assets include the shorter life Siguiri of Guinea, Sunrise Dam of Australia, Cerro Vanguardia of Argentina, and Cuiaba of Brazil. The focus on these is to lower the cash costs. These collectively produce 889 000 oz a year at an all-in sustaining cost of $1 598/oz and have a 23-million ounce resource. These tier 2 operations are run probably for cash and coming second in the rankings when it comes to new capital, with the tier 1's likely receiving priority, but still being nurtured with sustaining capital expenditure. Falling into other are Córrego do Sitio and Serra Grande in Brazil and require a decision on their future course. These are mature, high-cost operations with flexibility constraints. They produce 158 000 oz a year at an all-in sustaining cost of $2 377/oz and a mineral reserve of eight-million ounces. "By scale, they don't belong in a portfolio like AngloGold but we are still responsible stewards. They are very high in the cash cost category and they are causing a significant drain and loss of competitiveness," AngloGold CEO Alberto Calderon said during last week's results presentation covered by Mining Weekly. "Córrego do Sitio is a complex mine and at some point this year we'll take a decision. We'll try to sell it, as we did before, and if we can't, we'll take other decisions like putting it in care and maintenance. "Serra Grande is different. We expect it to be cash positive in the second half. It was slightly negative in the first half but it's small in nature. If at some point in the future we can find a good home for it, we will do but there is not urgency on Serra Grande because we don't expect any losses in the second half. It's back to covering its own costs and sustaining capex," Calderon explained. RENEWABLES PROJECT At the Tropicana mine, AngloGold has entered into an agreement with Pacific Energy to construct and operate 62 MW of wind and solar power generation capacity at the site. Pacific Energy will construct a renewables project and continue to operate the combined renewables power station under a ten-year power purchase agreement. Once complete, the project is expected to deliver a 50% reduction in overall natural gas consumption. The capital cost of constructing the renewable infrastructure, made up of 24 MW of wind turbine capacity, 24 MW of photovoltaic solar capacity and 14 MW of battery energy storage capacity, will be incorporated into the ongoing power costs charged to the Tropicana joint venture partners. The project, which is designed to maximise the emission reduction while retaining power costs at current levels, is scheduled for completion in early 2025, with on-site construction expected to begin in the second half of this year.
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer unpacks South Africa's advantage in being able to develop a successful hydrogen economy; Pan African taking a stance against any attempts to derail the R2.5-billion Mogale Tailings Retreatment project; and the promotion platinum-based fuel cell electric vehicles.
A strong call has been made for illegal mining in the area of the R2.5-billion Mogale Tailings Retreatment project on Gauteng's West Rand to be brought to a halt. "It will not be tolerated on our site," Pan African Resources CEO Cobus Loots has made clear. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) The London Aim- and Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed gold mining company has acquired the surface area and immovable assets where its Mogale operations are situated, near Krugersdorp and Kagiso, and is reserving its rights to take the necessary legal action against any parties that hinder, obstruct or prevent access to its properties or assets. Very positively, the creation of jobs and community development programmes will provide local youth with legitimate and sustainable opportunities, including skills development, learnerships and bursary opportunities. "We cannot allow our people or property to be threatened, and we cannot allow communities and the environment of Mogale to continue to suffer," he said at the sod-turning ceremony covered by Mining Weekly. "To our government police officials, we are asking you to take our hand and assist here and together we will succeed. "When we started looking at the Mintails project, most of our stakeholders were sceptical, as so many parties have tried and failed at this site in the past. "To get to this point of finally breaking ground, we've had to endure quite a lot and it continues. "It has taken more than three years of incredibly hard work and commitment as well as a very large financial investment by Pan African Resources. "We've negotiated and concluded agreements with creditors, liquidators, lawyers, landowners, non-governmental organisations, contractors, our bankers, more than 20 legal agreements to date. "We've engaged and worked with our regulators, including the Department of Minerals and Energy and the Department of Water and Sanitation, and we've convincingly demonstrated how this project will benefit the environment and all legitimate stakeholders. "This project now enjoys the full support of all our legitimate stakeholders and we will not let them down. "The site is currently barren, hostile, unable to sustain life, with a host of liabilities and hazards. Independent studies demonstrate that our operation will dramatically improve the environment here over the project's life to the benefit of all that call this area home. "We will re-deposit tailings on facilities complying with modern standards. As part of the project, we will also look to the sun for energy and we look forward to cooperating with the Gauteng government in this regard. "We've put together the very best team to execute the project. We recognise that our work is just beginning on this site. We appreciate the construction of this project on time and on budget will not be easy. It will be very hard, and again to our other stakeholders present today, we will require your assistance. "Many investors, both local and international, have written off South Africa as a mining investment destination. "The eyes of the people of Krugersdorp, Kagiso, Mogale, our shareholders, potential investors, employees, regulators, contractors, suppliers, and other stakeholders are now also on our R2.5-billion project. "We need to demonstrate that projects of this scale can be successfully constructed in South Africa. We look forward to welcoming you back to the site in a little bit over a year from now, to celebrate the successful commissioning of this world-class project," said Loots.
South Africa has all the pieces necessary for the development of a successful green hydrogen economy. South Africa also has a depth of rand funding to be able to support green hydrogen projects, and enable green hydrogen to play a critical role in decarbonisation priorities of this country's heavy industries. The nine green hydrogen projects that were gazetted with strategic integrated project (SIP) status last year on the back of South Africa's inaugural hydrogen conference are under debottlenecking scrutiny to ensuring that the necessary licences are in place. South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) is financing two of the SIP projects and assessing investments in others. Among these are Saldanha, Coega and a green hydrogen production and export hub in Boegoebaai, in the Northern Cape, partnership between Sasol and the Northern Cape government. With the competitive advantages that South Africa has, the country can feed into a number of European and Asian countries that are not going to be able to produce sufficient green hydrogen to decarbonise their own economies. South Africa itself needs to develop a local market for green hydrogen to decarbonise this country's heavy industries, provide green ammonia to our fertiliser industry, give our textile industry a green future and serve the marine bunkering fuel market. These and many more far-reaching points were made by IDC Chief Operations Officer Joanne Bate in a Zoom interview with Mining Weekly, in which she emphasised that green hydrogen should be seen as an industrial enabler with the potential to grow green products, jobs and exports. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) South Africa's newly announced a R18-billion SA-H2 fund dedicated to finance green hydrogen projects in the country is supported by climate-focused blended finance investment firm Climate Fund Managers, the Dutch government's Invest International, life insurer and investment group Sanlam, the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the IDC, among others. The fund is building off the model of Climate Fund Managers, which has similar infrastructure funds that are operating around the globe. "We really liked their model of blended finance so that we can get that early stage risk capital into accelerating the hydrogen economy. "We're looking at finding other partners to co-fund with us. To date, we've had a lot of interest from multilateral development banks and other development financiers around the globe, particularly from Europe and the East. "We do believe that there's going to be significant appetite for this fund. It now is for us to get the fund closed so that we can start investing in some of the early stage projects," said Bate. What factors are supporting South Africa's participation in the green hydrogen economy? We've got a long history in hydrogen production and through the Department of Science Innovation, we've been looking at the hydrogen economy since 2008, with some very interesting innovations that have been driven by South Africa. Sasol produces roughly 2.4 million tonnes per annum of grey hydrogen, so with our experience in hydrogen production, and management and transportation, we've got a leg up on driving the hydrogen economy within South Africa. From a green hydrogen perspective, we have incredible renewable conditions, we have some of the best irradiation conditions in the world, I think second only to Chile. We also have amazing wind capacity. This combined with our access to platinum group metals, which are critical in both electrolysers and fuel cells, as well as our access to other key critical minerals for the green economy. Specifically, Sasol's Fischer-Tropsch technology puts us at the forefront of driving this hydrogen opportunity. We've got all of the pieces necessary to build a successful green hydrogen economy. We also have a robust financial system, we have a depth of rand funding to be able to support these projects, and we believe that g...
Gold mining company Pan African on Wednesday gave stern notice that it will not tolerate the actions of a few parties with selfish interests that want to derail the R2.5-billion Mogale Tailings Retreatment project, west of Johannesburg in the Kagiso/Krugersdorp area. Pan African possesses all the requisite permits to conduct gold recovery activities and for certain community members to state that the internationally listed Pan African is working with illegal Zama Zama miners is beyond belief, given that its activities in the area will, in fact, do the exact opposite - namely, lead to the closure of old workings accessed by Zama Zamas. Very positively, the creation of jobs and community development programmes will provide local youth with legitimate and sustainable opportunities, including skills development, learnerships and bursary opportunities. Pan African has begun hiring members of the local communities and to date has 111 employees on site, of which 70 (63%) have been employed from the local communities. Only where it is unable to procure skills locally does it seek employees from outside of the host communities. At 12 community consultations held from May 26 to June 10, documents were made available that outlined the employment application process. An image was provided showing job advertisements placed in local community recreation parks, tuckshops and municipal offices. The adverts resulted in the receipt of 948 curriculum vitaes from local community members, which will be made available to the main contractor for consideration, with more to follow as the project progresses. Where skills are not available locally, these are procured from other parts of the province. Pan African cannot compromise on safety and will develop local suppliers and skills. However, this is a long-term process and will be incorporated over the development of the project. Protesting and disrupting activities to demand jobs and contracts up front and without following due process will not be entertained. All contracts and employment opportunities will be transparent and awarded on the basis of merit, Pan African stated in a release to Mining Weekly. The company has acquired the surface area and immovable assets where its operations are situated and is reserving its rights to take the necessary legal action against any parties that hinder, obstruct or prevent access to its properties or assets. In September 2022, after lengthy negotiations, the London Aim and main board Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Pan African finalised the acquisition of the Mintails project from the liquidator of Mintails Mining SA. This followed a long period where the project area had been abandoned, and the plant and equipment from previous operators vandalised and stolen, resulting in significant crime, job losses and damage to the economy and environment. Communities were left in distress with pollution at unprecedented levels. As reported by Engineering News & Mining Weekly, Pan African's project execution process has subsequently kicked off, initially focusing on the detailed engineering design, environmental approvals and Integrated Water Use Licence (IWUL) application with considerable expenditure incurred to date. This will result in a significant and meaningful boost to all stakeholders and benefits in the long term for the area. Extensive community consultations during various stages of the project were undertaken as prescribed by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy as part of the permitting process. Pan African received immense support from representatives of the affected communities and interested and affected parties that participated and who it feels are the legitimate stakeholders. COMMUNITY PROTESTS AND INTERDICTS To commemorate the start of the Mogale Tailings Retreatment project construction, Pan African held a sod-turning ceremony on July 25 at which certain 'members of the local community' were mobilised to disrupt the event, by protes...
Funding has closed for the gold-from-dumps mining project west of Johannesburg, which has the potential to make the surrounding towns thrive once again, and be a shining example of what modern mining can be. The full upfront capital of R2.5-billion for the project's development has been secured, with conditions precedent to its R1.3-bilion senior debt facility for the funding of the Mogale project in the Kagiso/Krugersdorp area being fulfilled, London- and Johannesburg-listed Pan African Resources stated in a release to Mining Weekly on Tuesday, August 1. With Nedbank Limited, acting through its Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking division, as co-financier, the senior debt facility was underwritten by Rand Merchant Bank, a division of FirstRand Bank. In addition, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has granted an environmental authorisation for the project in terms of regulation 24(1)(a) of the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 2014. "All stakeholders acknowledge that the present situation at Krugersdorp's Mogale requires intervention, and we intend being part of the solution," Pan African chairperson Keith Spencer declared assuredly at the Mogale Tailings Retreatment sod-turning. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Pan African not only mines gold, but has a track record of leaving the areas in which it operates in better condition, thus improving the lives of surrounding communities. "I can assure you that Pan African will work to our ethos of making a positive difference to the site in the years ahead," said Spencer, in drawing attention to the West Rand location of the Mogale Tailings Retreatment project having produced more than 2 000 t of gold from numerous deep underground shafts and tunnels, with some mines in the area deeper than 3.5 km from surface. The many years of mining have scared the environment west of the City of Gold, where the mining of the precious metal began in the 1880's, and created a number of challenges, both environmentally and socially. Pan African has tailings retreatment plants in Barberton and at Evander, its most recent Elikhulu operation producing around 50 000 oz of gold a year, similar to what the Mogale Tailings Retreatment is projected to do. The same team from Elikhulu is advancing the Mogale project under team leaders Jonathan Irons and Oriel Shikwambana. Apart from removing the unsightly and dangerous tailings, there will be the added benefit of filling in abandoned underground tunnels with re-mined waste material to eliminate illegal access by Zama Zama miners. The rehabilitated ground can be put to better economic use for factories, industry and housing, which is to be discussed further with the the local authorities and the Gauteng provincial government. This is another area where Pan African is heading 'beyond compliance' in host community development while creating 20-year job prospects and economic opportunities for local companies to provide services. Where it can, it will assist with developing local suppliers and creating even more work opportunities. It is therefore critical that this operation succeeds, as it will provide significant long-term employment and skills development opportunities to the local people, while adding a boost to the local economy and making the surrounding towns thrive once again. A planned renewable energy plant at Mogale will further support the national electricity grid and reduce loadshedding "I look forward to being involved with project teams and being updated about developments, including the social and labour plan initiatives. "We foresee this becoming a magnificent operation with a large number of people from our communities having a place to come to work every day, being able to learn new skills and being able to support their families. "I have a vision of standing here again next year when we celebrate the commissioning of a fully functioning plant creating value to a previously considered a wasteland - but...
Employees for the construction of the Mogale Tailings Retreatment project on Gauteng's West Rand will be largely locally sourced. "We aim to employ approximately 500 employees during construction and our aim is to source 60% of them from the local community and we also would like to train and employ over 300 permanent operating staff," Mogale Tailings Retreatment project operations manager Oriel Shikwambana told the representatives of government, local authorities, technical institutions, finance houses, law firms, analysts and media attending the sod-turning ceremony. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) "It will probably be anything between 300 and 400 permanent staff and we will ensure that most of the skills that we source will be local," Shikwambana emphasised at the event covered by Mining Weekly. The project involves the retreating of two sand dumps and eight slimes dams over a period of 20 years. Environmental approval was granted in June, with site work beginning this month. Commissioning is scheduled to take place between July and August next year. The retreatment project is being undertaken by Pan African Resources, a midtier gold producer, which is dual primary listed on the London Aim and the main board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, as well as the A2X. Its shares trade on the OTCQX in the US through a Level 1 American Depository Receipt programme, sponsored by the Bank of New York Mellon, and ordinary shares. The potential benefits to the local community from the R2.5-billion two-year investment include the resultant economic activities that will be stimulated in the Kagiso/Krugersdorp area. Various services that will be needed during construction, including accommodation, rental and supplies of certain consumables, will be locally procured. Also highlighted by Shikwambana was the positive effect of the release of land for redevelopment. "Our project is more than just producing gold. It's an environmental clean-up project," he said. ILLEGAL MINERS Current environmental damage includes openpits. These have not been backfilled and are accessible. "There are illegal mining activities taking place within the openpit and the surrounding areas. If you were to come here at night, you would see a lot of illegal mining activities and illegal miners who are armed to the teeth. "There've been quite a number of shooting incidents and our being here as a formal operating institution will start getting the illegal mining activities away from this area," Shikwambana predicted. ACIDIC WATER Earmarked for cleaning is a stream in the area that is polluted with acidic water and associated metals. Process water required for the project will be sourced from 9 Shaft workings and power from Eskom from an existing power line. Remnant tailings will initially be redeposited in the West Wits pit with slimes dam consolidation on two sites. Needing to be dealt with are partially reclaimed but unrehabilitated dumps that are a source of dust, along with the footprint of unlawful dumping and illegal mining debris. A rehabilitation guarantee has been given to the Department of Minerals Resources and Energy. An all-in sustaining cost of $1 000/oz is expected, with 800 000 t a month processed through a carbon-in-leach plant that will yield 50 000 oz/y and a payback of three to four years. With significant success in generating renewable energy at its Evander and Barberton operations, Pan African will be looking to generate solar power for Mogale on site as quickly as it can.
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the Mogale Tailings Retreatment project which had its sod turning this week; Anglo American Platinum finalising the permitting process for the future opencast Middelaagte mine; and Amplats' assurances that green hydrogen can be produced economically.
The De Beers Group faced off tricky macro-economic conditions to record first-half earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of $0.3-billion, with the diamond company's 50% mining margin the highest within the Anglo American stable. "Operational performance at De Beers has been really good," Anglo CE Duncan Wanblad told investment analysts and journalists at this week's half-year results presentation, at which Anglo's overall half-year Ebitda was reported to be a 49%-lower $5.1-billion. "The macro-economic conditions have indeed impacted on rough diamond demand, as they always do, and we are likely, given what's happening in China, to remain challenged during the second half of this year. The consequent result of that is there will be a little bit of build-up in midstream inventory levels," said Wanblad. In producing 16.5-million carats in the half-year, De Beers achieved increases across most assets. An exception was South Africa's Venetia in Limpopo province, which, as planned, transitioned from open pit to underground, in what is described as "a really hard-earned milestone". (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Regarding the macro headwinds faced, De Beers Group CFO Sarah Kuijlaars told Mining Weekly in a Teams interview: "The macro-economic conditions have been tougher than we would like. It's easy to forget, but 2021/2022 were outstanding for the diamond industry, and we've come off that a bit. You'll recall there was fiscal stimulus in the US and as that's unwound, it has provided softer conditions in the diamond market. "India demand has been strong and then if you look across to China, where we all hoped for the pent-up demand to come through, as it had in the US, that's been a bit slower than we expected, so overall tough macro environments for us in the first half," said Kuijlaars. Diamonds are a discretionary purchase and consumers have got to feel confident to go out and purchase their diamonds. "We're looking for signals, particularly in the US and China, to see how that flows through to the end of this year. If we take a step back, we still remain confident of the long-term supply/demand fundamentals. We know demand is going to grow. We know more middle-class income people are going to aspire to buy diamonds, and supply is going to support that demand growth in the longer term." Mining Weekly: What benefits are on the way from the Venetia Underground Project now that first production has been achieved? Kuijlaars: I think we've got to be very conscious that we've got a quite an extensive ramp-up coming through the system, but I'm really proud of how the team has worked together and delivered this key milestone. When will all the i's be dotted and the t's crossed in the extension of the Botswana agreement to 2043? The agreement with the government of Botswana is a really important agreement. I'm delighted that we reached agreement in principle at the end of June, but, as you say, that was an agreement in principle, and we have to work through the long form agreements, which will take months, not weeks, and then ultimately will go to both shareholders for support. Why is the new 25-year Debswana mining licence so important to De Beers? It secures our access to real tier-one assets, some of the best diamond mines in the world. We've been a partner with the government of Botswana for 50-odd years and we look forward to the next 50 with the people of Botswana. When will all the details be sorted out in the new sales arrangement to 2033? For us, it's been very much a negotiation of two halves, of the sales agreement and the mining licence, and they were both being progressed in parallel, but it was great that at the end of June, we did agree to maintain the sales agreement on the previous terms until the new sales agreement is fully signed. Regarding the Diamonds for Development Fund, and the benefits that will accrue to the people of Botswana from De Beers' initial $75-million, one b...
Southern Africa is now the only region in the Anglo American business fold that is not on renewable energy because the company cannot go to a market and acquire that energy in the same way that it has been able to do in many of the other jurisdictions in which it does business, the mining and marketing company reported on Thursday. "So Southern Africa needs a different solution," Anglo CE Duncan Wanblad told the half-year results presentation covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) "You've heard me speaking about Envusa quite a lot, which is our joint venture with EDF Renewables, and the purpose of that joint venture is to stand up somewhere between 3 GW and 5 GW of energy in Southern Africa," said Wanblad after reporting a 49% decrease in half-year earnings to $5.1-billion. The London- and Johannesburg-listed company has now reached the point in Southern Africa where it is almost ready to financially close on the first of its renewables projects, which involves three sites for solar and wind energy generation in the Northern Cape. It is about to also commence work on two large solar sites in Sishen, where Anglo's Kumba Iron Ore is operational, and at the Mogalakwena platinum group metals mine in Limpopo. "These projects don't only remove up to two-million tons of carbon from our operations, but they also have a very meaningful and financially positive benefit to the business, particularly our South African business," Wanblad revealed. Notwithstanding that, all the renewables contracts that Anglo has swopped out across the world have all had a very positive net present value benefit to the business so far. "The team is continuing to work very hard on delivering these projects into Envusa and getting the work done to complete the stability of our energy supply situation, particularly in South Africa, and renew our focus on carbon reduction across the portfolio," Wanblad said. "We remain committed to delivering our products to our customers in the most sustainable way that we possibly can," he added. Anglo's copper operation in Peru, Quellaveco, is now 100% on renewable energy and with the coal business in Australia converting its energy supply contracts to renewables by 2025, that will put 60% of the whole of Anglo's portfolio on clean forms of energy, a great step forward given where the company was just a few years ago. As the only outstanding region in business that is not on renewable energy, Southern Africa also paid the biggest combined taxes in the half-year, totalling $9-billion. During Anglo's sustainability performance report covered by Engineering News & Mining Weekly last month, getting the first wave of 680 MW of renewable energy ecosystem projects under way in South Africa was cited as a 2023 priority. It was said at the time that construction of the 130 MW behind-the-meter on-site project at Mogalakwena is expected in the last quarter of this year. At Sishen, a 70 MW photovoltaic installation is being put in place, with site stabilisation and construction activity predevelopment under way. MACRO HEADWINDS Macro headwinds - principally, weaker prices for products and input cost inflation - have weighed on Anglo's first-half financial performance in the six months to the end of June. Lower earnings reflect a 19% lower product basket price and a 1% unit cost increase, partially offset by a 10% volume increase compared with the first half of 2022. Net debt increasing to $8.8-billion reflects the growth investments that Anglo is making through the cycle in line with its belief in the strong long-term fundamentals. A $0.7-billion half-year dividend of $0.55 a share is in line with the company's 40% payout policy. While the nearer term macro picture presents challenges, the longer term demand outlook for future-enabling metals and minerals is seen by Anglo as being compelling. As most major economies accelerate their decarbonisation programmes and as the global population grows by up to t...
The challenge of being able to produce green hydrogen economically is now home and dry. "That box has been ticked," Anglo American Platinum CEO Natascha Viljoen assured Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) "With measures like the Inflation Reduction Act coming in from the US and with some of the Euro environmental support, we've seen that the debate around our ability to produce green hydrogen economically has broadly gone away," says Viljoen. The conversation is now around infrastructure and end-use development amid the required technologies for green hydrogen generation and hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicle being there for the taking to protect Mother Earth from climate catastrophe. On the fuel cell electric vehicle front, there are more than 400 light vehicle models on the market, "so there's definitely end-use availability as we speak today", says Viljoen. Much now centres on how the system is set up and, in that system, an outpouring of capital commitment has already taken place globally, with many projects going through the final stage of approval. "Momentum in the hydrogen economy has been kickstarted and is really going at pace," Viljoen points out. For current platinum group metals (PGMs) demand to be matched, all that is needed, she adds, is for 10% of the car park to be made up of fuel cell electric vehicles. Whatever the market brings, and however the PGM industry develops the market, Viljoen is confident that the Anglo Platinum she is leaving will be able to play a role in creating a cleaner and a greener future. Mining Weekly: What can be done to ensure greater appreciation of the benefits that PGM-using proton exchange membrane, or PEM electrolysis, to help PEM technology to gain a bigger share of the green hydrogen electrolysis market? Viljoen: The benefit of PEM when compared with alkaline electrolysis is because of the PGM component in PEM electrolysis. Because of the catalytic characteristics of PGM metals, the process stabilises faster at start-up, and then the efficiency of the process throughout is much higher than in alkaline electrolysis. When you think specifically of PEM matching renewables, and we all know that renewables are cyclic, that is where PEM plays a very specific role and where the efficiency of PEM electrolysis totally surpasses alkaline electrolysis, specifically in the application around renewable energy, which is required for green hydrogen production. Mining Weekly is of the view that far more momentum needs to be given to the South African government-led Hydrogen Valley project and the Project Rainbow, which contain a number of multi-partner platinum-using fuel cell electric vehicle opportunities and green hydrogen generation projects. How can this be done? A couple of things are at work together here. For starters, ourselves and Sasol are part of the global Hydrogen Council and in that council, there's a big advocacy drive, along with helping to shape policy and standards around safety, infrastructure and end-use. A big portion of this is how we make this Hydrogen Council material available and get it incorporated into the way that we think strategically and also systemically around how we set up South Africa for hydrogen. The second need includes finding the right level of investment to get the Hydrogen Valley project going, because it can showcase hydrogen end-use. The last is to recognise ourselves as being uppermost in three items. The one is the technology that Sasol has. It is unique technology that belongs to South Africa for hydrogen production. Secondly, we've got the biggest resource of PGMs in the world, and we need to work out how we use that to strategic advantage. Then lastly, a focus is need on how we use the enormous renewable potential that we have as a country. I know that's a little bit further out, and it feels a little bit far-fetched, but the reality is that we are one of only five countries that have enough ...
The official sod-turning ceremony for the Mogale Tailings Retreatment project on Gauteng's West Rand took place on Tuesday, July 25. The R2.5-billion project, near Krugersdorp and Kagiso, received a eyes-on-the-prize send off from the London- and Johannesburg-listed Africa-focused mid-tier gold producer. "Where we stand today, 12 months from today, we'll have a brand new processing plant," Pan African Resources CEO Cobus Loots told Mining Weekly in an interview on site. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) This is Pan African's fourth large-scale tailings plant in a project that is scheduled to be fully commissioned by December next year. "With the support of government, the communities surrounding this area and all of you, Pan African has the opportunity of transforming this site into a shining example of what modern mining can be," said Pan African chairperson Keith Spencer in his address. "The West Rand has produced over 2 000 tons of gold from the numerous deep underground shafts and tunnels, with some mines in this area over three and a half kilometres deep," Spencer added. Largely the same internal teams that completed Pan African's previous three quick-return tailings retreatment projects are undertaking the Mogale project, characterised by fast payback, low costs, big production uplift, long life and high ungeared return. "We estimate an all-in sustaining cost of $1 000/oz, which is world-class," Loots added. The proven technology that will be deployed involves low unit cost hydro mining with low project execution risk at 800 000 t a month through a carbon-in-leach plant, which translates into roughly 50 000 oz a year boost for a company with a 200 000 oz/y asset portfolio. Loots estimates a payback of three to four years. Mogale will consume some 10 MW to 20 MW of electricity, which has been allocated from State power utility Eskom at this point. But with significant success in generating renewable energy at its Evander and Barberton operations, the company will be looking to generate solar power for Mogale on site as quickly as it can. As material from the dumps is processed, the land beneath them will be cleaned up and rehabilitated of the 20-year life-of-mine. On the benefit the mine will bring to the people of Krugersdorp and Kagiso, Loots said: "We believe the project is going to change this area for the better. Certainly, it will create economic opportunity, employment and uplift the environment." The engineering procurement construction management contractor is SGS Bateman. "The project now enjoys full support of all of our stakeholders, and we will not let them down," Loots affirmed.
Platinum group metals (PGMs) mining and marketing company Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) is finalising the permitting process for the future opencast Middelaagte mine, one of three areas of the company's Amandelbult complex. Located in Limpopo, within the municipality of Thabazimbi, the Amandelbult mine will consist of three main areas. Firstly, the modernisation of the existing mining areas that have started to deliver safety and efficiency. Secondly, the start of the Middelaagte through the opencast operation, and thirdly, mining studies to shape the future of Middelaagte and Tumela 1 Sub Shaft. "We are focusing on continuing the rollout of modernisation cycle elements. We are staggering implementation to manage change and truly embed the modernised mining cycle," outgoing Amplats CEO Natascha Viljoen said during the company's half-year presentation on July 24, covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) "This has enabled us to start capturing value through a safer and higher productivity mining cycle and lowering cost. "We are finalising the permitting process and expect to start production at Middelaagte with an opencast mine at the end of this year," Viljoen added. Production will ramp up to a maximum expected rate of between 110 000 t and 180 000 t a month. Furthermore, three studies are currently under way that will provide optionality for either life extension or growth of the Amandelbult complex. The objectives of the Amandelbult studies are to find the optimal mining strategy, volume and timing of various new mining areas and applied mining systems that could be both modernised, conventional, mechanised mining and/or hybrid mining opportunities within the portfolio. The journey Amplats has been undertaking is to try a fully mechanised solution in Tumela 15 East, which has proven valuable in understanding the successes and current limitations of mechanisation for Amandelbult. "These learnings form part of the studies as we map out our optimal pathway for Amandelbult," said Viljoen. Depicted on a slide that was displayed during the presentation was an image of the extra low-profile fleet being trialed, which was shown to be a fraction of the size of conventional mining equipment currently being worked. A marked improvement in safety has been seen at Amandelbult, which is a critical success factor for the future of Amandelbult. The modernisation programme at the mine utilises new technologies to continuously improve safety, mine productivity and simplify operational logistics. This was described as being a positive journey, with focus continuing on the delivery of the programme to enhance the work and to improve operating conditions. Second-quarter performance within the Amandelbult complex was lowered by continued poor ground conditions at Dishaba and short-term operational challenges at Tumela, with underground rail maintenance stoppages impacted. The redevelopment impacted development buffers at Dishaba and an additional labour skills mix has been introduced to restore the mining buffers and to provide flexibility to implement the full benefits of cycle mining across the operations. Half-year capital expenditure (capex) of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Amplats was R8.5-billion, with R4.5-billion on stay-in-business capital and R1-billion on growth capex, the growth capex being predominantly linked to the future of the Mogalakwena mine, where exploration decline work is being undertaken as well as progressing studies associated with the future of Mogalakwena work. Capital was also spent on the Mototolo/De Brochen life extension project, on which around R3-billion is expected to be spent this year. Guidance for the year remains unchanged, with between 3.6-million and 4-million PGM ounces, subject to the impact of Eskom load curtailment. Unit cost guidance for 2023 remains between R16 800 and R17 800 per PGM oz and is expected to be at the upper range of guidance. In 2023, total c...
Momentum is building in the hydrogen economy, which is important for the planet and for platinum group metals (PGMs), Anglo American Platinum FD Craig Miller said on Monday. "There have been over 1 000 hydrogen project proposals announced globally for full or partial deployment by 2030," Miller highlighted. He spoke of direct investments of 10% of the $320-billion made into hydrogen project passing the final investment decision stages during the half-year results presentation of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company that has kept 2023 production guidance unchanged at between 3.6-million to 4-million PGM ounces, subject to the impact of Eskom load curtailment. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) "I know we've spoken a lot about hydrogen over the years and you're probably wondering why. After all, the hydrogen sector is currently a very small proportion of total PGM demand. Put simply, we've spoken about it a lot over the years because hydrogen matters. It matters for our planet but it matters for PGMs," Miller stated in the half-year dividend-yielding presentation covered by Mining Weekly. Miller drew attention to prominence being gained by the PGM-using proton electron membrane (PEM) electrolysers that produce the green hydrogen that protects the planet from deleterious carbon emissions. "We all know the potential for PGMs from PEM electrolysers to make green hydrogen and PEM fuel cells to convert hydrogen into electricity," he said, displaying a slide which illustrated that PGMs are used, or have the potential to be used, in a whole host hydrogen applications from production and conversion through transportation and storage to end-use, with end-uses that included green chemicals, gas turbines, synthetic fuels, purification, sensing and emissions abatement. "We're certainly seeing the momentum build in the hydrogen economy," he added. "We, as Anglo Platinum, continue to invest in the development of a diverse range of existing and new opportunity for our metals. "Our opportunity areas tap into key global trends such as decarbonisation of difficult-to-abate industries and mobility. "For example, in Germany, H2 Moves Berlin, our fuel cell electric vehicle partnership with Toyota Germany, and the SafeDriver Group, now has more than 100 Toyota Mirai deployed as taxis on the streets of the German capital. "Initiatives like these are helping the uptake of fuel cell electric vehicles by aligning end-use demand with the supply of vehicles and infrastructure access, made by influencing new audiences by proactive marketing and education activities," Miller said. FUEL CELL ELECTRIC VEHICLES For PGMs to hold on to their current volume of sales into the automotive market, they need to gain a tenth of the electric vehicle market, which will create demand for five-million to six-million ounces of incremental platinum group metals (PGMs) a year, We're certainly seeing the momentum build in the hydrogen economy. There have been over 1 000 hydrogen project proposals announced globally for full or partial deployment by 2030. Direct investments of $320-billion have made into hydrogen project announced through to 2030, of which 10% have passed the final investment decision stages. We, as Anglo Platinum, continue to invest in the development of a diverse range of existing and new opportunity for our metals. Our opportunity areas tap into key global trends such as decarbonization of difficult-to-abate industries and mobility. For example, in Germany our H2 Moves Berlin, our fuel cell electric vehicle partnership with Toyota Germany, and the SafeDriver, now has more than 100 Toyota Mirai deployed as taxis on the streets of the German capital, while also stimulating the demand for a network of hydrogen refuelling stations. Initiatives like these are helping the uptake of fuel cell electric vehicles by aligning end-use demand with the supply of vehicles and infrastructure access, made by influencing new audiences by proactive marketin...
Platinum group metals (PGM) mining and marketing company Anglo American Platinum on Monday declared an interim dividend after achieving results in line with changed guidance. An interim dividend of R3.1-billion for the first half of 2023, in line with the company's dividend policy of a 40% payout of headline earnings. On half-year capital expenditure (capex), Anglo Platinum FD Craig Miller said in response to Mining Weekly that about R4,5-billion was on stay-in-business capital and R1-billion on growth capex, the growth capex being predominantly linked to the future of the Mogalakwena mine, where exploration decline work is being undertaken as well as progressing studies associated with the future of Mogalakwena work. "We've also spent and we continue to spend on the Mototolo/De Brochen life extension project. That's continuing the life of Mototolo and we're looking at spending around R3-billion this year on that particular investment," Miller added. Owing to maintenance days being aligned with local curtailment days, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company reported that its mining operations manged to stave off being impacted by 42 days of first-half load curtailment . On initiatives and working groups within South Africa's National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM) to focus on the expedited implementation of the Presidential Energy Action Plan, outgoing CEO Natascha Viljoen said in response to Mining Weekly that Anglo Platinum had done "quite a bit" in that partnering process with NECOM to support Eskom, "and it's a partnership not a support, I think that's really important". "From that point of view, we feel quite encouraged on the opportunities for us. As South Africans, we're all keen to make an impact and to help in those areas, and that is encouraging," Viljoen added. Half-year earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) were 69% lower year-on-year at R13.4-billion on lower prices, lower sales volumes, and higher costs, but the mining Ebitda margin generated was a solid 42%. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company's balance sheet remains strong, with net cash of R23.9-billion. Total PGM production decreased by 7% to 1 844 300 PGM ounces and refined PGM production decreased by 13% to 1 699 800 PGM ounces. PGM sales volumes decreased by 12% to 1 807 300 PGM ounces, in line with lower refined production, and PGM trading volumes increased by 214% to 2 065 200 PGM ounces, in line with the strategy for greater participation in the market. Guidance for the year remains unchanged, with between 3.6-million to 4-million PGM ounces, subject to the impact of Eskom load curtailment. Unit cost guidance for 2023 remains between R16 800 and R17 800 per PGM ounce and is expected to be at the upper range of guidance. In 2023, total capital expenditure is expected to remain within the market guidance of R22-billion. In terms of market outlook, platinum is expected to remain in deficit over the next few years, as automotive demand gains from ongoing substitution of palladium in gasoline catalysts. Palladium is expected to move into surplus for the opposite reason, though to what extent will depend on what happens to automotive production and battery electric vehicles' share of it. Rhodium will remain in a small surplus, assuming further disposals from the fibreglass industry. Emissions legislation around the world, the growing hydrogen economy and demand for PGMs in industrial applications should see global demand grow in future. Invest in assets and market development efforts are described as being well-positioned to take advantage of future demand. PRICES WEAK PGM prices were mostly weak in the first half of 2023, as an uncertain macro-economic backdrop was overlaid with metals-specific negative factors. The PGM average realised basket price was $1 885/oz, 29% lower than in the same period of 2022. This weak performance was due to sizeable declines seen in rhodium and palladium, taking both to multi...
Integrated procurement and project management needs to be actively adopted by South Africa's private and public sectors to ensure optimal return on investment, job creation, skills development, and improved service delivery, ECS Associates said on Friday in announcing its agreement with Anglo American Platinum to provide project management support to assist the platinum group metals mining company with the delivery of its extensive capital project pipeline. The agreement allows for staged implementation through a gated process from concept to execution and close-out. ECS has been tasked with deploying its Collaborative Project Strategies© - based on lessons learned from variety of projects in South Africa and around the world - in an integrated manner with Anglo Platinum. In business since 1993, ECS provides consulting services to the engineering and construction industry, with its service offering focused on strategic advice, dispute resolution and training on the new engineering contract (NEC) platform. The collaborative approach is described as heralding a new integrated procurement and project management approach to assure predictable project outcomes. To deliver a successful end product, each project must be strategically aligned, properly planned, optimally staffed, correctly budgeted and have a measurable baseline agreed before work begins. "Once a project commences underpinned with the right culture of all involved, tight control of scope, quality and costs must be central to the project, with regular, objective and accurate reporting against the baseline," ECS stated in a release to Engineering News & Mining Weekly. The company expressed the view that South Africa has the opportunity to learn from the ineffective recent project delivery outcomes in weighing out collaborative models and that this can be done while training many people in new skills and uplifting local communities. Collaborative Project Strategies© developed by ECS and underpinned by NEC is said to provide for effective procurement framework options and project implementation models, with better and more predictable project outcomes creating tangible benefits for all stakeholders. "Investing in a collaborative approach early in the process of procurement and project implementation can save time and reduce potential risks later in the project, which may otherwise result in considerable negative consequences," said ECS MD Mile Sofijanic. "Applying collaborative principles, such as relationship management, proactive communications, aligned business objectives, information and knowledge sharing, and value creation help to enable early development of this collaborative environment, prior to commencing formal project implementation. Doing so sets the tone for a more aligned and proactive working approach for predictable and successful contract delivery," Sofijanic added. Collaborative Project Strategies© coupled with bespoke Agile Project Delivery solutions aim to assist in the delivery of optimum project outcomes and the unlocking of on-going value-adding initiatives.
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses Impala Platinum’s intention to develop a 100 MW-plus solar energy plant in North West province; South Africa's opportunity to recover gold from its mine dump material; and securing future demand for SA's platinum group metals.
Diversified mining and marketing company Glencore expects this year's marketing earnings to exceed the top end of its guidance range, prompting a buy reiteration. The London- and Johannesburg-listed producer and marketer of more than 60 commodities, said on Friday that it expected adjusted marketing earnings before interest and tax to be in the $3.5-billion to $4-billion range, well above its $2.2-billion to $3.2-billion long-term guidance range. "Glencore continues to be one of our preferred miners," UK metals and mining analyst Jefferies stated in its 'buy' note. Copper, coal and zinc assets performed in line with expectations and previously communicated guidance, and first-half output was described as being solid. "Second half volume weightings in copper, zinc and nickel reflect higher expected production volumes from Collahuasi, Kazzinc, Mount Isa and INO," Glencore CEO Gary Nagle stated in a release to Mining Weekly. Glencore is due to report overall first-half results on August 8 amid its marketing segment largely normalising. While this will impact profitability, it has allowed for the release of some of the investment made in marketing working capital in 2022. Regarding own-sourced production, only cobalt and gold production were up in the six months to the end of June, with 488 000 t of copper production 4% down on the corresponding six months of 2022. Copper sales volumes were 11 000 t lower on shipment timing. Zinc production of 434 700 t was 10% lower reflecting mainly the 2022 disposals of South American zinc operations and the closure of Matagami. Nickel production of 46 400 t was 20% lower, primarily reflecting higher third-party production, in large part necessitated by last year's strike at Raglan mine in Canada. Attributable ferrochrome production of 717 000 t was 9% down on planned additional smelter offline days and coal production of 54.2-million tonnes was 2% lower than in the first half of last year. Cobalt production of 21 700 t was 5% higher on improved recoveries at the Katanga copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and gold output was up 10% at 369 000 oz. Jefferies noted that Glencore, which has been active in deals as a buyer and a seller this year, has gone quiet on its bid to merge with Teck Resources and its alternative proposal to acquire Teck's coal assets and then subsequently demerge the combined company's coal business through a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. "We would not consider this lull to be an indication of lack of interest. We expect an update from management when the company reports half-year results," Jefferies stated.
South Africa dare not fail in securing future demand for its 'incredible' platinum group metals (PGM) endowment, the Hydrogen Economy Discussion heard on Wednesday. Anglo American Platinum projects and environment executive head Prakashim Moodliar outlined the widespread marketing effort under way to boost PGM demand as well as the hugely positive benefit of adoption of the hydrogen economy. Moodliar, a keynote presenter along with German Embassy deputy head of mission Enrico Brandt, revealed the considerable work under way to map South Africa's Hydrogen Valley further, while Brandt provided insight into the momentous acceptance of hydrogen in Germany. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Moreover, Moodliar outlined how the building of the hydrogen economy in South Africa would enable significant job creation, reduce carbon emissions, support social change and drive economic development. Currently, the bulk of platinum group metals are used in catalytic converters to reduce emissions from internal combustion engines and the shift to battery electric vehicles therefore poses a risk to South Africa's PGMs industry, which employs 172 000 people, making it one of this country's largest private sector employers. "Considering that every employed person supports an average of ten other people, we dare not fail in securing future demand for this incredible natural endowment. "The significant growth forecasts for the hydrogen economy will offer significant demand opportunities for metals, including aluminium, copper, iridium, nickel, platinum, palladium, and zinc to support these hydrogen technologies. "This would include metal for renewable electrical technologies, and the electrolysis for renewable hydrogen, carbon storage for low carbon, nitrogen, or fuel cells using hydrogen for power transport. "We know that reaching the goals of the Paris agreement to keep the global temperature rise to well below two degrees would mean a quadrupling of mineral requirements for clean energy technologies by 2040," said Moodliar. A typical battery electrical car for example requires six times more mineral inputs than a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle, with metal supply and investment falling far short of what is needed to reach the Paris Agreement. A business plan has been submitted to South Africa's State-owned Industrial Development Corporation to secure funding from Germany's KfW development bank for Project Rainbow, which focuses on building a hydrogen freight corridor for trucks and buses. "Rainbow is also looking at localised manufacture and assembly of vehicles to support building a local supply chain," said Moodliar, who added during the discussion covered by Mining Weekly that Rainbow has been afforded strategic infrastructure project status. Brandt outlined Germany's commitment to hydrogen as part of its commitment to the Paris Agreement that calls for a fundamental shift away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable alternatives. "The transition will affect everyone and everything, our way of life, politics and business," Brandt said. "We're facing the most fundamental transformation of the global economy in our lifetime, comparable to the Industrial Revolution in the past," he added during the event chaired by mining luminary Bernard Swanepoel.
With demand for gold currently off the charts, South Africa has a huge opportunity to recover gold from its surfeit of gold mine dump material at relatively high speed, a mining event in the Golden City heard on Tuesday. With gold supply only increasing 1.5% to 2% a year worldwide and being constrained, South Africa has the equivalent of half a dozen gold mines in the form of tailings available for turning to positive account. "I invite you to go and try to buy some gold Krugerrands. Three months delivery, if you're lucky. There's no gold because the central banks are sucking it all up," Shumba Energy cofounder, chairperson and director Alan Clegg told the Coal & Energy Day chaired by mining luminary Bernard Swanepoel. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) "In South Africa, we've got 800-million tons of gold tailings that contain approximately 30-million ounces of recoverable gold, equivalent to six tier 1 gold mines," Clegg highlighted during his presentation, covered by Mining Weekly. Clegg put the worldwide gold tailings tonnage at 16-billion tons with a recovery potential of 450-million ounces of gold, which also presents an opportunity for South Africa As South African gold mining has also taken place hand-in-glove with uranium mined as a byproduct, simultaneous recovery of uranium also needs consideration. "Uranium is coming to the fore again. Very few people realise that until the mid-eighties, South Africa was the biggest supply in the world of uranium and today we have about 120-million to 150-million pounds of uranium in tailings. If the gold mines restart their uranium plants, they can produce uranium as a byproduct, so there's still a strong position for South Africa to re-enter the uranium market. On an energy return on an energy-invested basis, it is 90% more energy efficient and 90% less capital intensive to process tailings than it is to start a primary mine, not to mention the shorter permitting cycle. "If you consider technological advancements in process metallurgy today, tailings are a massive store of value," said Clegg, who calculated that it takes 16 to 20 years to find and build a new mine today in most jurisdictions. TODAY'S GOLD MARKET The bulk of gold production is in China, which does not export its gold, and other countries are starting to do the same to underwrite their economic futures. Clegg described the bull market in gold as being decades in the making, extending back to 1971 when former US President Richard Nixon removed the gold standard, a monetary system where a country's paper money had a value directly linked to gold. Nixon did so to address US inflation and to discourage foreign governments from redeeming their dollars for gold. The Nixon shock led to the end of the Bretton Woods Agreement and the convertibility of US dollars into gold. It is seen as the catalyst for the stagflation of the 1970s as the US dollar devalued. Owing in large part to the Nixon shock, central banks now have a greater degree of control over their own money, making it easier to manage variables such as interest rates and overall money supply. "Look at the top ten billionaires. They're buying gold," said Clegg.
Canada-based Lucara Diamond Corp has pushed out the completion date for its underground expansion project (UGP) at the Karowe mine, in Botswana, by a year-and-a-half and increased its capital cost to reach completion by $136-million. The UGP, which is designed to access the highest value portion of the Karowe orebody and to extend the mine life to at least 2040, will now only be completed by the first half of 2028, instead of the previously anticipated date of the second half of 2026. As a result, the forecast of costs to completion increased by 25% to $683-million. The management update to the UGP schedule and budget, issued on Monday, follows a slower-than-planned ramp-up to expected sinking rates and to account for time incurred to date, as well as for anticipated future grouting programmes. The grouting took longer than planned, owing to a combination of high-water volumes in the sandstone lithologies between 870 m and 752 m above sea level, combined with technical challenges associated with the transition to main sinking. "Lucara has made tremendous progress on the Karowe underground expansion project, despite many challenges over the last year as we transitioned into the main sink phase of the underground development. Schedule delays due to longer-than-anticipated grouting activity have impacted the project timeline, however, the grouting methodology selected has proven to be effective in controlling water inflows. "As we transition out of the sandstones early in the fourth quarter of 2023, we look forward to meeting planned sinking rates," says CEO Eira Thomas. She also stresses that the project remains technically and economically feasible and that its major shareholder remains supportive of the asset. In a Lucara statement, Adam Lundin comments that the Karowe expansion remains highly economic, despite the delays incurred. "As Lucara's largest shareholder, we remain fully supportive of the company."
The earnings of Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) for the first half of this year are expected to be sharply down. Headline earnings and headline earnings per share (HEPS) are likely to decrease by between 65% and 75%. Compared with R26.7-billion in the first half of last year, headline earnings are likely to be between R6.7-billion and R9.4-billion, the company informed the Johannesburg Stock Exchange News Service (SENS) on Monday. HEPS are expected to decrease to between 2 544c and 3 569c a share compared with 10 140c in the first six months of last year. Basic earnings per share for the period are likely to decrease by between 65% and 75% compared with the first half of last year, with basic earnings at between R6.6-billion and R9.3-billion, compared with R26.7-billion in the corresponding period of last year. Compared with 10 125c in the first half of last year, earnings per share are expected at between 2 506c a share and 3 531c a share. Earnings have decreased for the period largely owing to a decline in revenue as a result of the lower average platinum group metals (PGMs) basket price. The main contributors to this were declines in the dollar prices of rhodium and palladium. Rhodium was down 47% and palladium 29% lower. The weakening rand/dollar exchange rate partially mitigated the dollar price impact on the overall rand basket price, which decreased by 15% against the corresponding period last year. Furthermore, sales volumes from own production, excluding trading, were 12% lower, reflecting lower refined production as a result of the Polokwane smelter needing post-rebuild ramp-up in January. Also lowering sales volumes from own production were yearly maintenance and asset integrity work at the processing operations, along with the impact of Eskom load-curtailment, which resulted in deferred production of 66 400 oz of PGMs. Continued inflationary pressure and exchange rate volatility have also led to higher mining and processing costs. Costs incurred in purchasing of concentrate decreased compared with the first six months of last year owing to lower prices and volumes. Amplats will release results for the six months ended June 30 on SENS on Monday, July 24, the company stated in a release to Mining Weekly.
Toronto- and New York-listed Platinum Group Metals (PTM) is assessing the economic feasibility of constructing a matte furnace and base metal refinery in South Africa, either with or without partners, to process the concentrate from its Waterberg platinum group metals (PGMs) mining project. PTM's primary business objective is to advance the Waterberg project to a development and construction decision. PTM, as the Waterberg project operator, is directed by a technical committee made up of representatives from its joint venture (JV) partners, Impala Platinum, Mnombo Wethu Consultants, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation and Hanwa. A matte furnace and base metal refinery is envisioned as a separate business from the Waterberg JV company that could provide offtake terms to it and possibly to other PGM miners as well. "Discussions with potential participating partners and investors are ongoing," PTM stated in a release to Mining Weekly. The company, headed by CEO Frank Hallam, is also assessing the economic feasibility of constructing a matte furnace and base metal refinery outside of South Africa to process Waterberg concentrate. Working with a potential partner in a jurisdiction with less expensive power and water, PTM has completed a trade-off study which indicates that savings on power and water substantially offset the cost of additional concentrate transportation. Before concentrate could be exported from South Africa, a formal government approval would be required and further studies are underway. The shallow-resourced Waterberg project, located on the Northern Limb of South Africa's Bushveld Complex, is planned as a mechanised, shallow, decline access palladium, platinum, gold and rhodium mine. In March, positive results from a completed infill drill and a stage-two budget of $3.6-million, covering the period from April 1 to August 31 next year, is a subcomponent of an approved $21-million work programme. During the nine-month period ended May 31, PTM incurred a net loss of $4.05-million, which was well below the $7.26-million incurred during the corresponding nine months of last year. Loss per share for the current period amounted to $0.04, as compared to a loss of $0.08 per share for the nine-month period ended May 31, 2022. Total expenditures on the Waterberg project, before partner reimbursements, for the nine months were $3.5-million.
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses Copper 360’s new mining school that will launch in the Northern Cape; the IDC’s interest in the West Wits Basin project; and the Mogale tailings retreatment project, which will see its official sod-turning take place this month.
The refurbished and rebranded Wits Sibanye-Stillwater Innovation Bridge, which links the east and west campuses of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), marks a further sponsorship from diversified mining company Sibanye-Stillwater. "This investment will be instrumental in assisting postgraduate students and researchers, who are the academic and business leaders of the future, to conduct faculty projects that are expected to have a positive societal impact," Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman said at the unveiling of the refurbished bridge on July 12. The additional financial commitment from Sibanye will be used for study bursaries, learnerships within its mining operations, graduate internship programmes and staff development within the Wits Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment (FEBE). Sibanye has contributed R68.5-million in funding to the university since 2014, with a further R5.5-million committed for 2023 and R50-million in technical equipment donated to the institution. "The Wits Sibanye-Stillwater Innovation Bridge signifies an enduring investment in human capital and engineering. It serves as a gateway to the future and fostering shared value for the greater good," said Wits principal and vice-chancellor Professor Zeblon Vilakazi. "Additionally, the bridge speaks to unifying Wits and Sibanye, higher education and the private sector to create a shared vision and talent pipeline that will benefit our economy and our society," he added. Further, Sibanye was intimately involved in the development of, and continues to support, the Wits DigiMine, which is a digital mining laboratory and a partnership between Sibanye and the Wits Mining Institute, highlighted Froneman. The DigiMine's primary objective is to complete postgraduate fundamental and applied research into digital technologies that will enable the mine of the future. "The flow of talent and research and development outcomes from DigiMine is instrumental for Sibanye to realise our ambitions of being a digital-first organisation that harnesses the digital revolution to improve our business performance and create a better environment for our people to thrive. "The Sibanye-Wits partnership symbolises the fusion of industry and academia, as we join forces to shape the future of mining and create a lasting positive impact on our planet. It is a commitment to the shared values of excellence, integrity and collaboration," he added. "As a result of the DigiMine partnership, we are proud that 57 undergraduate, ten PhD and 27 MSc students have graduated through our support. Currently, there are four PhD and six MSc students in the process of completing their studies." During the past decade, Sibanye has enabled 585 students to study at Wits by providing bursaries and allowances amounting to R19.4-million, he pointed out. "Sibanye's support for staff development in the FEBE has revolutionised the digital landscape in mining engineering," noted Vilakazi. "The flow of talent and research from the School of Mining Engineering, the Wits Mining Institute and the Sibanye-Stillwater DigiMine, among others, has exceeded industry expectations. Faculty and professional staff now operate in an environment that nurtures academic excellence, producing exceptional students who meet and surpass industry requirements," he emphasised. Wits and Sibanye have walked the research and development path together. These donations and investments have not only contributed to the world-class infrastructure and academic facilities at Wits, but also have enabled many learners from diverse backgrounds to pursue careers in mining and engineering, said Wits FEBE dean Professor Thokozani Majozi. "This ensures that academia maintains a pipeline of academically excellent researchers, postdoctoral academics, and professionals who are fit for purpose in the industry," he highlighted. In the ever-evolving world, where the boundaries of innovation and progress are continually pushed, Sibanye is committed...
Northern Cape copper mining and marketing company Copper 360 is launching a mining school in the Northern Cape, with its eye on how the highly successful Camborne School of Mines in the UK does things. The mining school idea arose during a discussion at a conference set up by the Department of Minerals Resources and Energy. One of the speakers asked the professor hosting the session, 'why don't you start a school of mining like the Camborne School of Mines' and this is what is now being done, Copper 360 CEO Jan Nelson told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Interestingly, when early mining development took place in South Africa, it was Cornish mineworkers who came across from Cornwall to mine here initially, and Cornwall is where the Camborne School of Mines was established in 1888. Mining Weekly: When will classes begin? Nelson: Within the next two to four weeks. Skills development, first and foremost, is Copper 360's immediate target, along with helping to reduce youth unemployment. "We understand we're not initially going to train mining engineers and confer degrees and diplomas. That's not what we're trying to do. There are good institutions for that. "But it's the category of people below that, who do not have a skill or a job and, and there's such a lot of opportunity in the mining sector for those people, and that's what we want to highlight. "This is about transferring knowledge and skills within a short period of time. As an example, you can train somebody as a sampler within three or four months with a certificate, and then that person's got value," said Nelson. "We won't then have the frustration internally of absorbing a person and then having to train that person. It will be done at the school and that person then can also go out and go and look for a job but he or she has then got a skill that they can use in the industry. We're targeting those types of jobs between grade 12 and what you would find in a diploma or a degree," Nelson explained. Why do you think that Northern Cape mining has the longevity to host education? First and foremost, our own activity tells us that this is the next metal province in terms of copper development, and we've got some spectacular drill results that we'll announce soon that show us that there are big copper deposits. Then there is manganese, iron-ore, lithium, cobalt and huge renewable energy potential and the proposed new Boegoebaai harbour is also going to be developed and built in the province. This is on the way to becoming South Africa's next major economic centre and it's because of all the minerals we have here, all the activity that's going on, and all the investment we see happening here. How will the school be funded? Initially, we will fund the school as part of our social labour and development plan in the community in terms of our mining right. But we're talking to third parties, such as fund managers and some of our suppliers and we're inviting other mining companies to take hands with us and invest because this can also produce skillsets for other companies in our area. I think everybody should come to the party because skills development is one of the most critical issues in our country. Will people have to be from the Northern Cape to attend? Our first target is the people in the Northern Cape province but people can come from other areas and we will make information available on our website where people can follow a link and can apply and send their details. Concordia town in Namakwa district municipality has been selected as the location for the mining school, which will begin with 40 to 50 students and then build up. COPPER WORTH R560-BILLION Fast-moving Copper 360, which was formed in November last year following a reverse takeover of copper producer Big Tree Copper and copper miner SHiP Copper, has more than two-million tonnes of copper at its 12 mines, which is estimated to be worth R560-billion. The Rietberg un...
South Africa’s State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has issued a written expression of interest and indicative funding terms in connection with the financing of Qala Shallows, which form part of the Witwatersrand Basin Project of West Wits Mining. A proposed IDC debt facility of R300-million ($15.9-million) for development capital for the project aligns with customary conditions for loan facilities and showcases the IDC's confidence in the Qala Shallows gold project, Australian Stock Exchange-listed West Wits stated in a July 11 media release. “This is a testament to the immense potential and confidence in our vision for the Witwatersrand Basin Project,” West Wits chairperson Michael Quinert stated in a release to Mining Weekly. The Witwatersrand Basin Project is described as a 4.28-million-ounce gold project at 4.58 g/t in a largely underground geological formation. “We can now proceed to expedite the due diligence process, secure final approval, and embark on a transformative journey. This milestone validates our unwavering commitment to growth, innovation, and sustainable success," Quinert added. Funding on the terms indicated by the IDC would provide the foundation for the financing of the entire development plan as outlined in the definitive feasibility study (DFS). Initial funds would be for mobilising the mining contractor and acquiring essential equipment to initiate operations, enabling the West Wits team to establish a 30 000 t ore stockpile and facilitating delivery of 15 000 t a month to Sibanye-Stillwater’s plant. Within a timeline of six to eight months from commencement of production, the project will generate revenues from gold production, the West Wits release stated. A mine build-up towards supporting steady-state production of 5 000 oz of gold a month is targeted. Qala Shallows, the first stage of the Witwatersrand Basin Project, is focused on the development of the Kimberley Reef. This is one of three reef packages that form part of West Wits’ mining right area in the Witwatersrand basin, the other two being Bird reef and Main reef. The combination of the existing infrastructure and accessible shallow mineral resources allows access for production on a fast-tracked timeframe relative to most global opportunities for underground gold mining. West Wits commenced early works at Qala Shallows in September 2021. Information gathered on underground inspections has advanced knowledge of the orebody and motivated a review and update of the DFS in 2022 and the further update due for release soon. The early works successfully delivered surface infrastructure and refurbishment of historical underground workings. In October 2022, West Wits secured a toll treatment agreement with Sibanye-Stillwater’s subsidiary. A state of operational readiness continues to be maintained at the Qala Shallows project, which will enable mining operations to recommence once project finance is secured. Bara Consulting is reportedly conducting a review and update of the Qala Shallows DFS.
The market for critical minerals used in electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines has doubled over the past five years, reaching $320-billion in 2022, and is expected to continue to growth strongly amid record deployments of clean energy technologies such as solar and batteries. The International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) inaugural ‘Critical Minerals Market Review’ shows that, from 2017 to 2022, the energy sector has been the main factor behind a tripling in overall demand for lithium, as well as the 70% jump in demand for cobalt and the 40% rise in nickel demand. “As a result, energy transition minerals, which used to be a small segment of the market, are now moving to centre stage in the mining and metals industry,” the report states. The market has responded, with investment in critical mineral development rising 30% last year, led by lithium with a 50% jump in investments. Likewise, exploration spending rose by 20% in 2022, again driven by record growth in lithium exploration, particularly in Canada and Australia where year-on-year growth of 40% was recorded. After a surge in 2021 and 2022, the IEA says many critical mineral prices started to moderate in 2023, albeit while remaining above their historical averages. Nevertheless, IEA executive director Fatih Birol warns that far more needs to be done to ensure supply chains for critical minerals, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper as well as platinum, manganese and various rare-earth minerals, are secure and sustainable. There is also a need, the report argues, to diversify the sources of supply away from their current concentration in a handful of countries, with the Democratic Republic of Congo dominating cobalt supply, China holding half of planned lithium chemical plants and Indonesia representing nearly 90% of planned nickel refining facilities. The report also cautions that any project delays and technology-specific shortfalls could undermine both the pace and cost of the transition to those energy technologies needed by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. The IEA, which began analysing the role of critical minerals in the energy transition in 2021 and subsequently received a mandate from its member governments to track developments, has also launched an interactive online tool to improve visibility of market dynamics. The IEA Critical Minerals Data Explorer currently provides users with access to the agency’s demand projections under various scenarios and technology trends and supply-side information will be added in future updates. The IEA is also preparing to host an international critical minerals summit in Paris, France, on September 28.
The official sod-turning ceremony for the construction of the Mogale tailings retreatment project is to take place this month. The Mogale gold dumps contain a probable mineral reserve of 123.6-million tons of re-mineable material at a head grade of 0.29 g/t for an estimated content of 1.14-million ounces of gold. The definitive feasibility study (DFS) points to fast payback, low costs, 25% production uplift, long life, high ungeared return and the upliftment of a depressed area, where there is low employment, illegal mining activity, and serious environmental degradation. Seen as an important mining and rehabilitation development for the West Rand District, the project - being undertaken by London- and Johannesburg-listed Pan African Resources - is expected to produce an average of 50 000 oz of gold a year over 20 years. Near Krugersdorp and Kagiso, west of the Golden City of Johannesburg, it is expected to provide economic opportunity, local procurement, and jobs during construction and ongoing operations. Modern technology was employed to survey available tonnages across the project area, with historical holes twinned to verify previously reported head grades. More than 80 new boreholes were sunk - totalling some 2 761 m of drilling - in areas with little or no data. The DFS pointed to operating costs of R78/t and an all-in sustaining cost of $914/oz. Standard hydro mining will be deployed and a large carbon-in-leach facility built, where the remined tailings will be processed with additional water treatment that will potentially improve gold recoveries. At Pan African’s existing Elikhulu and Barberton tailings retreatment plants, optimised tailings management has reduced the pollution load on the surrounding land and underground water resources. This has resulted in improved freshwater quality and lower levels of radiation and toxicology, allowing the re-introduction of indigenous flora and fauna species to the area, which has shown an ability to recover faster. These same benefits can now be extended to the West Rand facilities. Solar power generation is also on the cards at Mogale by Pan African, which pioneered the 10 MW photovoltaic solar plant at Elikhulu. Targeted by the group is an overall 30 MW of solar capacity by 2024. This will produce about 75 000 MWh of power a year, save about R100-million a year in electricity bills and reduce group carbon emissions. Beyond solar, battery technology and wind power are also under consideration. The recovery of gold from dumps is viewed as a must as part of environmental restoration and making land available for proper re-use.
Steps being taken to add value to manganese waste placed on tailings dams may result in an announcement early in the New Year regarding the turning of that waste into a ferromanganese product, African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) CE Ferrous Division Andre Joubert has revealed. While a good market remains for the export of high-grade quality manganese lumpy ore, the fines and slimes washed out of that ore - which represents about 15% of the total tonnage produced - is currently not sold, but put on the tailings facility, and work has now begun in that area of waste, Joubert said in response to chairperson Bernard Swanepoel at the London Indaba. “The philosophy is to advance from being normal miners to exploiting the entire value chain with even the final product not being waste but gypsum,” Joubert said during the discussion covered by Mining Weekly. Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed ARM works in partnership with Assore and group company Assmang in jointly mining manganese in the Northern Cape. “We also have a few propeller heads in our company and about five or six years ago we had a strategic planning session, where it was clearly indicated that we are going to move forward in terms of better beneficiation and we coined the phrase that we’re not going to be just dirt diggers, we’re going to go up the value chain,” said Joubert. “We’re well advanced in a process where I think we can make some announcements early in the New Year about taking waste that’s currently placed on the tailings dam and, with very efficient smelting technology, turning that into a good quality high-carbon ferromanganese product. “We also run big ferromanganese smelters and in the slag of this ferromanganese we also have manganese oxide, which is a very good product to turn into high-grade battery-grade manganese sulphate and were getting very positive results. If that comes to full fruition, traditionally mined ore for the traditional steel markets will continue to be mined and exported and fines turned into valuable product with 75% less electrical energy being required than is conventional used. The byproduct of that will be turned into battery-grade manganese sulphate and the final waste product will then be gypsum. “I think making high-grade battery-grade manganese sulphate presents a huge opportunity,” said Joubert. SOLAR POWER At the mine, load haul dump trucks and underground haul trucks have been converted to battery electric vehicles. Because coal-fired power is still used to recharge the batteries, the next step will be the establishment of a solar plant for supply to the battery electric vehicles and in that way reduce the mine’s carbon footprint, which also makes economic sense. MINES RECAPITALISED “We’re very bullish about manganese and in 2012 we started recapitalising our mine so that we can be ready when the demand surge comes and the growth of the other mines has begun to taper down, and we’ve just completed that work. “It’s very clear that there is going to be a manganese deficit in the future, whether for batteries or for steelmaking and it is because of the current mines operating. The open pit cheap mines are going to go underground, and the prices are going to go up,” said Joubert. “We modernised our mine and in that modernisation process, we improved efficiencies and on the safety front, we’ve just achieved 11-million fatal-free shifts, which I think for an underground South African mine is an all-time record. In 14 years, we haven’t killed anyone in our mine and we’re well set up for the future,” Joubert added. Mining flexibility has been achieved with outputs from four-million tons to five-million tons a year envisaged.
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses Cennergi’s power purchase agreement which will see it supply renewable energy to Exxaro’s flagship mine; the proudly South African High Pressure Water Technology that has gone mainstream; and the Venetia mine rapidly becoming a flagship in advancing De Beers’ climate ambition.
As the world accelerates the deployment of climate technologies in support of the net-zero transition, there is a risk that materials supply might not scale at the required speed, a new McKinsey & Company report warns. To meet demand for minerals and metals used in battery electric vehicles (BEVs), wind turbines, solar panels and electrolysers, the report states that mining project development will need to far exceed historical growth rates, while the pace of exploration will also have to accelerate. Investments in mining, refining and smelting will need to increase to about $3-trillion to $4-trillion by 2030, or about $300-billion to $400-billion a year, including capital expenditure for exploration and new and ongoing projects. Likewise, such a scale-up will require smooth permitting processes, timely infrastructure deployment, equipment availability and adequate water resources. “Labour capacity will also need to be increased by 300 000 to 600 000 specialised mining professionals, which could be particularly challenging given the recent decline in the number of mining engineering graduates,” the report warns. There is also a requirement for an additional 200 GW to 500 GW of energy by 2030 to power these mining and processing assets, which will be equivalent to 5% to 10% of estimated solar and wind power capacity by 2030. The report highlights the relative materials intensity of the key technologies required for the net-zero transition, with an offshore-wind turbine calculated to be some six times more materials-intensive than a gas-based installation on a megawatt basis, while BEVs are 15% to 20% heavier than internal combustion engine vehicles on average. In addition, lower-carbon technologies require a new suite of materials that have been produced in only limited quantities in the past, such as lithium, a critical battery material, or rare-earth elements such as dysprosium and neodymium, which are used in permanent magnets. The report forecasts that, while some materials such as nickel may experience modest shortages of between 10% and 20%, others such as dysprosium, a magnetic material used in most electric motors, could see shortages of up to 70% of demand. Security of supply could also be affected by the fact that the supply of some of these materials is concentrated in a handful of countries, including for example China (rare-earth elements), the Democratic Republic of Congo (cobalt) and Indonesia (nickel). “Combined with a regulatory landscape that is increasingly focused on regionalisation - as seen through the US Inflation Reduction Act and the EU Green Deal Industrial Plan, for example - these concentrated supplies could affect regional access to materials within the scope of certain agreement areas, even when the global market is balanced.” The authors argue that, unless mitigation actions are put in place, shortages could hinder the global speed of decarbonisation as customers will be unable to shift to lower-carbon alternatives. “Moreover, these shortages would lead to price spikes and volatility across materials, which in turn would make the technologies in which they are embedded more expensive and further slow adoption rates.” With 72 countries, covering 82% of global emissions, having committed to net-zero emissions, several large consuming and producing countries have published critical minerals lists, while the International Energy Agency has started producing a yearly ‘Critical Minerals Market Review’, reflecting the importance of metals and minerals to the energy transition. In South Africa, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has announced that government is developing a critical minerals strategy to support the development of domestic and global value chains for the green economy. “It’s crucial to ensure the timely scale-up of projects that have already been announced so far, whilst also protecting future demand,” McKinsey & Company senior partner Michel Van Hoey argues. “This wi...
he long-standing use of water to cool underground mines is increasingly providing the opportunity to apply the free water pressure head that this offers to energise mining equipment. High-pressure water technology, a proudly South African technology, has advanced markedly over the last couple of decades, turning South Africa into a global leader in water hydraulics for mining. “From humble beginnings back in the 80s, high-pressure water power has gone mainstream,” Hydro Power Equipment (HPE) director Ulrich Kienle told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview this week. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Some 50 different mine sites are using water hydraulics as the primary powering medium to drive rock drills and mining machines and equipment can be configured into delivering any kind of mining solution using high-pressure water power. Several mines on the Northern Limb of the Bushveld Complex have integrated modern trackless mining equipment with water hydraulics for doing board-and-pillar bolting activity - “a very interesting example of how you can fuse modern water technology with sophisticated trackless equipment”, said Kienle, who sees water energy as the opportunity for the South African mining industry to ensure longer life-of-mine and do things in a better way for the benefit of all stakeholders and society at large. Amid the Eskom power crisis and the need for sustainability, water hydraulics is on the receiving end of unprecedented recognition: "We're beginning to have the kind of conversation with the mining industry that even a decade ago was not possible because the urgency just wasn't the same as it is today,” said Kienle. “We live in a world today where sustainability, green credentials, decarbonisation are all big issues. Being able to use less energy to produce an ounce of gold or a ton of rock, and being in a position to not contaminate the environment, or precious water resources, means you're doing things in a way where the principles of ‘use less, don't contaminate and reuse’ are a given with water hydraulic technology. “We've run a number of long-term production trials with some of the mining majors in both gold and platinum space and had these trials independently reviewed by third-party consultants that have put all sorts of measurement devices on to the water lines,” added Kienle, who believes that, “water ticks all the boxes”. Mining Weekly: What opposition does mining with water face in water-short South Africa? Kienle: It's one of those myths that we've worked really hard to dispel. At face value, people always say, mining with water in a water-scarce country, does it really make sense? The answer is an absolutely categorical 'yes'. Water hydraulics are efficient, they get the job done quickly; whatever water you have as a footprint on a mine site, that water is simply pressurised. It is then utilised and comes back out of the mine with the process continuing in a closed-loop cycle, with some losses to evaporation. How financially competitive is high-pressure water power? This is one of the big surprises. Initially, when water hydraulic technology was developed, it was quite expensive. Over the years, economies of scale have come into play and the technology today is surprisingly affordable. WATER HAMMER TECHNOLOGY Building blocks are available that are configured into a mining solution using water power. "Those tools all exist. What we're particularly excited about are the latest developments. The first is what we call the Isidingo drill, which is in commercial use at six of our South African mines. We have combined it with a drill guide that allows us to deliver precise drilling and, as miners will tell you, good drilling makes blasting easy and good blasting means that you get maximised rates of advance and production. It also uses much less water than prior generation water drills. "The second is about man-free boxholing. it's really quite clear that putting human beings into boxholes is p...
Financial close has been achieved for the 68 MW Lephalale solar project to supply renewable energy to the Grootegeluk coal mine in Limpopo. This was announced on Wednesday by Cennergi, the wholly owned subsidiary of Exxaro Resources, Grotegeluk’s owner and operator. Cennergi will supply renewable energy to the flagship mine for 25 years through a power purchase agreement. The project will result in energy cost savings, increased energy security and decarbonisation benefits for Exxaro, as well as fostering sustainable development and enhancing the socioeconomic benefits for local communities. Leveraging solar power to meet Grootegeluk’s energy needs is a follow-through of the commitment of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Exxaro to pursue business sustainability and support the green energy transition. Funding will take the form of limited recourse project finance debt from lenders, as well as equity investment from Cennergi as sole shareholder. An engineering, procurement and construction contract will be awarded for the 19-month construction of the project, for which an operations and maintenance contract will also be awarded. “This project represents a significant milestone in South Africa's renewable energy landscape and showcases the enormous potential of clean energy in driving economic growth and reducing carbon emissions,” Exxaro CEO Dr Nombasa Tsengwa stated in a media release to Mining Weekly. The Lephalale solar project, which will serve as a direct behind-the-meter clean energy source, spans 236 ha of Exxaro land, near Eskom's Matimba coal-fired power station, to which Exxaro supplies coal on contract, as well as the town of Marapong. A thrilled Exxaro Resources MD energy Leon Groenewald described the solar project as a landmark renewable energy partnership.
The major theme of the recent Junior Indaba was the concern that the South African regulator is not doing enough to promote junior mining in South Africa. Government’s role should be to cut red tape from the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act to bring the application system for prospecting rights and mining rights up to standard because it is capable of manipulation by corrupt officials. That must be sorted out, Malan Scholes Attorneys director and mining lawyer Hulme Scholes told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview on Tuesday. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) The second thing is that government must prioritise crime in the mining industry and help mining deal with it. “Those are the two immediate action items that the government should attend to,” said Scholes. Then, from a planning perspective, stable electricity supply is very necessary: “You can't plan your operations in circumstances where you have an inability to determine what the power plan is for the country.” On the mining industry being subject to unprecedented levels of crime at the moment, the permanent positioning of mines makes local crime control absolutely essential. “You can't lift up your mine and move to an area where there's less crime. You’re stuck in the area where you are, and the police are definitely not doing enough to investigate, prevent and prosecute criminal activity in mining areas. Zama Zama mining, unlawful mining, so-called procurement extortion, theft of cable, all those sort of things, are just out of control. “Mining companies are spending more and more and more of their budgets on crime prevention. They’re doing the crime prevention the State should be doing. “Communities who are desperate are looking to mining companies for their basic needs and if they can't get their basic needs met, out of frustration they try and extort that out of mining companies. “We've been to court for more times and I can remember to interdict the sort of very often violent behaviour by a frustrated communities who want mining companies to provide them with basic services that the State is not providing them with,” Scholes pointed out. STILL A LOT OF MINING LEFT If South Africa’s regulatory environment was more conducive to expansion, if the government was more driven and there were more policy drivers to expand mining, this country could do a lot better than it is doing at the moment. “There's a lot more mining left in South Africa. It's not a sunset industry, but we just don't have enough from the government to grow our mining industry,” said Scholes, who highlighted South Africa has having some very advanced laws. “We have a very advanced system of social and labour plans. The systems are there, the law is there. “Like a lot of things in South Africa, our environmental laws are some of the best in the world, but the policing and the enforcement is lacking. That’s where we face challenges.”
The De Beers Group, which concluded in principle diamond sales and mining agreements with the government of Botswana at the weekend, has committed a billion pula (R1.4-billion) upfront to fund the development of diversification within Botswana. “I've just returned from Botswana and I'm really delighted that we've reached agreement in principle with the government of Botswana,” De Beers Group CFO Sarah Kuijlaars told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) The new mining license in Botswana will run to 2054, an additional 25 years, and the sales agreement for another ten years, to 2033. “I think it's worth remembering that these are quite complex agreements, covering the midstream, but also the upstream, so Debswana, and an extension of the mining licence in Botswana. “A couple of highlights to pull out. We've announced the initiation of a Diamonds for Development Fund, and we've committed to put a billion pula upfront. “This fund is for the development of diversification within Botswana, looking at adjacencies beyond diamonds, and potentially into agriculture, climate change, solar development, and tourism,” said Kuijlaars. The development fund will be managed separately from De Beers for the benefit of the Botswanan people. “It's the acknowledgement of the desire by Botswana to get involved across the value chain within the diamond industry,” Kuijlaars said of the fund, which involves an increased role with though the Okavango Diamond Company or ODC, a rough diamond marketing company that is wholly owned by the Botswana government. “We offer our global customer base open access to scale supply of the full range of rough diamonds sourced from Botswana and increased opportunity in cutting and polishing and increased opportunity in jewellery manufacturing, so overall, a real opportunity to create more jobs for Botswanan people in Botswana,” added Kuijlaars. “These have been a really complex negotiations over many years. But we have agreed in principle and you're you'll have seen that representatives of the government of Botswana have come out publicly as well.” The agreements will proceed to the terms arrangement, and then to the long form agreement, which ultimately will have to go to the shareholders of Anglo American, as this is a related party agreement between the group and the government of Botswana. Mining Weekly: Would you describe the talks as being convivial? Kuijlaars: Any negotiation can get tough at some point, but I think what's really important is we're firmly aligned, and I think it's great to see some many photos of the firm handshake of the Minister and Al Cook on Saturday morning, demonstrating our commitment for the future. Has mining been held up while you people have been talking? No, mining hasn't been held up, but I think we've got to acknowledge there was an expectation around the industry. It is an ecosystem, a global ecosystem, so I think there was some uncertainty, and that's why it's so important that we have demonstrated our partnership, demonstrated alignment, which gives some real clarity for the whole industry going forward.
Diamond mining and marketing company De Beers and the Botswana government have reached an in-principle agreement on a 25-year extension of the Debswana mining licences, through to 2054, and a new ten-year sales agreement for Debswana’s rough diamond production, through to 2033. Debswana, a 50:50 joint venture between De Beers and the Botswana government, operates four diamond mines in Botswana, and joint work to progress and implement the formal new sales agreement and mining licences will now take place. In the interim, the terms of the most recent sales agreement, which expired on Friday, will remain in place. A new sales agreement constitutes a related party transaction under the UK listing rules, given that both Anglo American and Botswana are shareholders in De Beers, and therefore will be subject to approval by Anglo’s shareholders in due course, Mining Weekly has been informed in an Anglo media release. A release from Botswana states that the agreements reflect the aspirations of the people of Botswana. De Beers' global approach to diamond mining spans two continents and four countries. In South Africa is the large, modern, long-life and climate-conforming Venetia, with the joint venture marine diamond prospecting and recovery company Debmarine in Namibia, Gahcho Kué in Canada, and an exploration contract in Angola. The 135-year-old De Beers last month opened its new Sightholder Sales South Africa, a diamond processing operation, close to Johannesburg International Airport. At the opening, De Beers CEO Al Cook spoke of the impressive facility being filled with diamond expertise, diamond technology and rough diamonds and spurring the growth of a South African diamond business hub. The 6 747 m2 Sky Park facility is part of the global sightholder network that sells rough diamonds for beneficiation purposes in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Canada and has two floors comprising sightholder offices, hand- and machine-sorting areas, a training academy and a diamond cleaning plant. De Beers is in the process of taking far-reaching steps in Southern Africa to combat climate change. Wheeled wind and on-site solar are being developed for Venetia, which will hopefully result in South Africa’s largest diamond mine being largely renewably energised by the end of 2025. If all goes according to plan, this would lower Venetia’s carbon footprint by more than 80%. Currently, the carbon footprint of using Southern African electricity is greater than using diesel, which means that as soon as the renewable power is connected, Venetia’s emissions will decline very steeply. A comprehensive climate-action overview can be obtained from this link:
The need for sand to make bricks has resulted in Limpopo entrepreneur stumbling upon a gold prospect for which a prospecting licence application has been acknowledged by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE). Kaputeni Mining head Tsholofelo Shipalanah, a 34-year-old mother who is making 3 000 bricks a day and generating R200 000 to R400 000 a year, intends using some of the revenue to also fund a gold search. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) In wanting to put an end to procuring river sand for brickmaking mined by others, Kaputeni applied to the DMRE for the right to mine sand – and discovered that the sand area sought has a gold-mining history. As a consequence, in addition to applying for the sand mining licence, Kaputeni now also wants a gold prospecting licence, with aspirations of becoming a gold miner in the area of Burgersdorp, a village outside of Tzaneen, where Shipalanah proudly declares being “born and bred”. DMRE has already let Kaputeni know that no other application has been submitted for the area in question. Mining Weekly: It's good to have a business going which is generating cash that you can then use to prospect. Is that the idea? Shipalanah: That is the idea. On how Kaputeni goes about selling its bricks, Shipalanah said: ”We sell them to the surrounding communities and we’ve started talks with BuildIt so that we can be their supplier. We’re in the process of finalising the contract with BuildIt. What will happen is BuildIt will buy from me in bulk and then they will sell to their customers.” Shipalanah initially pursued a career in the sciences, having earned a Bachelor of Science Honours degree from the University of Limpopo in 2011. With aspirations of becoming a scientist, she secured her first job as a technician at the national blood service. However, in the midst of all that, watching her father running his own construction company inspired her to pursue entrepreneurship. “Every time I looked at him, I would think ‘no man, this is something that I want to try’”, which she did, and her father is now a 20% shareholder of Kaputeni, which has 16 permanent employees. Earlier this year, Kaputeni invested in a generator to shield itself from the disruptive downtime caused by loadshedding, but amid the high price of diesel, Shipalanah is now intent on, at some time in the future, transitioning to renewable energy. Since embarking on her entrepreneurial path in 2018, Shipalanah’s business has experienced growth with the help of Fetola and the SAB Foundation's Tholoana Enterprise Programme. Fetola means ‘change’ in Sesotho and the Fetola team describes itself as being inspired by United Nations Goal 17 to foster partnerships that are a force for good. On assistance received, Shipalanah highlighted how the programme provides a mentor to enable prospective entrepreneurs to establish a business structure. “It's very, very helpful,” she enthused – and interestingly, she is continuing to study – this time project management through Unisa.
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses South Africa’s titanium beneficiation project which is expected to peak at R14-billion and headlines from this year's London Indaba.
The main founders of the Inflation Reduction Act envision the US legislation as a clean energy bill to lower the costs of green energy technologies for everyone around the world as well as being emulated by especially those countries that have benefitted from emitting carbon into the air since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Such countries could introduce their own versions of the Inflation Reduction Act to drive down prices even further for global benefit, US Department of State Bureau of Energy Resources Office of Energy Transformation acting director Scott Woodard told this week’s London Indaba. “If you looked at estimates of what electrolysers to generate clean hydrogen were going to cost and how long it was going to take, it was a decade away and they were going to be expensive for a while. “Now, estimates say that we could be seeing 10 GW electrolysers in the next two three years and clean hydrogen could be virtually zero cost,” Woodard said in response to London Indaba chairperson Bernard Swanepoel during question time. Proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers, which are regarded as being highly effective producers of zero-emission green hydrogen, are efficiently catalysed with the help of South Africa’s platinum group metals (PGMs), especially iridium. Electrolyser production is being brought down the cost curve significantly as China, with its robotics and automation, enters the era of machines making machines. EVERY KILOGRAM OF GREEN HYDROGEN SUBSIDISED The Inflation Reduction Act subsidises every kilogram of green hydrogen that is generated. “That’s what I think we want people to really focus on when they look at the impact of this. Clearly, there are some trade issues that have popped up, but we have found as we’ve engaged with our partners, we have been able to shift the conversation somewhat from when the legislation first came out,” said Woodard. “And hydrogen’s a good example because the green hydrogen value chain is not yet completely owned by a single country,” answered Swanepoel. “The first thing to realise is that the Inflation Reduction Act is a huge piece of legislation, absolutely massive. “You’ll see the headline number of $370-bilion but I’ve seen some private sector banks estimate that spending on this is actually going to be north of $1-trillion. Then you start thinking about how that will attract private sector investment and be even bigger,” the US diplomat predicted. At the previous week’s FT Hydrogen Conference, Fortescue Future Industries and Fortescue Metals Group executive chairperson and founder Dr Andrew Forrest ascribed the success of Inflation Reduction Act to its absence of complexity: “It’s working because it’s simple. If you want to serve up something complex to a banker, you’re not going to get any money,” said Forrest, who expressed the view that the economies of countries could be significantly boosted for decades to come by adopting the US legislation as a model. Meanwhile, important new technologies are being perfected that could give green hydrogen a globally traded commodity. An example of this is the work being done by German company Hydrogenious on liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) technology. LOHC technology enables hydrogen to be chemically bound to a thermal oil for storage and bulk shipping, leveraging the existing infrastructure for liquid fuels. That means that green hydrogen could in future be transported, stored and delivered in existing oil and gas infrastructure, and be traded globally in the same way as oil and gas. PRESSURE BEING TAKEN OFF IRIDIUM SCARCITY When it comes to PEM electrolysers, pressure is being taken off their need for scarce iridium. German PGM products and services company Heraeus Precious Metals, for example, is having major success in the thrifting of iridium and is also investing €35-million in the expansion of its PGM recycling capacity at Hanau in Germany, with the build-out forming part of a €300-million global recycling pr...
The private sector is so far working with government on six of the ten energy crisis work streams, for which business raised R100-million to procure skills and expertise for donation on an arm's length basis to the Presidency, within which the National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom) is housed. Business for South Africa (B4SA) chairperson Martin Kingston expressed the view that it is technically possible to put an end to loadshedding by the end of 2024, which is the objective of the joint energy effort. The two other challenges being tackled are transportation and logistics, and crime and corruption. B4SA is an alliance of South African business leaders working with the South African government and other social partners to help deliver sustainable solutions for South Africa. “We're not going to assume the role and responsibility of the State. It would be wholly inappropriate, but we can certainly partner with them, bring our skills, expertise, and indeed commitment to bear,” said Kingston, who spoke to Engineering News & Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview on Thursday. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) In the case of South Africa’s transportation and logistics challenges, areas of focus are being jointly defined, along with the appropriate resourcing of those work streams: “I think it'll take a little bit longer, but yes, we're certainly beginning to see progress emerge and traction being gained,” said Kingston, who emphasised the need to ensure sharp focus on a limited number of interventions that can move the needle as quickly as possible, “and that's what I believe we're going to start seeing in the next few weeks”. A joint strategic oversight committee, which mirrors what was successfully implemented during the Covid pandemic and which is now also expected to deal successfully with the three energy, transport and logistics, and crime and corruption challenges, is committed to meeting fortnightly, ahead of reporting to the President every six weeks. “Each and every one of the workstreams in the underlying areas of focus are up and running or being mobilised, so there are indeed early signs of real progress and green shoots, but it'll take several months to see real progress start to emerge. “We're very mindful of the need to be at arm's length so that we don't, in any shape, size or form, undermine the integrity and the independence of the State in providing the support that's required," Kingston emphasised. Engineering News & Mining Weekly: How willing is government to partner effectively with organised business in dealing with South Africa’s infrastructure and law and order challenges? Kingston: The South African authorities recognise that we need effectively all hands to the pump to deal with very fundamental challenges, which act as a brake on real inclusive growth and that growth leads to employment and deals with many of the challenges that we've got in the country at the moment. We had a very successful experience of partnering with the government during the Covid pandemic in 2020, and the vaccination rollout in 2021, and we've used that as the basis for partnership with them in the three areas that we're focusing on. Of course, there are different pockets of government that are more supportive than others, but from the President down, there is a wide acknowledgement that we need to put all of our collective shoulders to the wheel and see how we can bring the best resources to bear from all social partners, I have to say, not just from business and indeed from the public sector, to try and address these very fundamental constraints in the system. Have these public-private initiatives been set up in a way that positive results are seen as being highly likely? I’d love to think that highly likely is an immediate outcome but I think we need to manage our expectations in this particular respect. The most important thing from our perspective was to (a) make sure that we have an integrated approach from business....
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe reports that government is in the process of developing a critical minerals strategy for South Africa, which will seek to support green-economy value chains domestically and abroad. Speaking at the Northern Cape Mining and Energy Investment Conference, Mantashe reported that government was monitoring global developments around critical minerals, which he termed a “new theatre of global economic struggle” to ensure that the strategy supported South Africa’s industrialisation aspirations. “It is no secret that our country is well endowed with these critical minerals and can use them not only for beneficiation but also to position our country to be a strategic partner,” Mantashe said. Several other large commodity producing countries, including Australia and Canada, have already developed elaborate critical minerals strategies as the pressure to decarbonise increases globally. Likewise, key consuming countries are mapping out how they intend to ensure security of supply of those metals and minerals – from antimony to zinc, and with everything from lithium, copper and platinum in between – that will be required for the transition of electricity systems to renewables, as well as to support a shift to battery electric and fuel-cell electric mobility. “To ensure that South Africa reaps maximum benefit from these critical commodities, we are currently developing a critical minerals strategy for the country which will enable us to support the development of domestic and global value chains for the green economy,” Mantashe said. He added that the exploration fund being established in partnership with the Industrial Development Corporation would prioritise critical minerals projects “as these will support our green economy trajectory and support our just energy transition”. Mantashe also used the platform to highlight the fact that the Northern Cape held significant reserves of several critical minerals, including zinc, copper, manganese and some rare earth elements. “There can be no ambiguity in saying, the full potential of the Northern Cape mineral wealth remains largely untapped. “We therefore call on investors to look to this province for investments into more exploration projects,” Mantashe said, while again promising that a new cadastral system, which is seen as key to revitalising exploration, would be procured soon. “It is expected that the adjudication process will be finalised in the near future and therefore take us a step closer to the finalisation of this [procurement] process.”
South Africa’s ilmenite will receive a major value addition when it is produced in South Africa, as is planned. This because heavy minerals sand production sells at around $300/t on export markets. Planned now is to add value to some of that ilmenite by elevating it into titanium dioxide pigment at the Richard Bay Industrial Development Zone in KwaZulu-Natal, to enable the locally mined mineral to fetch ten times more on export markets. The first thing the R14-billion Nyanza Light Metals project is trying to achieve is to move Africa’s abundant raw materials up the value curve, Nyanza CEO Donovan Chimhandamba emphasised to Engineering News & Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Nyanza is putting together a project for 80 000 t/y of titanium dioxide pigment, which is probably around half of Africa's capacity and just over 1% in terms of the global market. The project highlights the huge opportunity as Africa and South Africa to move up the value curve and start establishing advanced material production companies that make competitive use of locally mined materials. Nyanza will be sourcing its ilmenite from within South Africa and the region and manufacturing costs could be lowered if a way could be found to blend in the 45-million tons of stockpiled ilmenite-containing slag at Evraz, the former Highveld Steel and Vanadium, in eMalahleni, Mpumalanga, with higher content ilmenite or synthetic rutile from Richards Bay Minerals. Self-generation of 12 MW of solar power supported by battery storage is planned, augmented by cogenerated electricity from the titanium dioxide pigment plant itself once it is in operation. Already commissioned is a R200-milion product testing and development centre, which is able to provide 700 t/y of titanium dioxide pigment sample to offtake partners. Offtake agreements for more than 60% of the 80 000 t/y capacity have already been signed. While the main plant is being built, the testing and development will be used to train the 850 employees that will be brought in early for upskilling. Africa Finance Corporation of Nigeria and African Export-Import Bank of Egypt are co-funders of the project’s feasibility phase, and a third multilateral international finance institution is going through concluding the agreements. Senior debt is already oversubscribed, equity players have expressed interest, financial close is likely by year-end of this year to end and construction is expected to begin next year. Currently, Arkein Industrial Holdings is the founding shareholder with 70% of Nyanza and DBF Capital has 30%. At financial close, arrangements with multilateral banks for the conversion of investments into equity or debt, with the project run by a project development steering committee. Engineering News & Mining Weekly: What are benefits to the South African economy of the local manufacture in Richards Bay of titanium dioxide pigment by Nyanza? Chimhandamba: In general, Africa has not taken advantage of its abundance of raw materials. It's not only in titanium, but you will find across many minerals we’re generally a miner and maybe some concentration of certain minerals, but with very little value addition. In the titanium space, for example, South Africa, and Africa at large, has an abundance of heavy mineral sands. In heavy mineral sands are companies such as Tronox, Rio Tinto, Base Resources, Masirah Rutile. Some mine heavy mineral sands and then export either ilmenite, zircon, monazite, without any value addition. We use ilmenite, which Africa currently exports ilmenite at prices as low as $300/t. It goes to Europe, Asia or America, where it's put through a chemical process by the likes of DuPont spin-off Chemours, which produces titanium dioxide pigment, and we, as Africa, import that at prices of $3 000/t, as an example. When you look at that, I think the first thing we're trying to address as Nyanza is that it’s time more African companies moved our abundant r...
Junior exploration is an “absolutely critical” component of a sustainable mining industry, and “it is something that we neglect”, Barrick president and CEO Dr Mark Bristow has told the London Indaba. “We are always engaged in exploration and we are always talking to the junior explorers,” said Bristow. The Africa-linked Randgold Resources that Bristow ran before merging it with Barrick four years ago had a highly successful discover and develop strategy that resulted in a discovered cost per ounce being considerably lower than the ounces other gold companies were acquiring through mergers and acquisitions (M&A). When M&A opportunities manifested themselves, they were grasped well beyond the operational assets into major additional asset building through brownfield operation around the assets acquired. The surrounding exploration potential was invariably assessed in cases where assets were acquired and measured against a proven discovery and development yardstick. Questioned by Indaba chairperson Bernard Swanepoel on the number of people that make up Barrick’s exploration endeavours, as well as the company’s investment in exploration, Bristow responded that the New York- and Toronto-listed company employs about 400 exploration geologists and spends about $150-million a year on greenfield exploration. “That excludes mineral resource management and reserve extensions of our current operations,” Bristow added during question time at the event covered by Mining Weekly. On whether the company’s copper strategy would force M&A beyond exploration, Bristow said: “Let’s step back a bit. We started with a great quality portfolio of gold deposits when we merged Barrick and Randgold. Randgold had had some very key tier 1 assets and people mess with the definition of tier 1 now. “Tier 1 is very clear – 500 000 oz of potential gold production for more than ten years at the lower half of the cost curve, and we’ve got six of those and a couple in the making. “Barrick also came with some copper assets, some in Saudi Arabia, for which we’ve now increased production by 50% and lowered cost, and the big Lumwana mine in Zambia, which we now have a destination for, and we believe that we’ll be able to add another 40 years to its life, nearly double its production and it’s definitely got the potential to get to five-million tonnes of contained copper. “Then we’ve got the Reko Diq project in Pakistan, which is, in every sense, a tier 1 copper asset, and we’ll grow our gold equivalent production through expansion of our gold operations and the growth in our copper organically by 25% by 2029. “So, I think sometimes the market is more hung up about growth through M&A than I am. At the same time, it’s our business to always look for opportunities and to attempt to exploit them when they manifest themselves. “We’ll continue to do that because everyone that works in Barrick loves gold and copper mining, we follow the market, we understand what’s going on. At the same time, we are very mindful, as the Randgold share price performance showed, where we separated from the market and the gold price as a share price was when everyone else was running around doing M&A from 2011 to 2014, and then it all ended up in tears. “We end up in tears time and again in our industry, in that we forget what happened last time and so we do it again, just to remind ourselves. The one thing we have is memory, and we reflect on it, as we did back in those early Randgold days. The most important thing is that in Barrick, the senior executive team are owners. They act like owners, so who would want to go and risk the whole value base of a company through reckless M&A?” ONLY ASSETS WERE EXPLORATION PERMITS When Mining Weekly first interviewed Bristow in South Africa in 1995, the only assets that Randgold Resources had were exploration permits in West Africa. Then, following the acquisition of a small mine in Mali, Randgold was listed on the London Stock Exchange two years later, w...
Without the African mineral endowment, there is no chance of an energy transition taking place. “The fate of humanity rests on the African continent,” Ivanhoe executive co-chairperson Robert Friedland emphasised at the London Indaba on Monday. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) “The way mining is financed now, we’re looking at very limited parts of the earth’s crust where we can responsibly mine,” Friedland said during his presentation covered by Mining Weekly. A certain suite of a limited number of metals to clean up the world environment and Africa holds the key to a greening future. “Africa is blessed with the greatest mineral endowment on the planet and it hasn’t even begun to be scratched and mining as an enterprise has to be completely, utterly, and totally reinvented. What we know as the mining industry has to be thrown out,” he said. Africa would, he said, lead the world in the mining industry by vast margin, with the world’s richest copper endowment being the Katanga province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which also hosts 78% of the world’s cobalt production. “We have a society where people don’t know where things come from anymore and when you really have a sober understanding, there’s no chance of us getting to where we want to go without the young people of the African continent – and it’s amazing that this is not understood,” he said. While there is enough lithium on the planet – with just one hard rock lithium deposit in the Congo being enough to supply total global demand – when it comes to the generation of electrical energy and its transmission and end use, engineering one’s way around copper is very difficult. “Gold and silver conduct electricity better than copper, but they’re just too expensive to the purpose, and there just isn’t enough of it, and by far the largest copper producer in the world was always the Congo, not Chile,” he said. Eventually the large low-grade copper porphyrys in Chile supplanted the war troubled Congo, which had been the largest copper country until the 1960s. Chile’s copper grades have fallen from already low levels and the volume of water and energy per rock ground is skyrocketing with solar not a continuous energy answer. Mining copper in Chile thus tends to increase the environmental problem the world is trying to solve, putting the future into Africa’s hands.
The outgoing and incoming CEOs of Bushveld Minerals this week locked arms to enable the London Aim-quoted vanadium mining, processing and manufacturing company to advance optimally. In a joint online interview, outgoing CEO Fortune Mojapelo highlighted his commitment to supporting the company’s value-adding energy space and incoming CEO Craig Coltman spoke of tackling financial restructuring, increased liquidity, and balance sheet deleveraging when he officially starts on July 1 and Mojapelo steps down after 11 years of impressive company development. Bushveld owns two of only four operating primary vanadium plants in the world and Mojapelo pledged to continue to support the carve-out of Bushveld’s energy business strategy and Coltman spoke of the many positive options available and Bushveld’s operations being the full focus of his attention next week – ahead of his official commencement. “I'm very keen to put my safety boots on, get to the operations and understand the size of the opportunity,” Coltman told Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) “It's certainly been an interesting journey,” Mojapelo said of Bushveld Minerals, which started as an exploration company with an asset in Mokopane and a tin licence, from which it spun out AfriTin, which is now Andrada Mining, focused on tin, tantalum and lithium. Six years ago, Bushveld went through its own transformation through its entry into vanadium and the acquisition of Vametco and Vanchem, which turned it into a producer of a broad range of vanadium products. Simultaneously, it has played a major part in developing vanadium’s role in long-endurance energy storage through Bushveld Energy. The focus going forward will be on extracting the best out of these assets. On the upstream assets, it will be about squeezing every single kilogram of vanadium out of its assets, as cheaply as possible and ensuring that the balance sheet is less debt-heavy. Bushveld has been built on the back of existing cash flows and debt, resulting in the balance sheet having some near-term maturities that need to be addressed. On the upstream, two solid assets should be profitable through the cycle, and on the downstream, the energy business appears to have sufficient critical mass to develop as a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) energy storage platform. Questioned on what he envisages for Bushveld, Coltman spoke of the need for sustainable throughput improvement at Vanchem, the Orion restructure, and, thereafter, evaluation of the next steps. Bushveld has positioned itself for broad-based involvement through its far-reaching vertical integration model. The company’s downstream business includes the construction of an electrolyte manufacturing plant in East London, the development of a hybrid minigrid at the Vametco vanadium processing plant in Brits, and investment in VRFB manufacturing. On the company’s vertical integration positioning, Coltman said: “For now, it makes a lot of sense. I have no reason to do anything different to it. My focus is going to be on the mining side in the interim. Fortune is going to be supporting me on the other aspects.” Coltman will be visiting Vametco’s minigrid on Monday: “Give me a couple of weeks with my feet on the ground as the CEO and we’ll give you a lot more substance,” he said. Mining Weekly: We’ve been getting calls from people who are in renewable energy and they're saying the delivery time for lithium batteries is horrific. Renewable energy developers needing a lot of storage say they can't get lithium batteries and have remarked to us that, marvellously, they are going to be able to source long-endurance vanadium batteries locally from Bushveld. When will that likely come about? Mojapelo: The whole premise of Bushveld Energy and VRFBs is that, going forward, the energy transition means that we're going to not only need a lot of stationary storage but also long-duration energy storage, and that is a space which is ideal for vanadium flo...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer unpacks hopes for the use of Platinum and Palladium in the commercialisation of batteries; calls for SA to produce green hydrogen locally, which could add value to iron-ore; and simple legislation to stimulate Green Hydrogen investment.
Green hydrogen is presenting South Africa with a good target point at a time when the African continent is on the cusp of a massive revolution in the energy space. “For South Africa in particular, the ability to transition through less carbon intensive fuel sources ultimately to green hydrogen is incredibly important and possibly the only way that we can truly create an energy transition,” Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) infrastructure, energy and telecommunications head Mike Peo told Engineering News & Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Moreover, the country has abundant land for more wind and photovoltaic projects, particularly the Karoo and Northern Cape, and is positioned comfortably at the tip of Africa to have export markets to the east and west. “We also have an incredible resources in platinum group metals, which still form an essential part of electrolysers,” said Peo, who was speaking from an energy event in Nairobi, Kenya, where he was part of a panel discussion on the potential of hydrogen as an opportunity for Africa, with the session taking in project preparation, bankability, the requirements of the hydrogen off-taker market, contract structuring, securing bankable off-taker contracts, the readiness of financiers, and aligning regulations. South Africa’s ability to produce and procure large-scale renewable energy projects had been proven over the last 14 years, with the renewable energy programme attracting R300-billion-plus worth of investment in globally competitive solar and wind power. At the same time, Saudi Arabia’s large green hydrogen project was attracting attention in being 100% banked as a result of an offtake by Air Products to the US. “One catalytic project sets the market alight and we start to see people saying it can be done. “There are projects being developed in South Africa right now where there are challenges with things like project preparation money, but the Japanese, German and British governments all have strategies around their green hydrogen developments. As a consequence, they’ll either subsidise it or provide that type of grant money for big projects that are going to be the forerunners of a green hydrogen re-industrialisation,” Peo forecast. How would you describe the readiness of financiers to become involved in green hydrogen opportunities? There's a combination of two things. Number one, we’re seeing virtually every important country with the ability to become either an offtaker in hydrogen, or ultimately a developer of green hydrogen, green ammonia projects, rewriting the policy frameworks. We’re seeing massive government commitment to a policy framework which will take us down that avenue. That starts to get everything moving, but on top of that, because of the complexities and the stress around, for example, financing coal projects, I don't think there's a banking team in the world that is not sitting and looking at the evolution of green hydrogen as a future fuel source. Right now, every team is looking at how we position ourselves. There are a number of peripheral concepts as well as things like carbon trading and carbon credits, which, again, are going to indirectly subsidise production of things like green hydrogen. At this conference, for example, there's a stream that has been unbelievably well attended by every development financing institution, every multilateral institution. Most of the South African banks for example, many of Africa's banks, are at the conference, and they are talking about what next and how are we going to get there. Is there any one government that is standing out as an example that others can follow? At the moment the Namibian government appears to be at the forefront of the development. They have already set up the equivalent of the South African Independent Power Producer Office, which was the office set up to procure renewable energy, specifically focused on the development of a green ...
Hopes are rising for the commercialisation of batteries that are boosted by the inclusion of platinum and palladium following the engagement of an innovation centre to drive the next generation of battery chemistries to market. Collaboration between the Florida International University-linked Lion Battery Technologies of the US and the Battery Innovation Center of Newberry, Indiana, will include creating prototypes for commercialisation consideration next year. Lion's target is to develop batteries with specific energies that are 20% to 100% higher than current technologies while matching or beating present cycle lives. Established four years ago by the Toronto- and New York-listed Platinum Group Metals and the Johannesburg-listed Anglo American Platinum, Lion has been developing the next-generation battery technology using platinum and palladium since 2019. Anglo Platinum has the Mogalakwena, Amandelbult and Mototolo platinum group metals (PGM) operations in South Africa’s Bushveld Complex, and the North American Platinum Group Metals, headed by CEO Frank Hallam, is the discoverer and operator of a bulk underground PGM deposit in South Africa’s Waterberg, which is being developed with joint venture partners Impala Platinum, Mnombo Wethu Consultants, Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security, and Hanwa. Successful commercialisation would mean that the extension of PGMs beyond use in the exhaust systems of internal combustion engines and ensuring the zero-emission advantage of fuel cell electric vehicles, to also making an energy-enhancing and weight-reducing entry into battery electric vehicles. Since inception, the Lion team has focused on the development of proprietary lithium sulphur technology and enhancing the performance of existing commercial lithium-ion or NMC chemistries. Lion has a sponsored research agreement with Florida International University, including exclusive rights to intellectual property developed and will lead the commercialisation efforts. On top of that, the Battery Innovation Center will now collaborate with commercial enterprises, universities, government agencies, and industry leaders to focus on the rapid development, testing, and commercialisation of safe, reliable, and lightweight energy storage systems for commercial and defence customers. The mission of the Battery Innovation Center is to accelerate innovation in the field of battery technology by providing access to the entire spectrum of research and development to commercialisation, including low volume production, in a single 40 000 square foot facility. Under an agreed scope of work, the Battery Innovation Center – which works with clients including BrightVolt, Rolls Royce, DuPont, Valvoline, GE Global Research, and Cummins – is to conduct independent small-scale and large-scale trials to validate Lion's PGMs-based based electrode composition, slurry, and films in lithium-sulphur and lithium-ion coin and pouch cells. Research at Lion is led by Dr Bilal El-Zahab and Dr Wan Si Tang is the advanced battery manufacturing team leader at the Battery Innovation Center. “We’re excited to collaborate and support the endeavour for next generation lithium-related battery chemistries toward higher technology readiness levels," Tang stated in a release to Mining Weekly.
The continent of Africa must industrialise as quickly as it can, South Africa’s Trade, Industry and Competition Deputy Minister Nomalungelo Gina said on Tuesday when she presided over the signing ceremony of contracts to advance a titanium beneficiation project in KwaZulu-Natal. “Africa must catch up to other industrialised economies,” Gina stated as East China Engineering Science and Technology formalised an engineering procurement and construction contract as well as an operational and maintenance contract with Nyanza Light Metals, for the building of an 80 000 t/y titanium dioxide (Ti02) pigment plant in the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone. “The African Continental Free Trade Area enables us to change the game. Our endowments can be beneficiated on the continent, and be exported as value added products. Nyanza Light Metals represents that direction of downstream beneficiation,” said Gina, who emphasised the need for government officials to keep on improving project speed and turnaround times for investors. “Investors are our salvation and we must be quick in sorting out regulatory blockages. This is critical for us as government because the spin-offs are far wider than corporate tax benefits. Associated with this project is vital job creation – permanent jobs – once the company operates in full after construction is completed. We will meet on the ground as we will come and do site inspection from time to time,” Gina said in acknowledging the contributions of Nyanza and the government of China. TiO2, a bulk commodity produced using ilmenite or rutile, is a white pigment used in products such as paints, industrial coatings, plastics, papers, inks, foods, medicines and toothpaste. Ilmenite and rutile are found in KwaZulu-Natal's rich mineral sands patrimony. Gina’s meeting of the leadership of the East China Engineering Science and Technology earlier this year in her Department of Trade, Industry and Competition offices, coincided with her meeting Chinese Ambassador Chen Xiadong in Pretoria. At that meeting, the Deputy Minister recognised the commitment to bring value in the Nyanza partnership. “China’s experience in complex projects of this nature has been emphasised, and to us, that is reassuring. Nyanza represents our pride as Africans. We want it to succeed. The journey travelled, including the raising of capital to finance, has been commendable. “The completion of Phase 1 has inspired confidence that construction deadlines will be met. Chinese people are known for project completion, either on time or ahead of schedule. I have no doubt that we will meet the set deadlines in the months that have been targeted," Gina stated. The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition has been supporting Nyanza ever since it pledged its investment during President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Investment Conference five years ago. “We have been accelerating with them in navigating the path, working with our Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government. “I want to commit, once again, that we want to see this project continuing uninterrupted, right to end. As government, we will protect this project. “The R4.5-billion investment represent an opportunity that South Africa and Africans can change the resource curse that Africa has been known for, which is being the net exporter of raw materials from gold, diamond, platinum, iron-ore and many more minerals, including titanium. That era belongs to the past,” said Gina.
Proper investment in green hydrogen generation has the potential to provide full employment and economic growth for decades to come as well as protect the planet from devastating climate change, Fortescue Future Industries and Fortescue Metals Group executive chairperson and founder Dr Andrew Forrest accentuated at the FT Hydrogen Summit. Forrest called on the world’s energy companies to provide energy that does not harm humankind and countries to introduce simple legislation to stimulate investment in green hydrogen. “We need to hold our energy giants to account and to give us energy that doesn’t harm us and they’re stalling on that. “They’ve got all these fantastic excuses and I’m just saying that we have got to stop falling for it. It’s just a stalling tactic that we need to change,” said Forrest in response to Financial Times associate editor Pilita Clark. Referring to the introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), he said: “The IRA is working because it’s simple. If you want to serve up something complex to a banker, you’re not going to get any money.” The IRA subsidises every kilogram of green hydrogen that is generated and countries really serious about full employment and economic growth for decades to come should model their policies on the IRA. He described Africa has having the best natural endowment for green energy generation and remains intent on investing heavily in Africa. But the IRA is proving extremely important for short-term business build-up and this was his response to Fortescue’s likely investment play-out. “The play-out will be that we’ll invest billions of dollars and eventually tens of billions of dollars in the United States. “Now, I want to do at least that in Africa, Europe and Latin America, but in the short term, we’re responsible for other people’s capital. You’ve got to go to where the returns are highest and that is the United States. “We can’t knock the IRA. I had 45-50 minutes of vigorous debate with President Biden persuading him to take the limit off the amount of capital that they would invest into green energy. My argument was that it will pay itself back in new investment, in economic growth and in taxes every three or four years,” said Forrest, who also pointed to the advantage of ready-built US infrastructure. “You can transport your green energy down the grid, have your electrolyser cracking facility right next door to a major consumer, the pipeline is that long. “It’s so efficient and then you are subsidised heavily to do all that, which is not surprising because we’re getting a new industry going,” he added. China, with its robotics and automation, is where electrolyser production could come down the cost curve significantly as it enters the era of machines making machines. “Our future is machines making machines – machines which make electrolyers, machines which make long-distance high-density cables, solar panels which can crack hydrogen in the panel. All these technologies are emerging quickly and China is capturing that technology, putting it into machines and then getting machines to make those machines,” he said. Clark recalled that Fortescue Future Industries last year expressed intent to produce 15-million tons a year of green hydrogen by 2030 and questioned him on how much green hydrogen the company was producing currently. In response, Forrest said it had taken Fortescue Metals Group seven years to pay its first dividend and Fortescue Future Industries was on its first year versus seven. “So, cut us a bit of slack,” he said, recalling the world had cut the oil industry 200 years of slack and trillions of dollars worth of subsidisation. “They started at $1 600 a barrel relative. We’re being held to a completely different standard. Even plain and simple iron-ore projects take a few years. If we go final investment decision on several projects this year, that’s moving at lightning speed,” Forrest calculated. On the perception that more research needed to be done ...
As iron-ore mining in South Africa, West Africa, the Pilbara, and Brazil happen to be hot and windy places, it makes a lot of sense for the global south to produce green hydrogen on site to reduce, deoxidise and pelletise iron-ore into an added-value product that can be shipped more efficiently. Doing so will achieve for the global south the added value that the crude oil industry never delivered, the classic example being Nigeria, where crude oil is produced and sold for petrodollars and then reimported back into the country at five times the crude oil price, CWP Global strategy head Tom Dimitroff told the FT Hydrogen Summit covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) “The same thing applies in the case of maritime bunker fuel. You’re not going to produce green hydrogen, ship it to Rotterdam and then have ships load it at Rotterdam. Basically, you co-locate refuelling stations approximate to that,” Dimitroff commented. In terms of policy initiatives, the global north had, he said, been hugely responsive, with some 16 countries coming forward with policies and 700 green hydrogen projects. Backed by last year’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) announcement, green hydrogen projects are all set to proliferate further in the US. “The US will satisfy a lot of its indigenous hydrogen offtake within the US itself – and they’ll have spare capacity to ship hydrogen. “Another paradigm we need to look at is possible trading in electrolysers and other types of technology, and not just the trading of hydrogen.” Platinum group metal-catalysed proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers are used to produce green hydrogen and oxygen from water. “We’re delighted with governments coming forward and starting to set firm prices that can catalyse decisions in the market – and the US IRA does that. “I’m very much looking forward to other governments following suit, but on a more cooperative basis so there’s no zero-sum politics involved,” added Dimitroff. AXE Group chairperson Christian Leysen, who is a member of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium, also highlighted the advantage of on-site green hydrogen production to avoid transport costs. “I think hydrogen will be best used when it is generated close to the industry using the hydrogen,” said Leysen, who is a member of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium. EXPORTING GREEN HYDROGEN FROM SOUTH AFRICA Oliver Rix, the energy partner of Baringa, a global consultancy focused on the energy transition, singled out the potential of South Africa, along with other countries like it, to produce and export green hydrogen effectively into Europe. “But equally, if Europe can get its pipeline infrastructure right, then hydrogen can be moved from Iberia effectively into central Europe,” said Rix. “If you start looking at the benefits that connecting hydrogen into electricity systems can provide, then that starts uncovering extra value. “When you start looking at the potential renewables, the locations of demand and the potential for electrolysers to play a role in between those, then there is actually an economic case, even in a place like Japan,” added Rix. Even in the UK, hydrogen is seen as a commodity able to generate considerable economic growth: “It was only when in 2019, when we did the report looking at how we get to net zero that suddenly we needed hydrogen. So, we are talking about the last 20% of decarbonisation. “We’re talking about what we need for everything, but on the other hand, when you look at that, even in the UK, it means an amount of energy from hydrogen that’s approaching the scale of the electricity system that we have today. “That’s building a big industry.even if you halve the numbers, it’s a big requirement,” Baroness Brown of Cambridge House of Lords crossbench member commented.
Most mining countries have already databased their critical minerals and made them public so that investors and their global partners can evaluate national production capacities and capabilities. Against that backdrop, the Wits Mining Institute’s DigiMine Laboratory at University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) is setting out to build a comprehensive database to contribute to the understanding of the special abilities of critical green minerals and their applications in renewable energy in particular. DigiMine is setting out to establish strong collaboration with mining industry players so that it can achieve its aspiration of serving as a central hub for information exchange, research collaboration, technology development, innovation, and the driving of green energy growth into mining. It is intent on integrating its system into South Africa’s upcoming national cadastral system, and in doing so, being able to provide feedback to the cadastral system. It envisages that its comprehensive database system will be able to contribute to evidence-based policymaking and a supportive regulatory environment. Once it has the database, it expects to be able to provide the required framework for worker upskilling as per the needs of the industry. “By having this database, we can look into the required skills and define customised courses and training material so that we can also contribute to human capital development,” DigiMine Laboratory head Ahsan Mahboob told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) DigiMine set out initially to serve South African mining’s research and development needs in wireless communication, surveying, mapping and navigation, health and safety, and systems integration for smart mining, and then this year came up with the two new themes of cybersecurity and green energy minerals and technologies, the latter addressing South African mining’s energy the transition needs. “We’ve observed with our global partners that there is a dire need to focus on the optimisation of the integration of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind energy, into the mining operations. Most of the mining operations are moving towards renewables, for which storage is important, as well as to smart grid technology, which is required to transfer renewable energy to the mining operations. Then, most importantly, the energy management strategies need to ensure a reliable and efficient power supply, with DigiMine also planning to focus on power system modelling and planning. “There’s a need to apply sophisticated and advanced numerical models to see how the energy is going to be utilised in mining operations, and how we can leverage on the digital technologies,” said Mahboob. Green energy use can be modelled with the help of digital twinning technology, “and based on that model, you can optimise, based on artificial intelligence algorithms. The focus will be to do research in terms of demand pattern analysis and then integration requirements, which will definitely help cost-effectiveness,” added Mahboob. Mining is also poised to benefit from the electrification of mining equipment, for which infrastructure to recharge battery electric vehicles is seen as critical. Wireless recharging stations being researched and developed obviate the need for vehicles to park while having their batteries recharged and allow for battery electric vehicles to be recharged while continuing to operate, which is also something which DigiMine wants to focus on and analyse.
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the value Copper 360 has identified at its mines in the Northern Cape; Botswana Diamonds' new prospecting licence in the Northern Cape; and the importance of making South Africa a country of choice.
I’ll somehow re-emerge in the mining sector at some point in the future, outgoing Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter said on Tuesday, when spoke to Mining Weekly in a Teams interview. At the end of this month, Baxter will hand over to incoming CEO Mzila Mthenjane, who will inherit a Minerals Council that has been profoundly elevated to new heights of transformative safety, race, gender, and minerals diversity advancement. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) When Baxter joined the overwhelmingly pale and male Chamber of Mines back in 1992, there were 551 fatalities compared with 49 in 2020/ 2023, the lowest level in South African mining’s recorded history. While the chamber was dominated by the gold mining industry with a bit of coal and diamond mining thrown in, today’s members of the rebranded Minerals Council mine 60-plus different minerals, representing 90% of the value of mineral production in South Africa and more than 90% of employment. Moreover, the Minerals Council’s 32-member board has been led by a lady president for the last three years and is race and gender diversified. Changes at employment equity and ownership levels mean that significant numbers of black South Africans, who have earned their stripes in the sector, today own and manage operations across a broad front. Involved today are 72 500 women versus virtually no women before. In partnership with the Mandela Mining Precinct, the Department of Science and Technology and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, modernisation has been advanced through an expenditure of R500-million in the last five years. Mining Weekly: What regulatory environment does mining need in South Africa to be able to compete on a level footing with other mining jurisdictions? Baxter: What's important to state is that the regulatory framework is just one aspect. If you look at the Fraser Institute survey report on South Africa for 2022, the worst ranked area for us was security, and we are focused on the issues around improving the security environment in South Africa, but we need government to come to the party on that. Two or three of the other critical issues are around the fact that our logistics has fallen by 40% over the last five years and we don't have reliable electricity supply. Those factors, which were very much to our advantage five to ten years ago, have now become negatives in the Fraser Institute survey report. We can have the best regulatory environment in the world, but if we're not sorting out crime, logistics and the heartbeat of the economy, which is electricity supply, we're not going to be able to grow mining. On the regulatory front, we do need a transparent online off-the-shelf cadastral system that is very easily accessible for free, with all the precompetitive geological information, showing who's got what prospecting right, so you can go in and apply. We need to have the regulatory framework organised in a way that it takes no more than two to three months to get the prospecting right versus the current 354 days, which simply doesn't work, particularly for venture capital exploration. We need to get all the backlog of the regulatory approvals cleared out the way, which the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has now committed to do. We need to have a exploration plan, and a lot more incentives around venture capital funding. In our view, this should be the flow-through shares equivalent, which is borrowing from the Canadian model, to get venture capital funded exploration ignited in South Africa, to unlock a pipeline of new exploration projects, which could unleash more investment in the mining sector. Those are the areas that we've been certainly engaging government on and the Minister did say last week that the five preferred candidates for the cadastral system have been being listed and they’re going to be looking at choosing one of them by the end of July, so let's see what happens. If given the right envi...
London Aim- and Botswana-listed diamond exploration company Botswana Diamonds has been granted five-year prospecting licence on ground containing a cluster of kimberlites in South Africa. Involved is the the Reivilo cluster of three kimberlite pipes, with sizes of 3.1ha, 1.7ha and 0.9ha, all within a 250-metre radius. Samples of the drilling core produced G10 and eclogitic garnets, which are the optimal indicators for diamondiferous kimberlites. Samples have been taken for microdiamond analyses. As reported earlier by Mining Weekly, Botswana Diamonds obtained a databank on Reivilo from London-listed Petra Diamonds in return for a royalty. In addition, Siseko Minerals, in which Botswana Diamonds holds 51.7% of the shares, has increased its stake in the Maibwe joint venture in Botswana from 29% to 50%. A cluster of four diamond bearing kimberlite pipes on PL186 have been discovered, with surface sizes of 5ha, 6ha, 2ha and 1ha respectively. Significant quantities of microdiamonds have been found in one of these pipes. “We’ve got two major projects areas. The one is in South Africa, in the Northern Cape, and I hope to be able to go into the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy conference in a couple of weeks to talk about this. “This is the Reivilo cluster of kimberlites, which, interestingly, if you look in the historical literature, very, very little is spoken about it, and that’s quite rare for a kimberlite or diamond province in the world,” Botswana Diamonds CEO James Campbell told last week’s Junior Indaba. “It’s five kimberlites, near surface, but need a fair amount of work, but they are diamondiferous. “Then, in Botswana, in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, we have increased our stake in the Maibwe joint venture, which we’ve bought out from BCL, and one of those kimberlites had a very significant quantities of microdiamonds, so that is also work in progress and this is where we are looking at resource definition,” he added.
Copper company Copper 360, which listed on the AltX of the JSE in April, has more than two-million tonnes of copper its 12 mines, which is worth R560-billion, the Junior Indaba heard this week. That copper is shallow, on surface and predeveloped, an upbeat Copper 360 CEO Jan Nelson said in his presentation covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) The Rietberg underground mine that will be brought online by the end of the year, has 25 000 t of copper metal for Copper 360 to mine, worth R1.4-billion. The scramble for copper is on in South Africa and the Northern Cape is the main area of focus amid a significant global copper shortfall. Copper 360 has 629-million shares in issue, a market capitalisation of R2.5-billion, and its share has experienced considerable liquidity to date, with 15% to 20% in free float. As the only junior copper producer in South Africa, it has no peer group in the country. Its resource is pre-developed, is seen to be in a position to have a capex and opex advantage over any new entrant, The R260-million it has raised South Africa is sufficient to see it through its current expansions. In not experiencing problems in raising money in South Africa for developing South African minerals assets, positives in its favour were outlined by Nelson as including the company’s focus on simplicity, reliability, high margins, and high returns. It has in-house engineering capability to plan and design, pilot, and then scale up. Its investors appear to like that model, which generates cash flow fast and results in high margins. What is also seen to give it advantage is its cluster mining model deployed over nearly 19 000 ha that hosts 12 mines and 60 prospects. It has a centralised modular plug-and-play processing facility at Nababeep and all the sources of ore that feed into it as well as an SXEW facility that produces copper plate from rock sources in the area, left behind by Newmont and Gold Fields, the companies that formerly mined in the area, which was once one of the world’s major copper districts. Newmont developed an underground mine that went down 2 km. There are more than 30 mines in the tectonic environment that has large-scale forgotten copper deposits. “We’re just picking that up, putting it through the plant, making copper plates, and then we neutralize our discard and we pump it back into the underground holes and fill up all the old underground mines. So, from that perspective, we’re also cleaning up the environment,” Nelson pointed out, “Our operations are green and clean and the rocks behind there are some of the rocks we are processing so no mining is required. This is all the rock that was left behind by Newmont and Gold Fields, running at between 1% and 5% copper. We are actually just picking that up, putting it through the plant, making copper plates, and then we neutralize our discard and pump it back into the underground, and then fill up all the old underground mines, so from that perspective we are also cleaning up the environment. “We’ve just discovered in our Wheal Julia open pit area, where we’ve got an area of 150 m by 100 m on surface running at an average grade of 5% copper, with 9%, 10% and 8% copper on surface. “We’ve got a couple of these anomalies that we’ll trace up and drill in the next coming months but this certainly will put South Africa back on the map as one of the major copper districts,” added Nelson. In the next 22 years, the world has to produce 700-million metric tonnes of copper, equivalent to the volume produced so far. There just isn’t going to be enough copper, so being able to produce copper is going to be of a major strategic advantage. The quantity of copper needed by renewables is increasing and critical is that by 2040, in terms of the European Union’s target for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and BEVs using about 85 kg of copper, the world will be needing about 42-million tons of copper. The world is currently producing 20-million...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses Lethabo Exploration’s off-take agreement; Marula Mining’s listing on the JSE; and Copper 360’s encouraging drilling results.
Lethabo Exploration, which started out as an exploration company, has since transitioned into mining iron-ore in Limpopo, and has secured an offtake agreement. Lethabo is 100% South African black-owned and to date, it has been 100% self-funded, which means the company has no external debt-funding obligations, Lethabo Exploration CEO Mandy Malebe told the Junior Indaba this week. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) “Lethabo’s truly a first of its kind, with its director and executive body being local people born and bred in rural Limpopo, in the district of Sekhukhune, and having mining rights for projects and greenfield exploration in Sekhukhune, which takes in the areas such as Steelpoort and Burgersfort. That’s home and it’s also home to our mining projects. “Being local people from Sekhukhune and mining in our home area, our commitment to the development that we want to see there is personal because of the background that we have and also being exposed to the poverty there,” Malebe said in a presentation covered by Mining Weekly. Lethabo is affiliated to Minerals Council South Africa, of which it has been a member since 2020, and Malebe serves as one of the deputy chairs of the Exploration and Junior Miners Leadership Forum on the Junior and Emerging Miners Desk. At last week’s Minerals Council annual general meeting, Malebe was appointed as a council board member. It is also associated to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), where it participates in the entrepreneurial accelerator programme, sponsored by Minerals Council South Africa. This programme is designed to help businesses to access investors and capital, as well as access funding through the option of listing on the JSE, which is seen as essentially increasing South Africa’s employment status as a nation and contributing to the economy. The social economy which is within Lethabo’s immediate reach is that of Sekhukhune, where it holds mining rights for iron-ore, vanadium, chrome, platinum-group metals, titanium and andalusite. Its mining rights cover the farms Malekskraal, Waterkop and Mecklenburg, situated on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex. For mining continuity, it has secured the mining rights on the farms Waterkop and Mecklenburg, which are neighbouring farms along the R37 provincial route, and mining rights for iron-ore and its byproducts at Malekskraal. The three farms together cover 8 370 ha. “As a self-funded company from inception to date, our progress and project development has been dependent solely on the success of other non-mining-related projects that we run and have used to provide capital. “This is extremely difficult and challenging, especially because mining requires such high volumes of cash injection, not to mention the costs incurred to outsource expert opinion through consultants, geologists and surveyors,” Malebe explained. Lethabo set out in 2007 when its first prospecting rights application was submitted to the Department of Minerals Resources and Energy (DMRE), finally executing its mining rights this year, “so that’s after 16 years of being on the receiving end of bureaucracy, litigation, no-access to funding and limited access to markets. “As an emerging mining company, being black-owned and being women-led does not make us immune to the challenges that are common to the industry – access to markets, capital, human capital, and the DMRE’s legitimate intervention at a regional level. We are too young a company to even comment on the access’s real issues,” Malebe said. Malekskraal is the only site where site establishment has been done, the construction of a weighbridge has been competed and opencast mining operations has begun. Implementing this project was the outcome of many debates where Lethabo was faced with potential buyers resisting to commit to a project that had no existing operations. With no access to project funding for mining, Lethabo resorted to starting “where you are, with what you have. Again, our su...
In conjunction with its Aquis Stock Exchange-listing in London, Marula Mining is going to have an additional listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), Marula Mining CEO Jason Brewer told the Junior Indaba on Wednesday. “We’re in the process of appointing our advisers,” said Brewer, who spoke of Copper 360 as having done “a fantastic job” with its April listing on the AltX of the JSE. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Battery metals investment and exploration company Marula, With its Blesberg lithium and tantalum mine in the Northern Cape, has received a funding boost by clinching a partnership with Q Global Commodities, headed by South Africa’s Quinton van der Burgh. “We’re very much focused on making sure we are an African focused company. Whilst listed in London, to be honest guys, it’s post box for us. Our whole operating administrative team is based out of Nairobi. We have an office in Kimberley. We have an office in Dar es Salaam, and we have literally just there in Sandton, we have our major shareholder and our funding partner in place, which is critical for us. “One of the big reasons about being here and coming here on the JSE is we did a transaction earlier this year with Quinton van der Bergh, who is probably best known from the coal-mining sector. “He’s diversifying into the metals, the hard-rock, and certainly into battery metals. He’s coming on. Q Global Commodities are going to be taking a 51% interest in us. Quinton is going to be taking his first seat, I believe, on a listed company, and they are investing a lot. Basically he funds us through all our projects, the project here in South Africa, the three projects in Tanzania, and the one’s we’re going to be announcing duly in Zimbabwe and Kenya. So, Patrycja (a reference to JSE business development manager Patrycja Kula, who was present in the audience) we’ll be working very closely with your team to make sure we add to those 12 junior mining companies on the exchange,” Brewer told the Indaba, chaired by mining luminary Bernard Swanepoel. “We’re working with communities we live with and that brings on additional responsibilities. In the space of six months, we’ve grown our workforce from three to just over 100 people, here in the Northern Cape and up in Tanzania, so we’re moving very quickly, and certainly by the end of the year, we’re probably going to be about 250 to 300 people. Blesberg, operated intermittently for more than 80 years, has 250 000 t to 400 000 t of stockpiled waste. This was a small operation mined primarily for its tantalite. “Within that pegmatite, is very high grade spodumene, lithium. We’ve done multiple samples there. It’s running between 5% and 8% of what is typically exported as a spodumene concentrate, so we stated reprocessing those dumps n November. We secured a prepayment from a Swiss-based trading group for $5-million to completely buy out all the minority shareholders and fund the initial development there. “Just last month, we took delivery of six brand new bits of mobile mining equipment, courtesy of Q Global Commodities, courtesy of Bell Equipment. That has allowed us in the space of a month to double production, double the movement of volumes from that mine. “We are now delivering the spodumene concentrate through to our offtaker. The first deliveries are taking place this week. “We’ve had a pilot plant in Joburg taking that spodumene and producing lithium carbonate, something we’re focused on – not just producing a raw product but producing an intermediate product,” said Brewer. The lithium carbonate produced in the pilot plant has been tested and the process is being independently verified with a view to producing an initial 1 000 t a year of lithium carbonate which is going for roughly $40 000/t. “For a company of our size producing at a revenue base just purely on that is going to be something very significant for us,” said Brewer.
More than one-third – about 4 000, or 35% – of mining CEOs polled by PwC for its latest global mining report consider their company to be highly or extremely exposed to climate-related risks within the next five years. The global drive to reduce carbon emissions notwithstanding, this year’s ‘Mine 2023: The era of reinvention’ report – the twentieth edition of the global report – found that the geopolitical instability of last year resulted in surging demand for coal, making coal the largest contributor to the top 40 mining companies' overall revenue at 28%. This is the first time that coal has been at the top of the list since 2010. Despite the continued demand for coal, however, the drive to transition global society to more sustainable energy sources is resulting in the most significant development that the sector has witnessed in decades – the era of critical minerals. Although demand for critical minerals is rising rapidly, these minerals – other than copper – accounted for only a small share of the top 40 companies’ overall revenue for 2022, with increasing production volumes but volatile prices. Spending on the search for critical minerals such as copper, lithium and cobalt grew significantly last year, although PwC expects the total exploration spending to decline this year as earnings soften. In this more dynamic and intensely competitive environment, PwC’s report asserts that miners can no longer rely on the portfolios and methods of the past to generate value. One shift that PwC believes demands a response is the emergence of government as an important new category of player in the critical minerals market. “After seeing rapid demand growth and risky levels of supply chain concentration, governments around the globe have formed alliances, instituted new policies and mobilised funding to secure access to critical minerals. These moves are expected to change the mining business,” PwC Africa energy, utilities and resources leader Andries Rossouw said during a presentation of findings in the report on June 7. He said the inflow of public funds, for example, meant that miners would need to rethink the rates of return they could expect on mining or supply chain assets. Mining companies would also need to contend with heightened investment risk and greater competition, as governments altered the playing field with incentives and interventions. The mine report has shown that government action in the critical minerals space has taken on three forms. Firstly, there are an increasing number of government-to-government strategic partnerships or trade agreements centred on critical minerals collaboration. Secondly, new laws, policies or regulations are being created and enacted to protect, secure or drive growth in critical minerals and supply chains. Lastly, direct government funding or government-backed funds are being provided to finance ventures in critical minerals and their supply chains. The result of governments entering the market is that there will be a greater demand for critical minerals, which will alter the financial picture, increasing investment risk and driving competition to new heights. In addition, increasingly stringent environmental standards will be imposed on miners owing to the public sector’s involvement. PwC’s report shows that critical minerals transactions dominated deal activity last year, as both large and small mining companies raced to reposition themselves for the energy transition. As a result, the value of critical minerals deals increased by 151% from 2021, accounting for 66% of all deal value in 2022. Copper was the year’s “hottest” commodity, representing 85% of all critical minerals transactions. However, PwC energy, utilities and resources south market tax leader Laetitia Le Roux highlighted that, even as the global mining industry strived to increase output of critical minerals to support the energy transition, mining company leaders were keenly aware that they must reduce their carbon...
Outgoing Minerals Council South Africa’s Roger Baxter told the Junior Indaba's opening day that the CEO of a junior mining company is typically a chief cook and bottlewasher – and Botswana Diamonds MD James Campbell was quick to confirm that. “I’ve been chief cook and bottlewasher for the past 20 years almost, and I’m now running my fourth junior,” said Campbell. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) “I’m typically the only diamond geezer here and what is quite sad is that according to my records, Botswana Diamonds is the only active listed diamond junior in the sub-continent, in the region, and we hope that, over the passage of time, this will improve,” added Campbell in acknowledging indaba chairperson Bernard Swanepoel and indaba organiser Paula Munsie, the CEO of Resources4Africa, for continuing to spotlight junior mining in South Africa. On juniors typically wanting to discover something and then be bought out by a mining major, Campbell gave the discover-and-sell strategy the thumbs down: “I think that’s the wrong mindset," said Campbell during his presentation covered by Mining Weekly. “You’ve got to discover something with the mindset of mining it and delivering capital gains by being a diamond producer. We focus on geology and without good geology, you can’t do anything,” he added. In South Africa, Botswana Diamonds is focused on production at Marsfontein and Thorny River, in Limpopo province, and in Botswana, it is dual listed with the London Stock Exchange. In Zimbabwe, it has three joint ventures, but sadly diamond companies cannot operate there unless linked with one four companies there and joint ventures are not encouraged. “But it’s highly prospective from a geological perspective, so we’d like to be there one day, and I’d certainly like to build a diamond mine in Zimbabwe before I hang up my geological boots,” Campbell commented. Botswana Diamonds plc is funded by investors out of the UK and Ireland who typically have a high-risk mindset. It has no offices and during Covid, it got by with £384 000 for the year, which included auditing compliance, legal fees and field work. “We’re very, very miserly with our money, because it is our money,” said Campbell, who reports that very little diamond exploration is taking place. The older mines are getting deeper and more costly, which means that diamonds prices will rise amid demand for diamonds continuing to rise. “Of course, we have black swan events, like the global financial crisis, Covid and the war in Ukraine, but these tend to be transitory and we carry on with the longer term trend,” he outlined. Displaying a slide showing pictures of production at Marsfontein and Thorny River, Campbell applauded South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy. “There’s very little comparable legislation for a mining permit in other jurisdictions which allow juniors, such as ourselves and others, to get by with the minimal amount of bureaucracy and into production. “In fact, we were in production on this property within three months of actually setting up,” he said, showing an image of his hand holding diamonds. SHARE PRICE IS EVERYTHING Campbell emphasised that the share price of junior resource companies “is everything”, with market capitalisation meaning very little – “size is nothing”. The company arranged a deal with a royalty miner where it does the technical and compliance work and the royalty miner provides all the capital and the operating cost. This has minimal financial impact on shareholders, with the cash being generated for Botswana Diamonds. “It’s not saying that we’re going to do every project like that, but when you’re mining dumps and alluvial deposits, where the resource risk is high, it makes sense to do it this way,” Campbell explained.
The big renewables deal undertaken by Seriti is indicative of just how passionate South Africans are to make a positive difference for the benefit of future generations, said new Seriti Green CEO Peter Venn of the multi-gigawatt deal that is poised to lighten South Africa’s loadshedding burden and buttress the country’s just energy transition.“We bought this business from Australia. It’s now 100% South African and 59% black-owned, with passionate South Africans investing to make a difference for future generations,” Venn enthused in a Zoom interview with Mining Weekly.Standard Bank, RMB and VennEnergy are Seriti’s transaction partners in the Windlab acquisition, with Seriti holding 54.19%, Venn Energy 15%, and Standard Bank and RMB each holding 15.41%.Venn, with skin in the game through VennEnergy, spoke of his ambition to build three gigawatts (3 GW) to 4 GW of renewable energy over the next five to eight years, with a particular focus on the energy transitioning province of Mpumalanga, where initial wind-farm construction is due to get under way in April.“As Windlab, we’ve been in Mpumalanga for the last five years, doing the necessary project development, and our short-term goal is to kick off with a 150 MW wind farm in Mpumalanga, where Seriti Resources, with its various coal mines, will be the offtaker and buyer of electricity,” Venn outlined.More than 3 GW will be based in Mpumalanga and permitting is already in hand for 900 MW, into which the 150 MW first phase fits at a capital cost of R4-billion, funded by equity and debt.In addition, Seriti Green has projects in the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape and construction of a wind project in Kenya will get under way once the Tanzanian competition authorities approve the acquisition of Windlab East Africa, which is expected next year.Given the skills shortage within the renewable energy sector in South Africa, Venn explained that Seriti Green would be assisting people to pivot out of other industries and into the renewables sector as part of the just energy transition.“We’re going to be the poster child for the just energy transition. We're doing it internally. Right now I can see people in the office with the orange logos and the green logos on their shirts.“Number one is providing green electricity to the coal mines for Seriti, two is looking at the skills development within the workforce within the 16 000 people that work within the Seriti family, and three is bringing the Mpumalanga communities along with us.“There’s going to be a roadmap over the next 15 to 20 years, where people transition from heavily intensive coal jobs to more renewable energy jobs. My view is that it isn't a replacement, it's an addition, so I think we're going to see significant job growth within Mpumalanga.“We're also going to see significant improvements within the infrastructure of the electricity sector within Mpumalanga, and this should all bode well for the province and the country as a whole,” said Venn.Mining Weekly: Will you be doing a lot in parallel in East Africa?Venn: We have very advanced projects within Kenya and Tanzania. We were successful in the Tanzanian tender in January this year, so our expectation is that we should start construction in Kenya and Tanzania over the next 12 months. The wind resource in East Africa, as we've seen from Lake Turkana, is a fantastic resource, and the Kenyan electricity grid is already over 90% green, which means that any product manufactured in Kenya today can get the green label and gain an advantage from being a green product manufactured in Africa. It's very exciting for us and our teams in those countries and we look forward to the approval of the Tanzanian Competition Commission so that we can move forward.What is Seriti Green’s ambition when it comes to helping to decarbonise South Africa’s electricity grid?We will start off with the 150 MW nameplate wind project in Mpumalanga, which will generate in the region of 500 GWh...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses Seriti Resources acquiring 100% of Windlab South Africa, H2Global's call for rapid green hydrogen investment; and the South African green hydrogen technology which won top global recognition in Monaco.
Proudly South African green hydrogen technology, which has the potential to slash the cost of green hydrogen, has just won top recognition in Monaco at the principality's inaugural hydrogen forum.The homegrown divergent electrode flow through (DEFT™) technology, which is already a recipient of South Africa’s National Science and Technology Forum Award for Innovation, allows electrolysers to operate without membranes at higher temperatures, which results in greatly improved electrical efficiencies. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)Corrie de Jager, the CEO of Hydrox Holdings, the developer of the technology, stated in a Zoom interview that the patented DEFT system has the potential to slash the cost of producing hydrogen by up to 30% as the world’s first hydrogen electrolyser that does not make use of membranes.The standard method of extracting hydrogen from water has been by using a membrane to separate the two electrodes. Even the latest platinum-based proton exchange membrane, or PEM, electrolyser uses a membrane. But Hydrox’s patented DEFT system does not, which has resulted in it being recognised as the best emerging technical solution for mobility and marine solutions.The company’s objective is to produce hydrogen below R100/kg, making it cost competitive with petrol. Its intention is to make hydrogen readily accessible to the public by adopting the single-pump model, which was once used at filling stations by the long defunct Satmar and then later by Sasol in its early days.“Our technology is membraneless technology, which we patented and prototyped with the support of Shell through its Shell Gamechanger programme.“This technology is really now coming to the fore and people are taking cognisance of it,” De Jager enthused in an interview with Engineering News & Mining Weekly.Hydrox competed with hundreds of applicants from 15 global strongholds, among them the US, Europe, Canada, Australia and India.Conventional electrolysers, De Jager pointed out, lose between 25% and 30% of their electrical input as waste heat, which drives up the price of electrolytic hydrogen, making it uncompetitive with fossil fuels.But DEFT, without a membrane, allows for higher temperature production and can operate off sea water and treated acid mine water.Standard electrolysers use a heat exchanger system to remove excess heat so that it does not supersede the maximum operating temperature of the membrane. Within DEFT, this excess temperature can be ‘locked’ into the system to improve system efficiencies, resulting in lower operating expenditure and hydrogen costs. The new system can also handle fluctuating currents, which makes it ideal for renewable energy and ‘green’ hydrogen.Electrolysis electrochemically splits water into hydrogen and oxygen and for the past 200 years, electrolysers have been limited to lower temperatures and pressures, with electrolysis basically being undertaken using some or other form of membrane to keep the gases separate.Mining Weekly: How does Monaco plan to use green hydrogen?De Jager: The principality wants to use it in a marine context. They've got these huge motor boats lying out there in the harbour, massive ones, that all use diesel, and they want to replace the diesel with green hydrogen, as do the countries alongside of them such as Spain and Italy, Gibraltar and Malta. They all approached us. They have a huge need to get into the green hydrogen space.When is your DEFT electrolyser technology going to be deployed commercially?That’s the jackpot question. Shell helped us with a grant and then Covid struck and we came to a standstill and had to switch to the advanced alkaline electrolyte standard zero gap system. Now that recognition of our DEFT technology is revived, we can't wait to continue with it.
A strong call for final investment decisions (FIDs) on a multiplicity of green hydrogen projects was made at the South Africa Green Hydrogen Summit in Cape Town yesterday by H2Global, a market ramp-up instrument that serves as an innovative form of subsidy scheme to smooth out bumps along green hydrogen’s early-mover road. H2Global innovatively enters into long-term offtake agreements on the supply side and short-term sales agreement on the offtake side, with cost differences being borne by the German government, which is laying the ground work for the importation of green hydrogen. H2Global MD Timo Bollerhey urged the many entities that have already signed green hydrogen memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to advance those agreements to fully fledged FIDs. “What we’re trying to provide today is an investment case to start production to get from MoU to FID by providing long-term offtake agreements, locked-in prices for ten years, and market risk enhancement through a government-backed offtaker,” Bollerhey stated during a panel discussion covered by Engineering News & Mining Weekly. Legal certainty is further augmented by ten-year green attribute agreements, all in the interests of eliminating slowdown caused by the chicken-and-egg issues of which comes first, green hydrogen infrastructure 'chicken' or green hydrogen's critical mass 'egg'. German Federal Ministry of Education and Research innovation and green hydrogen commissioner Till Mansmann spoke of the entire fossil fuel-based market needing to be replaced by a new competitive renewable energy market, with excess renewable energy being stored for days, months or years in the form of hydrogen molecules in modified existing infrastructure or new infrastructure. Mansmann emphasised that hydrogen is an indispensable core pillar of the transition to renewable energy and without hydrogen the challenge cannot be met. To enable the transition, new international cooperation is essential, with every country needing to play its part, he stated during a panel discussion in which Sasol VP Gosiame Khoele, ENERTRAG new energy solutions head Tobias Bischof-Niemz and Bollerhey also took part. An affirmatively nodding Khoele was quick to express full agreement with Mansmann and reiterated the intention of Sasol, where she heads strategy, pricing and regulation, to covert its current grey hydrogen energy into green hydrogen energy. Germany, Mansmann added, would be a net energy importer for a very long time and was thus interested in the creation of an international renewables market to replace the current fossil market, with H2Global serving as a market ramp-up instrument. Bollerhey spoke of the first large-scale green programme already being out of the starting blocks in Saudi Arabia and the expectation that many more would now emerge from MoUs to FIDs. The audience heard that the price of green hydrogen achieved in the market could be much lower than often projected owing to falling marginal costs and the replacement of regulatory uncertainty with standardisation and certification. The Hydrogen Intermediary Company, or Hint.co, was currently buying a relatively expensive product and selling it at a considerably cheaper price, with the cost of differences being covered by the German government. Bollerhey said that there was a lot of available money out there, it was not stupid money, but smart money that needed to have investment certainty before being dispensed. Hint.Co was banker-designed and would fund projects with price certainty and legal certainty creating exactly the business case. “Once we have that in place, we don't have to worry about money. There's a lot of institutional money out there that is trying to get in,” said Bollerhey, who has had a lot to do with South Africa’s State-owned Public Investment Corporation (PIC) in the past and noted that the PIC is giving its full backing to the development of a hydrogen economy in South Africa “I'm really happy about the PIC announce...
Australia’s platinum group metals (PGMs) pioneer, Podium Minerals, is evaluating the cleanest and greenest mining and processing options that include the possibility of circumventing the need for smelting. The Australian Stock Exchange-listed exploration and resources development company, which is placing major emphasis on environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, has just completed a conceptual study as part of an update of its six-million-ounce Parks Reef resource base in Western Australia. (See attached map.) “We're entering our study phases at the moment,” said Podium MD and CEO Sam Rodda, who spoke of Podium being well placed to enter production within the end of this decade, aligned with an envisaged platinum demand pinch point. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) “We're well placed with a significantly large orebody. We've been able to grow it,” Rodda outlined to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. “We're looking at smelterless processing. We have the right team in place and I think this is really the start for Podium Minerals, but it's also the start for Australia and Western Australia as a growing PGMs jurisdiction moving forward,” Rodda enthused. The orebody, which offers a mix of platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, gold, copper, nickel and cobalt, has a 15 km strike, a width of up to 20 m, and remains open below 500 m. Within the reef package, higher grade hanging-wall and footwall zones provide an opportunity for elevated kick-off margins, which the company is considering taking up. In addition to PGMs flotation concentrate, downstream processing developments have proven that high metal recovery of the eight payable metals can be achieved using atmospheric leaching, culminating in product suitable for refinery feed. Additional benefits include higher metal payables as well as the ability to reduce the project’s logistics costs. “For us, having a very long and potentially very deep and large PGMs orebody, it is important to start small, start building cash flow and confidence in our PGMs operation in Australia, before really ramping up and kicking production rates, or more marginal ounces moving forward. “High-grade zones give us optionality and help us with managing some of the highs and lows which the market still might see in the next ten years,” said Rodda. On the technology front, indications show that smelterless metal recovery from the leach solution of an atmospheric leach process can produce a PGMs product suitable for refinery feed, which translates into lower transport costs from Western Australia to a global PGMs refinery. In his view, demand from the internal combustion engine (ICE) market has still to peak. With increasing emission standards, he foresees ICE vehicle demand extending to the end of the decade, coupled with a slow tailing-off beyond 2030. “We think demand will be really strong for PGMs in the existing supply space, but equally we're very positive around the future demand on PGMs for green hydrogen production, hydrogen electricity through PEM electrolysers, which are heavy users of PGMs, and then commencement and growth of fuel cell vehicles. “We think the demand will stay strong and we look forward to seeing what the world looks like in the next ten years. We think the broader world will really need to start thinking where new sources of PGMs will come from,” added Rodda. Mining Weekly: What is the likelihood of Podium opting to launch with higher grade mining to optimise kick-off value? Rodda: Whilst we have similarities to some of the reefs in South Africa and some parallels with Merensky reef, our total reef package is between 10 m and 20 m wide. Within that reef package, we do have higher grade zones on the hanging wall and footwall side of our orebody, which will enable us for higher grade, higher return and higher margins going forward. For us, having a very long and potentially very deep and large PGMs orebody, it is important to start small, start buil...
South Africa’s State-owned Public Investment Corporation (PIC) stated on Monday that more than R4.3-trillion is required for the development of the hydrogen economy, which it declared positive for people, planet, and client portfolios. The hydrogen investment strategy of the PIC, which has R2.339-trillion worth of assets under management, is aimed at unlocking value. This it will seek to do through: the funding and provision of early-stage capital for the development of the hydrogen value chain; and leveraging off more than 200 hydrogen projects that have been announced worldwide. Hydrogen promises to be the next frontier in clean energy technology due to its extensive value chain applications, the PIC states in a media release to Engineering News & Mining Weekly. Hydrogen, Africa's biggest financier added, can be used to industrialise and create a resultant hydrogen economy, along with job generation, localised manufacturing and turning this country into one of the world’s largest exporters of green hydrogen. Through its Hydrogen Society Roadmap, South Africa has already identified hydrogen as an investment avenue, amid this country’s high solar radiation levels and large coastline area that offers prime wind energy potential. Hydrogen is able to augment that renewable energy production by offering a relatively affordable way to store and transport the excess energy produced from these sources. In addition, a well-developed hydrogen sector will boost demand for platinum group metals (PGMs), which are hosted overwhelmingly by South Africa. PGMs are used in electrolysers to separate water into green hydrogen and oxygen, and in fuel cells to generate emission-free electricity from the hydrogen, with both playing key decarbonisation roles. Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) fleets are on the rise worldwide, with China alone targeting cumulative sales of one-million FCEVs by 2035. PGMs, which have unique catalytic properties, are used in proton exchange membrane (PEM) technologies and momentum behind PEM investment is building up, the World Platinum Investment Council has reported. PIC’s adoption of its hydrogen strategy comes at a time when several countries around the world have already taken steps use hydrogen as a clean energy source. Moreover, South Africa’s hydrogen roadmap identifies PIC as a potential co-investor in hydrogen projects, along with other finance institutions. The recently released Just Energy Transition Investment Plan, or JET-IP, points to an investment requirement of R1.5-trillion over the coming five years to support a shift from coal to renewables in the electricity sector, as well as to facilitate electric vehicle manufacturing and green hydrogen production. To realise the green hydrogen ambitions outlined in the JET-IP, the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection has highlighted the need for South Africa to build mineral beneficiation value chains to meet the requirements of the hydrogen economy.
South Africa is a super dynamic and super fast-moving market, says Siemens Large Drives global solutions head Oliver Beck, who has just completed a week of discussions with customers to highlight sustainability solutions for mining. From his perspective, South African mining economy is at the leading edge, which is one of the reasons why Siemens has set up a digital hub in South Africa, which is allowing mining companies to attain visibility of everything from the pit to the port, Beck, accompanied by Tim Walwyn, the country CEO of Siemens Large Drives in South Africa, told Mining Weekly en route to flying back to Germany from Johannesburg International Airport. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) On the sustainability front, Siemens, which has been part of South Africa’s mining ecosystem from almost the very start, has just launched a new segment of its organisation that enters the area of green hydrogen production in addition to the far-reaching digital services and solutions it can now offer mining. The German multinational has a long history of supplying power generation solutions and mechanical and electrical equipment for some of South Africa’s earliest mining activities. It has moved through second, third and fourth industrial revolution advances, always adapting to local conditions and engineering locally to meet South Africa’s mining requirements. “We really bring everything from heavy rotating equipment, electrical drive systems, power distribution, moving up the levels into automation, process control and optimisation of mining processes, and what we’re really excited about now is the scope of digital services, which span everything from advanced analytics, condition monitoring, optimisation of management processes within the mines and management information systems throughout the entire lifecycles, starting in the early design concept phases, moving right through to operations, modernisation, and maintenance of those operations,” said Walwyn. The first of Beck’s objectives was to learn about the South African mining market to enable Siemens Large Drives to establish its roadmap – and he believes that objective has been met exceptionally well. Mining Weekly: What impressions of the South African mining industry will you be taking away with you? Beck: It was a really exciting week and I have to say that I’m very grateful that I had the opportunity. The team and I visited many customers and partners, had a lot of very interesting discussions to understand the market trends. What I can say is that South Africa is a super dynamic and super fast-moving market. That’s my impression. There are a lot of customers who are early adopters of new technologies. They are trying out new ideas here in South Africa, and then also exporting them and bringing them to other operations around the world. From my perspective, the market and the mining economy is at the forefront, at the leading edge, of this business, and this is really, really cool to see and experience and also be part of. That’s partly the reason why we have such a strong set up in South Africa. We have one of our digital hubs here, where colleagues are driving our digital transformation for customers, with customers. In what way is Siemens driving sustainability? In our product portfolio and solutions portfolio, the sustainability part is, I would say, already inherent. For example, if we’re talking about electrical motors, frequency converters, all of those are made to ensure energy efficient production, energy efficient operations. From that side, I would say, it’s already in our DNA. We are still providing diesel-electric propulsion systems, which have much better fuel efficiency and reduce the burn rate of mining trucks. That’s a side where we have been driving sustainability and, on the other side, we’ve just launched a new segment in our organisation for hydrogen production because this really is an important part of, let’s say, circularity and how we ...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the country’s economic/crime paradox that was highlighted at a recent Anglo American meeting; new green hydrogen end-demand pushing platinum into a meaningful deficit; and the development of the R1-billion fuel cell factory which could break ground next year.
The strategic role of platinum group metals (PGMs) in the creation of a hydrogen economy is the key supporting element of the just energy transition investment plan unveiled by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection researcher Dr Nqobile Xaba emphasises in an op-ed. Given the criticality of PGMs in achieving global net-zero emission targets, Xaba questions the sufficiency of South Africa’s gearing to leverage off its PGM endowment. Green hydrogen electrolysers and fuel cells are poised to increase demand for PGMs, which are used in electrolysers to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen, and in fuel cells to generate electricity from the hydrogen, with both playing key decarbonisation roles. Emphasised by Xaba is that green hydrogen technologies will likely not be fully implemented until this cleanest form of hydrogen can be produced competitively. To that end, the procurement of wind and solar renewables needs to be accelerated, along with development of infrastructure, including hydrogen distribution and storage infrastructure. The basis of South Africa’s Hydrogen Society Roadmap is the use of hydrogen and hydrogen technologies to promote economic development and as South Africa moves to implement the roadmap’s strategies, it has the potential to become a participant and scientific thought leader in the emerging global hydrogen system. Because South Africa will be competing for the same markets with other countries in the Southern African Development Community, Xaba emphasises that an acceleration of pace is needed by South Africa to ensure that it derives optimum benefit from green hydrogen export opportunity. Xaba contends that current policies do not adequately factor in the availability of materials for both the renewable energy transition and the adoption of the circular economy. To realise the green hydrogen ambitions outlined in the just energy transition investment plan, she highlights the need for South Africa to build mineral beneficiation value chains to meet hydrogen economy requirements. “South Africa should ensure that it retains its competitiveness in the PGM sector for its economic sustenance and for its low carbon transition strategies. This can be done through the creation of a thriving hydrogen economy,” says Xaba in advocating: PGM beneficiation through catalyst development for fuel cell and electrolyser applications to ensure that mineral value addition occurs in South Africa; support to enable South Africa’s research and development efforts to be channelled towards product commercialisation; and an enabling environment for a thriving hydrogen economy, with both the Presidential Climate Commission’s framework for a just transition and the Hydrogen Society Roadmap setting out implementation steps. In addition, South Africa's mineral beneficiation strategy provides a framework, she says, for using mineral endowments to support the overall competitiveness of the economy and promoting greenness. The creation of an enabling environment must, in her view, include funding support for research and development, and skills development programmes to ensure that there will be a capable hydrogen economy workforce. “It must also include science diplomacy initiatives that ensure engagement with international partners and facilitate the deployment of hydrogen technology demonstration prototypes of fuel cells and electrolysers for energy needs,” she adds. These need to be rolled out across the country to support service delivery meaningfully, and to encourage engagement with the new technologies. Connecting all these requirements should be a strong government, research institution, the private sector and civil society partnership. “These partnerships are critical in ensuring that projects succeed, a common vision is maintained, and that South Africa’s hydrogen economy is guided by the just transition framework,” Xaba concludes.
South Africa’s economic paradox is that it cannot grow economically if it has a burgeoning crime crisis but it is unable to solve the burgeoning crime crisis if it is not growing. That was the opening comment of outgoing Mineral Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter, who anchored the second of two panel discussions at on United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 that focuses on the need for peace, justice and stability. “This is the paradox that we need to grapple with as business and as government,” Baxter told the meeting moderated by Anglo American government relations head Bheki Khumalo and covered by Mining Weekly. Also participating were Department of Justice DG Adv Doctor Mashabane, South African Council of Churches general secretary Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, Business Leadership South Africa executive director Busisiwe Mavuso, Anglo American management board chairperson and Minerals Council South Africa chairperson Nolitha Fakude, Anglo American Platinum CEO Natascha Viljoen and many other government and corporate representatives who took part in table hosted discussions on the two main panel discussions. “The mining industry and the country are under siege because of the deteriorating security and crime crisis that we’re facing. “Surging rates of murder, extortion, kidnapping are amongst the signs that organised crime is creating an existential threat for South Africa’s democracy,” said Baxter, who added that the mining industry is at the brunt of it. “Just talking to some senior executives yesterday, what the industry is having to do over the last couple of years to respond to particularly the extortion crisis – the criminal mafia – has become a much bigger part of our business,” he said. In 1996, South Africa was the 23rd least corrupt country in the world; it is now the 70th. In the Fraser Institute survey, South Africa was the worst ranked country of the country’s that had security rankings and South Africa’s 40 murders per 100 000 population is now higher than that of Colombia. Illegal mining is costing the country R20-billion and in 2019 there were 22 armed attacks on precious metals facilities in South Africa by gangs of between 20 to 30 people armed with high calibre rifles. This year, a gang of 150 armed with AK47s and other types of weapons attacked the Cooke Shafts of Sibanye-Stillwater, with the fire fight lasting for four hours. “This is an attack on our democracy. This type of attack should not be happening in a society like South Africa’s. “The impact of the criminal mafia tactics on the industry is that it is having a huge dampening effect on investment. Companies simply can’t press the investment trigger on a number of projects because of security issues related to the procurement mafia – and the procurement mafia often masquerade as business forums,” said Baxter. While the industry did not mind engaging with legitimate business forums in the interests of working with local communities, but when the “range rover brigade” from Bryanston rustle up communities to shut down mines so that they can distort a 30% share of the services to that mine, it becomes a typical mafia extortion process. Moreover, copper theft has been a major setback for rail services and the mining sector is having to spend R2.5-billion a year on security. The slogan that Minerals Council South Africa has adopted to counteract the crime is “be the change that you want to see in the world” and mining company CEOs were leading from the front to put an end to crime. “We are focusing on getting this economy to grow at a much faster pace – but again it’s that paradox. How do we do that when crime is burgeoning,” said Baxter, who recalled that the South Africa economy grew at 5% in 2008. “If we could repeat that, we double the size every 12 years, so we would go from at $500-billion to a trillion dollar economy if we could achieve growth rates at that sort of level, and the private sector is a willing partner,” he added.
A bankable feasibility study has opened the way for the building of a factory for the local manufacture of fuel cells that are designed to provide low-carbon electricity to decentralised users at affordable prices throughout the African continent. Innovative South African Mitochondria Energy Systems, headed by founder and CEO Mashudu Ramano, expects to break ground for the R1-billion development in the first quarter of next year, with the first fuel cells being produced in 2024, with full-scale commercialisation expected in 2028. Established in 2018, Mitochondria is a developer and marketer of hydrogen-based technologies. An area of Emfuleni, which has been earmarked for declaration as a special economic zone (SEZ) by the Department of Trade Industry and Competition (DTIC), is the site of choice for the manufacture of the energy systems, aimed at decentralising electricity generation in the same way as cellphone systems decentralised telecommunications. Funders of the first phase of the project include South Africa’s State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DFSA) and Mitochondria itself, Ramano outlined in an interview with Engineering News & Mining Weekly. Discussion is underway with potential funders of the second phase, a far-reaching R3-billion augmentation project involving the local manufacture of fuel cell stacks. The just energy transition is a major project consideration and much collaboration has also taken place with local communities amid the potential for most of the components required to be locally sourced. In South Africa for the Mitochondria Technology Day were representatives of AVL of Austria and Ceres Power of UK, companies that are partnering Mitochondria in the introduction of what is described as “an affordable, reliable, decentralised and sustainable energy solution for the African continent”. Green hydrogen is seen as the ideal eventual fuel for the multifuel stationary electricity generating fuel cells that form an integral part of simultaneous trigeneration of baseload power, heat and water in fulfilment of ten of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. “The more you move towards hydrogen and on-site generation, the more you are able to get better efficiencies in the energy system,” explained Ramano. On the choice of Mitochondria as the company’s name, Ramano highlighted that the word mitochondria refers to every cell in the human body having a power generation capacity. “Every time I use the word Mitochondria, I’m calling forth a new energy generation era for the world. This is the prosumer, where you produce and you also consume and so Mitochondria is about the new emerging energy era in the world where there will be so many energy generators, but all networked like the mitochondria in my body, which are generating power right now as I’m speaking to you,” he added. Early on in his study of fuel cells and hydrogen, he visited Japan consecutively to 11 years to understand the fuel cells that were being introduced into homes. Then five years ago, his company decided not to follow the model implemented elsewhere and requested that AVL do a prefeasibility study using the latest technologies that could be competitive with coal in South Africa, which pointed to the need for a decentralised solution as had proved so successful with telephony, which catapulted Africa into the modern era. From a communications perspective. Mitochondria’s fuel cells are high temperature fuel cells that make use of steel-based nickel-bearing cerium alloy developed by Ceres in solid-oxide ceramic-based fuel cells that offer 60% efficiency in generating baseload electricity. With heat added, the efficiency is said to exceed 90%. “The core technology we use is like the size of my hand with a hundred thousand holes in it and that is what splits the atom into protons and electrons, and then electrons flow from the cathode to the anode and that’s electricity,” Ramano...
Latest news from Sedibelo Platinum Mines in North West province is that the company’s Pilanesberg platinum mines situated in the Bushveld Complex, 207 km west of Johannesburg, will not only have abundant solar power on site plus a world-first smelterless processing technology that consumes 82% – yes, 82% – less electricity than conventional platinum group metals (PGMs) smelters, but it will also be powered by wind energy. “We have committed now to a wind project. We have signed the contract,” Pallinghurst Group managing partner and cofounder Arne Frandsen confirmed to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) The company has secured an allocation of off-site wind power to augment already announced on-site solar. In a mining investment world increasingly dominated by environmental social and governance (ESG) demands, the resolve of Sedibelo Platinum Mines to be a green platinum group metals producer was firmed up last year by the timely first-of-a-kind appointment of a chief ESG officer. “As you know we have Lael Bethlehem as our chief ESG officer. She is in charge of our renewable energy drive, and she has some very interesting prospects for solar on our site and I'm really excited about that. “The first solar step will be of significant size, and I like the combination of solar and wind because quite often when the sun is not shining, the wind is blowing and it's a very good combination. It is also about showing clear intent, which is to ensure we can produce the greenest ounce of PGM available.” Frandsen emphasised. Frandsen chairs the Sedibelo Platinum Mines Limited in South Africa’s North West, as well as leading the New York- and Toronto-listed Nouveau Monde Graphite, which operates out of Quebec. He has spent years co-developing a strategy to deliver a zero-carbon battery grade graphite mine in Canada, and in South Africa, he’s overseeing the expansion of Sedibelo’s Pilanesberg platinum group metals (PGMs) mine, which is also commissioning new smelterless technology on site right now amid a decade of research, development and plant piloting. Sedibelo launched its involvement with Kell at its launch at the premises of the South Africa’s State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) ten years ago. Sedibelo shares an interest in Kell with the IDC and founder Keith Liddell, who conceived the smelterless concept many years ago, when working at South Africa’s State-owned mineral research organisation Mintek, in Malibongwe Drive, Randburg, Gauteng. “We’ve done all the testing, all of the development together, and the key thing for Sedibelo, as the user, is to have it up and running as soon as practically possible. “We are also a co-owner of the technology within the Southern African Development Community and it's also about our bigger strategy. “We don't want this magic potion for ourselves alone. As you know, we are talking about nearly 90% of the world's PGMs being in our beautiful part of the world and that means this has to be the home for Kell in respect of PGMs,” is the sharing sentiment expressed by Frandsen. “At the end of the day, it’s all about doing the right thing, being sustainable and being responsible in the way that we use our electricity.” Kell’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from concentrate to final refined metals are only 19% of the CO2 emissions caused by the current smelting and refining route. Mining Weekly: Is the introduction of green hydrogen at Sedibelo much further off? Frandsen: No, it's not much further off. We have committed, as a company, to that vision. We have a team that is looking at the green hydrogen initiatives and, for sure, we want to be right in the middle of the entire hydrogen highway concept that is that is being introduced. This is going to be very important and not only for the mining industry but for South Africa and neighbouring countries as well. The Pallinghurst Group now has within its fold all the key elements needed for lithium-...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the Motsepe Foundation's $2-million Green Energy competition; Palabora’s partnership with Mzansi energy to develop a solar PV plant with an energy storage system; and Venetia's underground project which is hoping for first production next year.
In the light of clean, cost-efficient, stable electricity supply being critical, Palabora Mining Company is partnering with Mzansi Energy to develop a 132 MWp solar photovoltaic plant and battery energy storage system capable of storing 310 MWh of electricity. Mining Weekly can report that the Marula Green Power plant is heading for two-stage implementation – construction followed by operation and maintenance development. Financial close is likely in the second quarter of 2023, with operational commencement in the second quarter of 2024. The current timelines are preliminary at this stage and may change based on the outcome of the detailed feasibility study. Once deployed, the project will be one of South Africa’s largest private independent power producers (IPPs) and is intended to provide the mine with both security of supply and affordable energy, which will result in significant cost savings. Wessel Wessels, CEO of Journey2Green – a founding partner in Mzansi Energy – says a long-term power purchase agreement will be finalised between the parties at the end of the detailed feasibility study, which is expected in May next year. Mzansi Energy will design, finance, install, operate and maintain the plant for 12 years. The plant will be based within the municipal jurisdiction of Ba-Phalaborwa, Limpopo, just outside Namakgale township, and about 20 km from the mine, a location chosen to allow for direct supply to the mine without connection to the Eskom grid. The project promises cost-efficient, secure, green energy and significant social upliftment for Ba-Phalaborwa communities in Limpopo province. GREEN ENERGY SUPPLY Tumi Mogoera, associate director of Summit Partners – another founding partner in Mzansi Energy – says the project is one step towards helping South Africa address its electricity challenges. “Additionally, the Marula Green Power plant will contribute to our nation’s Just Energy Transition (JET) net zero carbon emissions strategy,” Mogoera points out. Mzansi Energy has partnered with the local traditional authority as per the study performed for identification of the ideal location subject to final environmental-impact assessment. The authority will host the solar power plant on its land and enter a long-term lease - the long-term lease is conditional on specific socio-economic benefits for all local Ba-Phalaborwa communities in areas such as business opportunities for small enterprises, skills transfer and development as well as job creation. During the implementation phases, many direct and indirect employment opportunities will be created through the Marula Green Power project and the local suppliers in Ba-Phalaborwa region will also be exposed to available business opportunities. Based on initial estimates, the project is expected to create about 500 to 750 fixed-term employment opportunities during construction and 35 permanent jobs during the operation and maintenance over the 12-year period. Mzansi Energy has developed a community development roadmap to stimulate the local economy through skills development and employment of locals. This applies during the development, construction and operation of the solar plant in the Ba-Phalaborwa area. Built on these solid community relationships, Mzansi Energy’s corporate social responsibility roadmap includes employment creation, allocation of funds for skills development, youth development and community development initiatives, and agrivoltaics farming to improve food security and reduce poverty among local people. Agrivoltaics uses, in combination, a portion of the land for solar photovoltaic power generation and agriculture. The detailed plan shall be consulted with the stakeholders to ensure that the process unfolds in a fair manner for the benefit of the local communities.
Harmony Gold Mining Company’s disaggregated Tshepong North and Tshepong South gold mines stole the proverbial show by both delivering strong operational performances in the three months to the end of September. The two Free State mines provided 37% of group operating free cash flow and drove much of the improvement in Harmony’s optimised underground South African portfolio. Owing to better recovered grades, Tshepong North's operating free cash flow margin improved to 11% this quarter from -13% in the last quarter of the financial year to June 30, while Tshepong South's operating free cash flow margins improved to 22% from 9%, with the two mines together bringing in R314-million of free cash. In fact, it was the South African underground and surface operations that did it for Harmony this quarter, when production from its international segment slumped 28% to 32 537 oz. As a rand-cost producer, the gold price received continued to move in Harmony's favour, increasing 1% to R954 916/kg from R944 671/kg in the previous quarter, resulting in a 1% increase in gold revenue to R11 226-million. Collectively, improved performances at South African high-grade and South African optimised underground operations resulted in a 17%-higher total group operating free cash flow to R857-million. Adjusting for the closure of the Bambanani gold mine, the remaining South African underground production increased by 2% to 8 467 kg (272 219 oz), supported by a 1% increase in underground recovered grades to 5.35 g/t. Production at the South African surface operations increased 4% to 1 917 kg (61 634 oz) on the improved performance of Mine Waste Solutions. The loss from electricity loadshedding was 100 kg (3 215 oz) this quarter, the Johannesburg- and New York-listed company stated in a release to Mining Weekly on November 17. The free cash flow contribution of R407-million from the high-grade Mponeng and Moab Khotsong gold mines represented 48% of total group operating free cash flow, with Hidden Valley in Papua New Guinea generating R82-million. Group all-in sustaining costs increased by 5% to R907 864/kg ($1 657/oz) mainly from lower production at Hidden Valley, Kusasalethu and Target 1. Net debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation increased to 0.26 times in this quarter from 0.1 times in the previous quarter on currency translation and working capital movements. Net debt increased to R2 070-million from R731-million. A 1.4-million- to 1.5-million-ounce gold producer with near-term copper prospects, Harmony remains on track to meet cost, grade and production guidance. Continued focus is placed on delivering safe production and value creation through execution and productivity initiatives. To boost its copper footprint, Harmony last month announced the acquisition of Eva Copper in Australia. Alongside the Wafi-Golpu project in Papua New Guinea, this investment introduces near-term copper into the portfolio. For four consecutive quarters, the lost-time injury frequency rate has been trending below 6. This quarter it is at 5.58.
The vision of Africa’s aspirant tech-metal champion AfriTin Mining is to fast-track lithium production, as it expands its footprint in Namibia. The six months to the end of August has seen the London Aim-listed company focus on bringing lithium and tantalum byproducts into production. In ramping up tin concentrate production beyond the 1 200 t/y mark in the next six months of the financial year, lithium and tantalum will be extracted from the processing streams of the now-completed Uis Phase 1 Expansion Project – something which presents the company with an opportunity to become the Aim’s only lithium producer. AfriTin is capitalising on a globally significant resource to bridge the lithium supply gap, CEO Anthony Viljoen made clear in a release to Mining Weekly on November 17. While tin prices have dropped drastically in recent months, the opposite has been true of lithium, which further cements AfriTin’s strategy of accelerating lithium and tantalum while continuing to grow organically and moving into a lower unit cost position. In the six months to August 31, AfriTin lifted tin output – also a component of the world’s decarbonisation revolution – by 23% to 454 t of concentrate. But revenue of £4.7-million – compared with £5.1-million in the corresponding six months of 2021 – was impacted by tin’s price fall plus the timing of settlement adjustments, which lowered the average price achieved to $25 227/t compared with the $36 910/t of the corresponding six months of 2021. Inflationary pressures of high fuel prices and higher maintenance costs also lifted half-year cost of sales above the £4-million of 2021 to £5.7-million. After the end of the period under review, AfriTin negotiated a potential funding package of $53.6-million, which could help to accelerate organic tin growth, fund lithium and tantalum byproduct opportunities, continue the regional drilling programme, and initiate the feasibility study for the Phase 2 production step at Uis. The funding package embraces debt, convertible notes and an equity raise of $22.8-million through a placing and subscriptions, a process that closed on September 16. As announced in earlier this year, the Development Bank of Namibia has approved a conditional $5.8-million lending facility, which provides another component of the funding package. Additionally, asset management firm Orion, which has been proposed as a key strategic investor for AfriTin, has a history of cultivating sustainable shareholder value in the mining sector.
A joint development agreement struck between global majors Nel Hydrogen US and General Motors (GM) is expected to speed up the development of green hydrogen technology that is competitive with fossil fuels. The aim of the agreement is to help accelerate the industrialisation of Nel’s proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser platform, a user of platinum group metals (PGMs), which are hosted overwhelmingly by South Africa. Both companies are looking to enable more cost competitive sources of renewable hydrogen by combining Nel's deep knowledge of electrolysers with GMs' huge insight into fuel cells, which are also PGM-users. Nel has promising electrolyser technology for clean hydrogen infrastructure and GMs’ Hydrotec fuel cell intellectual property (IP) can help Nel elevate to greater scale, against the background of the giant US motor company having more than a half century of experience in hydrogen fuel cell propulsion. PEM electrolysers and fuel cells are based largely on the same principles in that PEM electrolysers use electricity and water to produce hydrogen and oxygen, while fuel cells reverse the process, using hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity and water. Both are zero-emission processes that are unrivalled climate change mitigators. The two companies see substantial synergies being unlocked by transferring the fuel cell know-how of GM to Nel’s PEM platform. “We believe this collaboration will give us a competitive advantage in industrialising the production of our PEM electrolysers and further improving the efficiency of our technology,” Nel CEO Håkon Volldal stated in a media release. Adding Nel as a strategic collaborator is seen by GM as an important step towards commercialising fuel cell technology. “Electrolysis is key to creating consistent, clean sources of hydrogen to power fuel cells,” GM executive director Global Hydrotec Charles Freese pointed out. The next step by Nel will be to industrialise the production of its PEM electrolyser equipment to enable technology advancement, amid commercialisation of higher performance and lower cost Hydrotec hydrogen fuel cell and battery technologies. This is seen as opening up new revenue potential for GM as freight trucking, aerospace, power generation and locomotive industries turn to it for performance enhancement and emission reduction. Automated production is regarded as being key to scaling up electrolyser use and driving down electrolyser cost. Nel will be compensating GM for the development work and IP transfer on an ongoing basis and pay a licence after successful commercialisation dependent on how much of the end product is based on GM technology. As a dedicated hydrogen company, Nel is delivering solutions to produce, store and distribute hydrogen from renewable energy. It serves industries, and energy and gas companies with leading hydrogen technology. Nel has a long history of continual improvement of hydrogen plants, with its hydrogen solutions covering the entire value chain from hydrogen production technologies to manufacturing of hydrogen refuelling stations, and providing fuel cell electric vehicles with the same fast refuelling and long range as conventional vehicles. GM is focused on advancing an all-electric future that is accessible to all. At the heart of this strategy is the Ultium battery platform, which powers mass-market to high-performance vehicles.
A visit by Mining Weekly to the Venetia Underground Project (VUP) on November 14 provided insight into this major diamond development that is scheduled to achieve occupational readiness and first production next year. “Hopefully, the first part of the year, all going well. We had a setback recently with some of our visa approval processes, which have caused some challenges, but we’ll overcome them, VUP project director Allan Rodel assured. Venetia, South Africa’s largest diamond producer, is located about 32 km south of the Limpopo River, not far from the borders of Botswana and Zimbabwe, and about 500 km from Johannesburg. In 2012, Mining Weekly witnessed the first sod turning of the $2-billion underground extension first sod turning, amid vibrant, ongoing opencast operation. “The mine, as we speak, is 30 years old this year,” said Rodel of the operation, which has been an absolute gem for De Beers ever since the openpit was launched in 1992. Scheduled to continue to operate until December, the openpit will then transition to underground, which will extend to 2046. “We know, though, that there is definitely opportunity below current levels,” was Rodel’s comment to visiting media. The ground-handling facilities include manual and automated load-haul dumpers, manual and automated rock breakers, vertical ore passes, an automated truck-loop, underground crushers, ore and waste conveyors and silos. The trackless fleet will be maintained underground. Mining Weekly went down the production shaft and the decline and pit ramp, the first production areas. The production shaft, with a finished internal diameter of 7 m, will be fitted with two rock winders, each having two 24 t payload skips. The service shaft, which with a finished internal diameter of 7 m, will provide all the services to the underground workings, with both production and service shafts offering downcast air intakes. The decline and pit ramp will also serve as an additional air intake and logistics management facility. Vertical shafts, lateral access tunnels, life-of-mine decline and pit ramp, and related surface, underground and offsite infrastructure make up the VUP’s scope, which provides for the continued mining of two kimberlite orebodies – K01 and K02. The K01 orebody will be mined using sub-level caving mining to produce four-million tonnes a year (4 Mt/y) to 4.5 Mt/y, averaging 3.5-million carats a year. Sub-level caving will also be used to mine KO2, producing 1.9 Mt/y and averaging 0.9-million carats a year. This equates to 5.9 Mt/y, which will match the throughput capability of Venetia’s main treatment plant. The K01 and K02 orebodies will be accessed through two vertical shafts extending to 1 065 m below surface. ROCKS STRENGTHENING TAILINGS DAMS As Mining Weekly flew in, visible from the air was the exemplary way Venetia has used waste rock to bolster its fines residue deposits, rock impounding has been implemented in addition to the normal tailings-related checks, balances, and assurances. Moreover, the first of six water control doors designed to counter water ingress into the underground mine has been completed, with De Beers and the South African Weather Services collaborating to develop a weather radar system that will detect weather activities beyond the borders of South Africa, into Botswana and Zimbabwe where most of the tropical storms arise. The water control doors will be activated in the event of water inflows into the mine exceeding the capacity of the underground pumping system, which will ultimately have the ability to pump 4 500 m3/h out of the mine. They are designed to seal off the ‘dry’ side of the mine, where the water pumps and other critical infrastructure are located, from the ‘wet’ side, where mining operations on the kimberlite pipe take place. “Certainly the sheer size of these doors is unusual,” was Murray & Robert Cementation Contracts Manager Jacques Labuschagne’s comment on the water door which has been built into the rough...
TSX-V-listed Giyani Metals Corporation says a feasibility study for the K.Hill project, in Botswana, has confirmed a low capital intensity for what can be one of the largest high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) projects in the world. The study, which was prepared by SRK Consulting, determines that the project has a net present value of $481-million after tax, with an internal rate of return of 28%. SRK also finds that the project can be built at a capital cost of $281-million, with strong free cash flow generation of about $99-million a year, for a total net free cash flow of $1.09-billion over the mine life. First commercial production is achievable in 2025, with an initial throughput of 200 000 t/y of ore. Exploration work is ongoing to upgrade the project’s 3.1-million tonnes of inferred resources, which will extend the mine life in due course. Giyani’s probable reserve grade of 18.9% manganese oxides places the project among listed battery-grade magnesite mining peers. Another consultancy, CPM Group, finds that demand for HPMSM is poised to grow by nearly 30 times between 2021 and 2036, given its use in the production of cathode powers for lithium-ion batteries. Giyani believes its production process directly from manganese oxide ore does not require power-intensive calcining of electrorefining, which will ensure lower Scope 1 and 2 carbon dioxide emissions. The company also plans on integrating 4.5 MW of solar power into its operation. The company continues work to lower the project’s operating costs, particularly those related to certain consumables that are affected by supply chain disruption and global inflation. Giyani is also progressing construction of a demonstration plant, which will produce HPMSM samples for testing by potential offtakers by the second half of 2023. Moreover, Giyani will submit its environmental- and social-impact assessment for approval by Botswanan authorities during the first quarter of next year. Chairperson Jonathan Henry says the K.Hill project has the potential to be one of the most significant and largest battery-grade manganese producers globally. “The feasibility study shows how far the scope of the project has developed since the preliminary economic assessment in April 2021.” He concludes that Giyani has early-mover advantage to meet the growing demand for HPMSM from the electric vehicles sector, which is prioritising responsible, low-carbon producers outside of the Chinese supply chain.
Despite its many challenges, 2022 has been a very successful year for the Menar group of companies. “We increased production at our operations, maintained our solid safety record, and made good headway in the development of our new projects,” Menar chairperson Dr Mpumelelo Mkhabela told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Menar is a private investment company with an actively managed and growing portfolio of mostly mining assets. Its growth strategy combines acquisition, greenfield project development and organically growing existing operations. On course to exceed an annual product target of 2.4-million tons a year is the group’s Khanye Colliery in Bronkhorstspruit, Gauteng, and its Phalanndwa Colliery in Delmas, Mpumalanga, is well on the way to exceeding its targeted two-million tons for the year. Importantly, both these operations have been able to mine and process significant tonnages while maintaining safety records. At the group’s Kangra coal mine, in Mpumalanga, the new Udumo Adit – where construction began on 6 April 2021 and was completed in January 2022 – has produced its first coal. Development of Kangra’s Kusipongo reserve could extend the life of mine for another 20 years at least and enable it to continue to support the local communities very meaningfully. Also being accelerated is the development of Belgarthen A, another adit project, which will further extend mine life and provide additional job opportunities in a rural area where unemployment is rife. Under development at Zululand Anthracite Colliery in Emakhalathini, about 100 km from Richards Bay in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, is the new Mngeni shaft, which has a resource of 1.2 million tons and an anticipated mine life of 2.5 years. Finally, East Manganese has enabled the group to gain insight into manganese dynamics, as well as the Northern Cape’s social and regulatory space. “We hope to take the lessons learnt into our next manganese project,” Mkhabela commented. LOGISTICS CHALLENGES The lack of trains to transport coal to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal has been the major negative of 2022. Although Transnet Freight Rail is steadily improving train availability, trucks are still having to be used to transport product to port. Trucking is far more expensive than rail and it is a cost that the company is having to absorb. INVESTMENT PLANS Menar plans to invest heavily in new mining projects until 2025. Its main near-term target is to ensure the full licencing of Bekezela, where mine development investment of R1.5-billion is planned. With a 22-year life-of-mine, there is optimism that Bekezela will benefit from the government’s plan to cut red tape. The project will employ 320 people directly and create important economic spinoff. The required licences for the Gugulethu project have been acquired and an investment of about R600-million is planned for phase 1 of this development, where construction is underway. Gugulethu has an estimated life-of-mine of about 50 years, based on a run-of-mine production of about 200 000 t a month from opencast areas, and 200 000 t a month from underground sections. The overall project will create 430 jobs for local community members. COAL OUTLOOK The outlook on coal will be influenced by several factors, with Mkhabela highlighting the first of these as global energy requirements. Second on Mkhabela’s list is global economic recovery, which is continuing to be hampered by sporadic Covid lockdowns in China and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Third on his list is the reality of climate change concerns as signified by COP27. “This means coal’s unpopularity will continue to gain momentum, but this will have to be weighed against the reality that the transition to renewable energy sources is fraught with many policy and technological uncertainties. “You don’t need to be a climate change denialist or anti-coal lobbyist to appreciate this fact that, when the chips are down, coal is the default dependa...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the backlog of mineral licences being cut by almost 45%; the recent Mistra policy paper which argues that as South Africa moves away from coal, investment will be needed, not only for renewables, but also for coal communities; and Namibia's green hydrogen funding boost from the European Investment Bank.
South Africa-based Gold Fields will continue to execute on its strategy of improving the quality and value of its assets and, in time, will pursue other strategic opportunities, CEO Chris Griffith said on Wednesday. The JSE- and NYSE-listed company has walked away from its deal to buy Canadian miner Yamana Gold, after refusing to be dragged into a bidding war with rivals Agnico Eagle Mines and Pan American Silver, which offered $4.8-billion in cash and shares for Yamana. “We were not willing to compromise our prudent approach to capital allocation by getting into a bidding war – no matter how compelling the assets,” Griffith said. Speaking on a media call following the failed bid, he said Gold Fields was disappointed with the outcome, as the group believed that it had put forward a compelling deal, which would have led to a stronger company for both sets of shareholders. Although the acquisition of Yamana would have been a good way to execute on the group’s growth strategy, Griffith stressed that it was “not the only and won’t be the only” option available to the company. “We have a number of assets that are of interest to us as part of our due diligence process. We will now, in the same discipline process, consider those other options in time to come as part of our broader strategy,” he told journalists, but said that it was too early to comment on what exactly the next opportunity for Gold Fields may be. “The board has given us a clear direction to execute our strategy of improving the quality and value of our portfolio of assets and that is what we intend to do. The Gold Fields of today was built on disciplined M&A [mergers and acquisitions] and disciplined operations. We intend to maintain that discipline.” Griffith said he was confident that the board "100% had his back", when questioned about whether he felt his job was safe following the failed deal. The all-stock transaction, announced in May, has attracted criticism from some shareholders and resulted in Gold Fields' share price falling sharply. "We certainly feel no shame in saying that we evaluated a number of opportunities and that we decided to chase down what we thought was the best opportunity. The board and the management team collectively looked at all the options that were available to us and believe this was the best opportunity on the table. We are not apologetic about chasing down what we think is the best opportunity." The CEO also pushed back against a suggestion that the several months-long bidding process was a waste of time. "It certainly was not a waste of time, both in terms of strategy and actually also the landing of a $300-million breaking fee," Griffith said. Gold Fields will be receiving the break fee, which amounts to about R5.3-billion, in the coming days.. The group has not decided yet what it plans do with the cash, other than saying that it will form part of the normal capital allocation process. This could include paying cash back to shareholders, investing in future opportunities, or reducing debt. “All of those are great ways to return value to shareholders,” Griffith said. Commenting on the dividend policy that Gold Fields announced in July to sweeten its offer for Yamana, he said that the new policy of paying shareholders a dividend of 30% to 45% of normalised earning remained unchanged. However, the promise of a 45% payout for the 2023 dividend would fall away.
Strategically located Republic of Congo, which is endowed with the key required raw materials, is poised to be a world leader in fertiliser production. This is the view of Stéphane Rigny, the executive chairperson of Kanga Potash, which has received its licence to mine and produce potash in the country located on the west coast of Central Africa, to the west of the mighty Congo river. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) “The Republic of Congo will become a world leader in the production of fertilisers,” is Rigny’s forecast. “We have discovered the thickest carnallite seams ever drilled anywhere in the world. The seams of recoverable carnallite are in the order of 210 m thick,” added Rigny. Carnallite is a mineral consisting of hydrous potassium-magnesium chloride that is an important source of potassium and the thick recoverable carnallite is at a depth of about 1 000 m. Part of the work we did was to drill the specific licences where we had identified that impairment and we proved up that we do indeed have up to 210 m. Rigny described the stability of the Republic of Congo as being very conducive for business. By putting emphasis on power generation, the country now has excess. The Kanga project is expected to have a number of spinoff industries and a development multiplier effect that Rigny believes is going to reshape the economy of the Republic of Congo. Kanga, a private company, is entering the preconstruction development phase of a project aimed initially at extracting 600 000 t/y of muriate of potash (MoP) production from its 12-billion-tonne potash resource. “There is still a bit of a road ahead of us but from the point at which we press the button to effectively start breaking ground and constructing is a 36-month period. We are now entering the phase where we are going to do the front end engineering, which is part of execution. From there we’ll have about a 36-month period. “All the pieces of the puzzle on the funding side are identified and certainly, in the next 12 months, we’ll be bringing the project to financial close,” Rigny told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. Given the project’s economics and its developmental multiplier aspects, there is significant appetite from private, development finance institution (DFI) and export credit agency (ECA) debt providers. Regarding the importance of fertilisers, he said: “The entire planet is now very focused on food security, which is a major concern for most parts of the world if not all parts of the world.” Deglobalisation has set off a race that goes beyond financial returns. “It’s almost an existential debate with the fertiliser paradigm shifting in the same way as our world paradigm is shifting. We expect huge growth in agriculture and strong demand for fertilisers,” added Rigny. Kanga Potash aims to develop its project in a phased approach with a first 600 000 t/y MoP production module. “This will position us as the first African MoP producer and the first MoP producer in the southern hemisphere. From there, we will increase production capacity to over two-million tonnes of production a year of MoP,” he said. Earlier this year, pressure resulting for current geopolitics resulted in MoP prices rising above $1 000/mt cost and freight (CFR) Brazil. The main importers are Brazil and China and demand is increasingly being seen in Africa. Mining Weekly: When are contractors likely to be appointed to build the project? Rigny: A call for tender process was completed and three world class major engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contractors have been shortlisted. Each one of these contractors has the financial capacity, experience and expertise to be our EPC contractor. Where does the project stand on the cost curve? The project is unique in the world. It is all about geology and geography. We have discovered the thickest carnallite seams ever drilled anywhere in the world. This has a major impact as it means that we can apply solution mining without ...
The backlog of mineral licences has been cut to 2 625 outstanding applications – 43.5% down on what the situation was in March 2021, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee Minerals Resources and Energy. A thousand of the 1 500 prospecting right applications still to be processed are in the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga provinces, Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) showed in a 10-slide presentation. Mining right and mining right renewal applications across all nine provinces total 240. Also presented by DMRE was an elaborate elucidation on its non-functional Samrad cadastral system, along with the steps being taken to strengthen its internal capacity to manage licensing processing. Data cleaning underway is 60% complete and a contract position for an information technology project manager is to be advertised. Terms of reference for the new procurement are still being compiled for completion at the end of this month by a bid specification committee. The procurement process will then be handed over to the State Information Technology Agency to advertise and finalise the procurement process by December 15. The department also outlined why its cadastre tender invitation was withdrawn and replaced by a benchmarking exercise with other Southern African states with functioning cadastres that process applications for exploration and mining rights. Benchmarking with Namibia has been completed and benchmarking with Botswana is scheduled for completion by the end of this month. As reported by Mining Weekly last month, DMRE takes 354 working days to issue a prospecting right compared with Botswana doing the same in 40 days. Fellow African countries successfully using off-the-shelf cadastres include Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique and Zambia. A cadastre is ideally an end-to-end solution that not only awards exploration and mining licences but also monitors regulation, tax and royalty collection, and revenue distribution. Those entering are presented with a dashboard of mineral rights allocated with explorers able to monitor their obligations, make online payments, and upload work reports and production statistics. Applying for a licence involves simply clicking on ‘apply’. A mining cadastre also supports the inspectorate divisions of the regulatory authority following up on environmental protection, health and safety. If all goes to plan, South Africa will have a new mining cadastral system in the first quarter of next year.
With South Africa having committed to transition away from coal, investments will not only be required for the retiring of coal plants and the ramping up of renewable energy, but also for coal communities, who will require alternative economic development plans to sustain the livelihoods of all those affected. Green hydrogen and fuel cells researcher Dr Nqobile Xaba emphasised this in a nine-page policy paper for Mistra, the research organisation Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, headed by executive director Joel Netshitenzhe. “This is crucial, as climate resilience in South Africa must be built around renewable energy,” Xaba wrote on navigating Africa’s road to COP27. Mining Weekly can report that the related green hydrogen sector will also receive a percentage of South African funding. The United Nations Climate Conference, or COP27, currently underway in Egypt, confirms the dire need for funding to combat climate change if we are to implement the energy transition and avert an environmental disaster. The International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) notes that an investment of circa $131-trillion in the energy transition is required by 2050 to fulfil the Paris Climate Agreement, and that the lion’s share of this investment must come from the private sector, including 60% from debt financing. To enable this, new instruments are needed, Irena states. South Africa is set to invest the bulk of an $8.5-billion (R152-billion) climate-finance deal being offered by wealthy nations on bolstering its energy supply. The absolute necessity of moving further and faster to transition to renewable energy is being repeatedly shouted from COP27 rooftops amid the shock to global energy markets set off by Russia's invasion of Ukraine underscoring the need to move to cheaper, cleaner, safer energy sources that can be built quicker and cheaper than conventional fossil fuel and nuclear power stations. Widespread media coverage of the speeches given by world leaders at COP27 included United Nations secretary general António Guterres describing the world as being “on the highway to climate hell, with our foot still on the accelerator, and calling for a new climate solidarity pact in which rich countries would help poorer nations financially. “We are in the fight of our lives and we are losing.We can sign a climate solidarity pact, or a collective suicide pact,” Guterres emphasised. “Choose life over death.It is not time for moral cowardice,” was the comment of former US vice president Al Gore. In her Mistra policy paper, Xaba highlighted the vulnerability to climate change impacts of the African continent. “Extreme weather events will continue to wreak havoc in communities and therefore need urgent solutions,” Xaba added. A just transition framework for South Africa, drafted by the Presidential Climate Commission, has been adopted by Parliament, the Climate Change Bill has been introduced, and the Electricity Regulation Act, No 4 of 2006 has been amended to allow for uncapped power generation for independent power production. These are some of the critical policies that are described as enabling the development of an effective climate change response in South Africa. These policy milestones, coupled with the revised Nationally Determined Contribution, are placing South Africa in a negotiating position at COP27. Climate solutions are described by Xaba as a health priority; and therefore health matters should be prioritised as part of the plans to combat climate change. This is not yet reflected in most health systems in Africa. Rising temperatures coupled with food insecurity, insufficient clean water sources, and higher levels of air pollution result in diseases that threaten lives. The Paris Agreement explicitly links climate action with a healthier environment. Climate change resilience can be built by creating new ways to use the planet’s resources wisely to protect human health and natural ecosystems. The Right Here, Right Now ...
The commissioning of the first phase of the tin expansion project at the Uis mine in Namibia is complete, AfriTin Mining said on Monday. Appealingly, lithium and tantalum will also be extracted from the processing streams. “The beneficiation plant is performing well, and the production ramp-up from pre-expansion levels is going according to plan,” London Aim-quoted AfriTin CEO Anthony Viljoen stated in a release to Mining Weekly. AfriTin is developing its business aspirations in Namibia by: expanding its mineral resource base; expanding its production volume and product portfolio; and focusing on the supply of metals to the technology and renewable energy sectors. An infill exploration programme in progress aims to improve the geological confidence of the present lithium and tantalum mineral resource estimates. To produce a saleable tantalum concentrate, further expansion of the plant has been initiated and successful bench scale tests for the production of lithium concentrate will be followed by the construction of a lithium pilot plant. Increased plant throughput is also expected to benefit the ultimate production of lithium and tantalum by-products, as these minerals are present in the same ore stream as the tin. Being investigated is the suitability of sensor-based ore sorting, which has the potential to double or treble ore throughput. The first-phase expansion project targets lifting production from 780 t/y – involving 470 t/y of tin in concentrate – to 1 200 t/y – involving 720 t/y of tin in concentrate. Forming part of the project’s scope is modular expansion of the processing plant’s crushing and screening circuits, as well as construction of stockpile for ore fines. Dry plant expansion allows for the feed rate of ore to the plant to be increased by roughly 50%, with the stockpile providing buffer capacity for greater plant utilisation. The C4 commissioning certificate, which has been issued by independent mineral processing consultancy Consulmet, is indicative of the entire system being fully operational.
Canadian miner Pan American Silver has tossed its hat into the ring to acquire fellow miner Yamana Gold, teaming up with Agnico Eagle Mines in an unsolicited proposal to buy the company that South Africa-based Gold Fields has its eye on. Pan American Silver and Agnico Eagle on Friday delivered a binding offer to the Yamana board, pursuant to which Pan American would acquire all the issued and outstanding common shares of the company and Yamana would sell certain subsidiaries and partnerships which hold its Canadian assets to Agnico Eagle. This would include the Canadian Malartic mine, allowing Agnico Eagle to consolidate its ownership in one of the world’s biggest gold mines. Under the offer, Pan American would acquire all the issued and outstanding common shares for total consideration consisting of $1.0-billion in cash and the issuance of about 153.5-million common shares of Pan American and about 36.1-million common shares of Agnico Eagle. Shareholders of Yamana would receive $1.0406 in cash, 0.0376 of an Agnico share and 0.1598 of a Pan American share for each Common share held, for an aggregate value of $5.02 a share. The offer is not subject to any financing condition or additional due diligence. Yamana said in a statement that the new offer constituted a “superior proposal” in accordance with the terms of the arrangement agreement with Gold Fields. The South Africa-based gold major has five business days to match the offer. Yamana noted that its board had not changed its recommendation regarding the pending transaction with Gold Fields and that the special meeting of shareholders to consider the Gold Fields arrangement remained scheduled for November 21. The board has unanimously recommended voting in favour of the Gold Fields arrangement. Some investors have called into question the all-stock takeover by Gold Fields, currently valued at C$6.8-billion. Van Eck Associates, the biggest Yamana investor and the third-biggest shareholder in Gold Fields, is critical of the transaction, according to Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail. Portfolio manager Joe Foster called the deal “poorly structured” and said the market did not understand the strategy behind the deal. Another Gold Fields investor, Redwheel, has also for the transaction to be scrapped. GOLD FIELDS SAYS ITS DEAL REMAINS SUPERIOR Gold Fields responded on Friday that it believed its offer was "demonstrably superior" to the joint offer by Pan American and Agnico Eagle. The complementary nature of Yamana's assets to the Gold Fields portfolio would create "significantly greater near-term and long-term value" for the shareholders of both companies than the new offer. "It is clear that the Gold Fields offer remains strategically and financially superior to the joint offer with higher quality assets, lower operational and execution risk and higher sustained returns, given Gold Fields enjoys the free cash flow, balance sheet profile and technical capabilities to unlock the full potential of Yamana's assets," the company stated. Gold Fields also noted that the emergence of another offer indicated that other mining companies were seeing the inherent value in Yamana’s assets. PRECIOUS METAL MAJOR TO BE BORN Meanwhile, Pan American said that the Yamana acquisition would establish it as a major precious metals producer in Latin America, with about 28.5-million to 30-million ounces of yearly silver production and about 1.1-million to 1.2-million ounces of yearly gold production. "The combination of our existing portfolio with Yamana's high-quality assets in Latin America would create a powerful precious metals mining company in the Americas with leading exposure to silver, and represents an exciting opportunity for growth for both Yamana and Pan American shareholders. “Our established presence and expertise in Latin America will enable us to leverage the synergies and growth potential of Yamana's assets in the region in a way that is highly complementary to Pan American's exis...
Higher grade ore mined by AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter should have meant more gold at unchanged cost – more bang for the same buck, as it were. But the current abnormally high level of inflation knocked back the potential benefits of 17% higher underground grades and 21% higher opencast grades year-on-year. Inflation contributed $996/oz, or 14%, to the total cash cost increase of the Johannesburg- and New York-listed company in the three months to the end of September. “You can see how damaging inflation is to the world because if we had normal inflation, we would have had an unbelievably spectacular year,” AngloGold CEO Alberto Calderon, a former International Monetary Fund luminary, said in response to questions put to him by Mining Weekly during Thursday’s media roundtable. The higher grade and increased production did manage to stave off inflation’s full potential impact. Total cash costs were $966/oz, with the year-on-year increase contained at 4%, or $39/oz, despite inflationary pressure and other noncontrollable factors of $112/oz. “The cost environment remains dynamic and uncertain, and we continue to expect full year cash costs at the top end of our guidance range,” AngloGold interim CFO Ian Kramer reported. “Labour markets remain tight. We currently see inflation averaging around 7% next year,” said Kramer in noting that input commodities have trended sharply upwards following the outbreak of the Russia/Ukraine war. In addition to inflation, total cash costs were impacted by volume variances of $29/oz and activity changes of $42/oz. These upward cost pressures were partly offset by favourable ore stockpile movements of $39/oz and the positive impact of higher grades at $135/oz. The inflation impact on AngloGold is from the suppliers it buys from but the cash cost increase has been limited to around 4%, based on a more predictable operational performance with higher grades and a significant drop in stockpile. All-in sustaining costs were down 6% to $1 284/oz, mainly owing to lower sustaining capital expenditure of $103/oz, partly offset by the $39/oz increase in cash costs. AngloGold’s primary goal is to regain its cost competitiveness compared with its peers. Its new carbon emissions reduction programme, which is expected to add value to the business by reducing energy cost, is described as being net present value (NPV) positive. Mining Weekly: To what extent is your carbon emission reduction programme likely to lower your energy costs? Calderon: When we talk about the overall programme being NPV positive, that is derived precisely from paying less for our energy. Take, for example, our very advanced system in Tanzania, it’s going to be a combination of hydro and gas that will reduce the emissions by a significant amount, I think it’s by 30%, and it will also cost us less. That is typical of being NPV positive. But we are doing this because it’s the right thing to do and it just happens to be NPV positive. At Geita, you will see the benefits next year, at others in 2024 and some only in 2027, 2028. Co-funding of your $1.1-billion renewable energy projects has lowered your own funding to a manageable $350-million. How is that brought about? How that works – and this is just standard in the industry – is that a lot of the programmes involve mining companies doing a power purchasing agreement where we commit to buy the energy over a period of time, let’s say ten years, as is happening with us in Australia. Those who provide the service put in the capital, which occurs in about 70% of the cases. What is interesting is that there is a lot of money in the world for these types of projects at, I would say, below market rates. Ian [Kramer] has already started looking for funding that will be below normal loan operation and that’s all factored into the NPV estimates. ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION As has been reported earlier this year, AngloGold has appointed Gillian Doran, 45, as its new CFO from January 1. Doran join...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses Anglo American Platinum's maiden climate change report; Anglo’s green hydrogen truck trials; and consensus that a green electron and green molecule energy transition is tailor-made for South Africa.
The competitive position of gold and copper mining company Barrick is being progressively boosted by exploration, which results in the company replacing the extracted ore with similar quality. “We’re the only company that has replaced our ounces at the same quality through exploration – through the drill bit – and today we’re a much more competent explorer than we were in 2019,” Barrick CEO Dr Mark Bristow, himself a renowned geologist, enthused in an interview. “With the exception of eastern Russia, we’ve got geologists in every single global geological province who are capable of delivering copper or gold or both,” Bristow added. He was speaking to Mining Weekly after the New York- and Toronto-listed gold and copper company remained on track to achieve its 2022 production guidance. In doing so it overcame some short-term operational challenges and rising input costs, driven largely by what Bristow concedes was a soft production quarter, but one which has paved the way for a stronger final three months, driven by access to higher grades at Nevada Gold Mines. But overall, it is the exploration drive that is continuing to build momentum and Barrick is set once again to grow its reserves net of depletion this year – but with inflation still a factor needing to be taken into account. “Inflation is here and you can’t deny it. Many people are wishing it away, just like back in 2008, in the global financial crisis. “The real impact of the global financial crisis was only really felt in 2011, and that’s when gold went up to $1 900/oz. “In the medium term, it’s great for gold, and on the copper side, which is the most strategic metal, the market just gets tighter and tighter because, again, the industry has stopped investing in itself just because the copper price is at $3.40/lb. “The gold industry is stretching a bit because it hasn’t replaced the gold that it has mined with similar quality,” Bristow reiterated. Helping to keep down costs and mitigating against inflation, too, had been Barrick’s disposal of the noncore assets after its multiple transactions of 2019 and 2020. A lot of other companies kept everything and took the ride on the high commodity prices, which have since come down amid costs going up, not only driven by inflation and increased input costs, but also lower revenues because of declining grades. The industry, in Bristow’s view, has spent far too much time rearranging far too few assets amongst too many management teams – “and the problem is that consolidation is even more challenging because there are not enough assets available to build the relevance that this mining industry needs, to be able to participate in a bigger, more developed world. “So, not only are we dealing with a critical global financial crisis, but it’s materially compounded by the geopolitical mess that we find ourselves in, on a global basis, and then compromised by populist politics and very liberal fiscal doctrine,” he outlined. THIRD-QUARTER PERFORMANCE Barrick’s third-quarter operating cash flow for the quarter was $758-million and was supplemented by the sale of noncore royalty assets. The robust balance sheet supported a $0.10-a-share base dividend plus a $0.05-a-share performance dividend for a total of $0.15 a share for the quarter. Under the $1-billion share buyback programme, $322-million of shares have been repurchased to date, or about 1% of Barrick’s issued and outstanding shares at the time the programme was announced. “Barrick’s core strategy is one of long-term value creation and our focus remains firmly on this goal. We continue to maintain a strong balance sheet and to develop our wealth of organic growth projects. We also keep a sharp lookout for M&A opportunities, but those that could pass our strict investment filters are few and far between,” Bristow said. Barrick’s asset portfolio and pipeline of organic growth prospects is extensive. Ongoing exploration in Lumwana in Zambia is pointing to the potential for a superpit...
The Northern Cape’s Tshipi Borwa manganese mine is “up there with the best of them”, says new Jupiter Mines CEO Brad Rogers, who has seen his fair share of mine sites around world as the former head of a company with more than 50 mining and industrial sites in Australia and Indonesia. Rogers has been running ASX-listed Jupiter, a 49.9% investor in Tshipi, since the beginning of August, having joined the company from Bis Industries, Australia’s 140-year-old mining logistics company. The unlisted empowered mining investment company Ntsimbintle Holdings, headed by chairperson Saki Macozoma, has a 20% shareholding in Jupiter. Ntsimbintle Mining owns the rest of the shareholding in Tshipi, which is located in the southern part of the manganese-rich Kalahari basin, where South Africa hosts the largest estimated mineral reserves of manganese ore globally and accounts for 74% to 78% of the world’s identified manganese resources. Formed in 2003 to pursue exploration and mining opportunities emerging in the South African manganese sector, Ntsimbintle scored big with its investment in Tshipi. Rogers sees his current position as presenting his biggest ever opportunity and believes in a bright future for manganese as sell as Jupiter’s opportunity to play a role that delivers value for its local communities and shareholders. He is big on environmental social and governance (ESG) principles and is working on a sustainability strategy and report for Jupiter, which takes in the prospect of solar power energy generation for the mine, which was set up with standalone diesel fuel usage. He sees a number of organic growth opportunities for the operation, which has a rail capacity considerably above its current production output. Tshipi was constructed with a five million ton per annum loadout station for rail and has been producing in the order of 3.3-milion tons to 3.5-million tons per annum very regularly for the last four years. “We're on that same run right today, so there's an opportunity to increase our production output. We've got a very long mine life of more than 100 years and so there's the ability to be able to drive organic growth in that regard,” Rogers commented to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) He foresees manganese receiving increasing demand pull through with the growth in electric vehicle (EV) battery demand when manufacturing in general starts to kick off in earnest. “Manganese into that demand source currently is still at quite low levels. That's going to be a high growth area although off a low starting point, we think, starting in about three years’ time,” said Rogers. Mining Weekly: Jupiter and Tshipi have been joined at the hip from inception. What is your impression of the operation and of South Africa as a mining investment destination? Rogers: I'm relatively new at Jupiter. I've been on board since the first of August and it's been great to get here a number of times actually since then, and go on to site. Looking at Tshipi before joining and studying the numbers I was expecting to see a quality operation and that's what I found. The role I had prior to joining Jupiter was running Australia's largest mining logistics company, Bis, a 140-year-old company that was on 50 different mine sites, mostly for larger miners around Australia and also Indonesia, and so I've seen around the world my fair share of mine sites, good and bad, and I would say Tshipi is up there with the best of them. Very well invested. Very good, stable, experienced management team as well, and you can see that in Tshipi’s results, great safety record, which I think is always a good marker for how well the place is run in general, and that's certainly the case with Tshipi. But also very stable production and a low and reducing cost base. Everything I saw in terms of the operation itself really married up with that good impression I had prior to joining. Tshipi’s net profit was up in the half year to the e...
Active support for the creation of a viable green hydrogen economy in South Africa and globally, along with the firm underpinning of a ‘just energy transition’, are highlighted in the maiden climate change report of Anglo American Platinum. The report sets out the role the JSE-listed mining and marketing company is playing as a supplier of platinum group metals (PGMs) and base metals fundamental to enabling a cleaner, greener, and more sustainable world with strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials. The full extent of response to climate change is outlined, including plans to improve energy efficiency and carbon neutrality across operations and ambition to reduce Scope 3 emissions by 50% by 2040. Also detailed are the structures in place to ensure that climate change is embedded across decision-making processes and the manner in which it fits into the capital allocation framework. “In line with our strategic priority to be a leader in ESG, we expect that the role we play in helping to create a green future should create significant value for all our stakeholders,” Anglo Platinum CEO Natascha Viljoen states in a release to Mining Weekly. PGMs are key to the mix of energy solutions that will make global decarbonisation possible. “The quality of the ore bodies entrusted to us, which are significant resources with long mine lives, and low-cost operations, together with our disciplined capital allocation, positions us well to ensure sustainable production and to assure our customers of the responsible standards we meet. “Our portfolio remains financially resilient in lower carbon emission pathways, helping us to ensure that future generations will continue to benefit from the metals we produce,” said Viljoen. The contribution to a ‘just energy transition’ comes in the forms of jobs, community support and the PGMs and base metals produced. Beyond operations, Anglo Platinum is engaged in market development to broaden the number of PGM applications in emission-free transport and green energy production. Multi-jurisdiction initiatives are being deployed to promote the adoption of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) for commercial uses, particularly in the UK, Europe, US, China and South Africa. These initiatives aim to accelerate the uptake of heavy-duty FCEVs by aligning end-user demand locations and specifications with the supply of suitable vehicles, along with access to the requisite hydrogen infrastructure along key freight routes. Similar multi-jurisdiction initiatives are now underway to increase the uptake of FCEVs for light duty vehicles for commercial and passenger use. PGM-CONTAINING COMPUTER CHIPS PILOTED Research and ventures to accelerate the adoption of PGM-containing spintronics and other forms of memory electronics in multiple end uses to encourage low-loss computing applications are continuing to be pursued. This includes funding research on new semiconductor materials involving platinum, palladium and iridium for memory devices, and the launching of a new software technology venture that simplifies the adoption of hardware using those memory devices. With the Northwestern University Illinois in the US, new PGM-containing computer chips are being piloted, which will dramatically increase the speed of computing while strongly reducing electricity consumption and increasing battery life. This presents a huge market opportunity given that computer chips are in so many electronic devices. BATTERY AND STORAGE Adding PGMs to batteries helps to improve their performance is seen as potentially growing into a huge market opportunity and the development of PGM-enabled lithium batteries, mainly through our investment in Lion Battery Technologies, is continuing to be pursued.Industry capability to create new materials and technologies such as fit-for-purpose additive manufacturing and PGM alloys targeting multiple applications are continuing to be expanded. CARBON NEUTRAL FEEDSTOCKS Launched alongside Deep...
The 500 t world-first haulage truck powered by green hydrogen last week underwent fully loaded trialling that included tipping into the crusher at Anglo American Platinum's Mogalakwena platinum group metals (PGMs) mine in Limpopo. “The trials all went well,” Anglo American group technical director Tony O’Neill told this week’s second 2022 sustainability performance presentation, covered by Mining Weekly. O'Neill was responding to questions posed by Barclays Investment Bank analyst Ian Rossouw, who requested an update on the nuGen truck’s performance as well as a progress report on the ramp-up of the electrolyser to supply the hydrogen to power the zero-emission truck. “On the hydrogen side, we’ve been to market on commercials for gas but we also need to explore commercials around going liquid, and we’re currently preparing to go that route, so at this point, there’s no further expansion of the electrolyser, it’s not critical path at this point, but we need to clearly sort out the commercials for supply in the next six months,” said O’Neill. “The liquid hydrogen investigation is more around range so we take away one of the issues that we have been wrestling with. It’s just the number of refuelling stops over a day, and if you go liquid, then clearly that solves for that. So, going well at this point,” O’Neill added. For the 600 MW Envusa Energy projects in Southern Africa, which are almost shovel-ready with construction due to begin early next year, Credit Suisse securities research director metals and mining Danielle Chigumira asked for the projects’ financing agreements to be spelt out. Southern Africa, Anglo has partnered with EDF Renewables (EDFR) to develop 3 GW to 5 GW of clean generation capacity. This is expected to meet Anglo's operational power requirements and support the resilience of local electricity supply systems. The new jointly owned Envusa Energy, is developing its first phase of more than 600 MW of wind and solar projects, a major step towards its vision of a 3 GW to 5 GW renewable energy ecosystem in the region by 2030. “These projects are all quite typical of infrastructure energy projects and so will be funded with that usual mix of equity and debt. For infrastructure, energy projects are often around that 20% equity and 80% debt mark,” Anglo FD Stephen Pearce explained. “We’re still just finalising the power purchase agreement system behind that, which will help determine the funding structures, so work in progress. But our equity contribution will be relatively modest as it works its way through those mathematics. For that first 600 MW, our equity contribution will be well south of $100-million over that next two- to-three year period as those projects get built out. “The majority of them are in Envusa and one a partnership with EDFR on their renewables in Mogalakwena, so really comfortable how those projects will sit. Arrangements are being finalised and worked on as we speak. There’ll be no major surprises there and will largely be infrastructure funded with community partners and bank counterparties, with largely offtake arrangements for us as the customer,” Pearce added. CLIMATE CHANGE THE DEFINING CHALLENGE Anglo CE Duncan Wanblad spelt out that Anglo as an organisation views climate change as “the defining challenge of our time”. “We are committed to playing our part in working out solutions that help manage the impacts of climate change,” said Wanblad. The London- and Johannesburg-listed company has a target of reducing its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 30% against a 2016 baseline by 2030, on the way to achieving full carbon neutrality across the whole of the portfolio by 2040. Wanblad described the creation of Envusa Energy as its next step towards the development of a renewable energy ecosystem in Southern Africa, with the aim of producing clean energy at a rate of 3 GW to 5 GW, enhancing the stability and sustainability of the national grid. Anglo marketing head Hilton Ingram, who provid...
Decarbonisation, net positive biodiversity, and progress towards assuring all operations against recognised responsible mining standards are addressed in Anglo American’s twice-yearly sustainability performance update, which was presented on Monday. Recognising that many of the metals and minerals the London- and Johannesburg-listed company produces are critical to the technologies required to decarbonise the world’s energy and transport systems, its commitment to being part of the solution to climate change begins in its own business by meeting emissions reduction and carbon neutrality goals. “There is growing awareness of the centrality of mining to enabling the energy transition and the contribution we can make to a more sustainable future,” Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad stated in a release to Mining Weekly. “All the while, we know we also have a role to play to support host countries and communities in terms of skills, jobs and new fields of economic opportunity that are emerging. This transition must include all of society – it must be ‘just’,” said Wanblad. As a further commitment to its holistic set of sustainability ambitions, Anglo has put in place its Sustainability Financing Framework in recent months, linking certain of its funding requirements to the stretching sustainability objectives it has set for the business. “Within that framework we issued our first sustainability-linked bond, including performance targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fresh water abstraction, and to support job creation in host communities – a first of its kind for the mining sector,” he said.. EMISSIONS REDUCTION In 1918, Anglo set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030, on its pathway to achieving carbon neutrality across operations by 2040. On-site energy requirements are the largest source of our operational emissions and the company is progressing towards their abatement. By 2023, all its South America operations will have 100% renewable electricity supply and, for Southern Africa, it has partnered with EDF Renewables to develop 3 GW to 5 GW of clean generation capacity. This is expected to meet Anglo's operational power requirements and support the resilience of local electricity supply systems. The company has also set an ambition to reduce Scope 3 emissions by 50% by 2040, including by forming a number of partnerships with major steel customers to work together to unlock clean steelmaking technologies. BIODIVERSITY Anglo’s sustainable mining plan commits it to achieving a net positive impact on biodiversity across managed operations. Completed baseline assessments, define significant biodiversity features to protect and further restore, including key habitats and species and important ecosystems. Investments are being made into innovative technologies and nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change impacts and water scarcity, and to nurture wildlife habitats, with biodiversity management plans for each site being integrated into life of asset plans. RESPONSIBLE MINING The company has been engaging to develop responsible mining standards since 2005. Its sustainable mining plan embraces responsible mining standards for all sites by 2025 and meeting that goal is described as being on track. It is increasingly finding that its most important customers are those whose own values and aspirations align with its own, with value not only attributed to the physical characteristics of the products sold, but also to the ethical approach and commitments of those who produce them. “The world we are living in is changing in so many ways, not least in society’s expectations of businesses across many industries. “ We have set up Anglo American to be resilient, disciplined, opportunistic – and responsible. We have the people, the assets and the capabilities to deliver sustainable returns over the long term. It is incumbent on us to deliver the metals and minerals the world so urgently needs in the cleanest and most ...
South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has increased its shareholding in Mozambique’s Mozal Aluminium to 32.45%. Prior to this transaction, State-owned IDC held 24% equity in the hydropowered aluminium smelter, which is located 20 km west of Maputo, in Beluluane industrial park. IDC partnered BHP Billiton, now South32, Mitsubishi and the Mozambican government to establish Mozal in 1998. Not long after the smelter opened in late 2000, expansion plans were already underway to double its capacity. Currently, exposure to metals such as aluminium, which important to the world's low carbon future, are attracting investor interest. Last year, South32 exercised its pre-emptive rights to acquire an additional 8.445%, which has increased its shareholding to 63.7%. Mozal has grown into one of the largest contributors to Mozambique’s export earnings and its biggest industrial employer, “providing good returns on our investment but most important for us has been the socio-economic development impact of this project on the local people,” IDC CEO TP Nchocho stated in a release to Mining Weekly. Driving sustainable industrialisation and decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries forms part of IDC’s strategy and its investment in Mozal aligns with this strategy. To support the development of the downstream aluminium industry in Mozambique, a portion of liquid metal is supplied to Midal Cables, a local company that sells products in the domestic and export markets. As reported by Mining Weekly in January, South32 is working on options to secure green electricity at Hillside Aluminium smelter in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. Hillside has bottom-quartile carbon intensity compared with hydropowered Mozal’s top-quartile position. Hillside accounts for a high 58% of the Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions of the four aluminium operations that South32 runs owing to its carbon-intensive electricity consumption and is in need of significant greening.
The northern limb of the Bushveld is attracting real exploration interest in the form of Platinum Group Metals, Sylvania Platinum and now Ivanhoe Mines, AmaranthCX director and founder Paul Miller has noted on LinkedIn. Platinum Group Metals and Ivanhoe are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and Sylvania is a London Aim quoted company. The northern limb of the Bushveld contains a diverse array of mineralisation that is significantly weighted towards platinum group metals (PGMs). Mining Weekly can report that Ivanhoe has been granted three new exploration rights that cover a total surface area of 80 km2, next to the company’s Platreef project – a palladium, rhodium, nickel, platinum, copper and gold development project that is 64% owned by Ivanhoe. In commenting on Miller’s observation, Council of Geoscience’s David Khoza pointed out on LinkedIn that the regional gravity data referred to in the Ivanhoe exploration announcement is freely available on the Council of Geoscience’s new data portal. In addition, Earthlab CEO Deon du Plessis highlighted the northern limb’s vast exploration and mining potential by disclosing that same zone being developed as an underground mine by the Waterberg PGM Project has now been discovered as having opencast mining potential for Sylvania – and exploration drilling has confirmed that the deposit is open at depth, and mineral resource drilling is continuing. “If Ivanhoe does as it is used to doing, then we should see just this project start making a material difference to the S&P Capital IQ's exploration budget statistics for South Africa – as a Canadian public company, their budgeted exploration spending is at least likely to be captured in the stats. And Ivanhoe knows how to spend,” Miller stated. “Ivanhoe also clearly had access to what is described in the announcement as ‘a widely spaced regional ground gravity survey’ before being granted the exploration rights. “I wonder if they got the data from the Council for Geoscience in terms of its new data policies and its new data portal? If so, then it is doing exactly what it is supposed to do - crowd in private sector exploration investment. “What is also interesting is that these three companies have all been operating in South Africa for decades, and yet local investors and the JSE have been unable to persuade them to consider a local secondary listing. “This is worth pondering as the local market should be the natural venue for Bushveld platinum group metals projects,” said Miller, whose view is that Minerals Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe should simply phone each company's chairperson up and ask them to get a fast track, low cost, light touch, secondary listing on the JSE. “Moral suasion is a legitimate application of political power,” added Miller. Earthlab senior exploration geologist Natalie Brand expanded on that with these words: “Very good points – secondary listing would be encouraging for other foreign investment. Still so much untapped potential in this area.” The new exploration rights form a continuous block on the southwest border of Ivanhoe’s existing Platreef mining rights at Turfspruit and Macalacaskop, which together cover 78 km2. The exploration rights reportedly overlap a significant geophysical gravity anomaly known as the Mokopane Feeder, the centre of which is located approximately 10 km from Platreef’s Shaft 1. The Mokopane Feeder anomaly is said to be one of the most significant gravity features of the Bushveld Complex. Academic studies based on historical data hypothesised that the anomaly represents a primary feeder zone to the Rustenburg layered suite of the northern limb. To better understand the conceptual Mokopane Feeder target, Ivanhoe will reportedly commence a detailed high-resolution, airborne-magnetic and gradiometer-gravity survey over the project area, for completion early next year. As reported by Mining Weekly earlier this week, results from studies carried out on Sylvania's exploratio...
Orion Minerals CEO Errol Smart offered the familiar refrain of South Africa’s mining industry needing a functional and accurate cadastre. “We cannot manage our minerals with a GIS system,” he said during the Q&A session following his keynote address at the 2022 Council for Geoscience (CGS) Summit on Wednesday. He expressed ongoing frustration with the fact that “some of the most commercially successful mining cadastre developers in the world are based here in South Africa, and yet we don’t have a cadastre”. Moreover, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) is only negligibly closer to replacing its defunct system, as it published an invitation to tender earlier this year. “Botswana started speaking about a cadastre at the same time that we started speaking about a mining cadastre. We’re still speaking about speaking about speaking, and Botswana has an active cadastre.” Similarly, there has been very little progress in terms of the six points outlined in the exploration reform proposed by the CGS and Minerals Council South Africa. “The CEO of CGS and I sat in a room two years ago, trying to answer the question about what we need to do [to attract exploration investment and reignite exploration]. We came up with six points. Those six points are still not acted upon,” he said. Aside from implementing a functional cadastre and halving licensing times, one of the six points is the need to address ambiguities in the law. “The Minister stands with me on every stage around the world, and he'll tell people that it is not sensible to have BEE overlay on prospecting rights. He makes a clear statement, regularly on stage, that BEE is not required for prospecting. And I go to the international investment community, and I tell investors that BEE is not required for prospecting in South Africa. I have not received a single prospecting right that hasn't had an insistence on Section Two D, in compliance with the new Minerals Charter. That creates uncertainty and unhappiness among investors." He also asked that the DMRE take responsibility in terms of Section 54 and help address the impasse between landowners and prospectors – landowners who are sterilising prospecting opportunities. Smart stated that unless action was taken, South Africa would continue to lose out on investment to neighbours like Botswana and Namibia, not because they have better geology, but because they have better administrative systems. BENEFICIATION Smart noted that in South Africa everybody “waffles on about beneficiation”, with some looking to increase metals smelting capacity, even though the challenges plaguing State-owned utility Eskom all but guarantee that it will never be able to power said smelters. “To me that’s not where the value is, the real value is understanding that value chain of a battery precursor.” He provided the example of cell phones, noting that the 3 μm to 6 μm iron micro flakes that are used in a single phone costs the cell phone manufacturer as much as all of the cobalt found in the phone. “Iron, currently [around] $100/t, but the same stuff goes into your cell phone for microwave attenuation and is trading at $100 000/t. The nickel that's used isn't the big ingots, its microfibres. That's what we need to be doing.” He cited technologies and innovations that open up other avenues for beneficiation. “The nickel in your cell phone comes from massive plants where they take a big lump of nickel and go gasify it to produce little microbeads.” He said that similar beneficiation activity can occur using concentrates. ”So there are two different technologies, but they happen the same way, almost identical reactor vessels. You've got a vaporisation vessel, a bunch of pipes and a distillation tower. It's the same stuff that Sasol does, the same process, the same technology, the same reactor, and it's done around the world on a huge scale.” He noted that pursuing these technologies and beneficiation strategies would be viable, cost-effecti...
Diversified mining and marketing company Glencore, in response to recommendations received, will take four steps to advance its climate reporting amid the world facing a rapidly closing window to meet the Paris Agreement’s climate goals. The London- and Johannesburg-listed Glencore simultaneously released its third-quarter production of 41% higher cobalt, 15% higher nickel output, and 4% more ferrochrome on consistent smelter performance. Regarding climate, Glencore will: publish its climate progress report on the same date as its annual report in March 2023 to ensure alignment and consistency across both reports; enhance disclosures in the climate progress report on planning and execution of climate strategy improvement; provide more governance detail of climate matters by the Glencore board and management; and engage further with key proxy voting advisers to seek an improved understanding of climate strategy in various areas. Shareholders will be updated on climate strategy progress at the full year results presentation in February, and further details on Glencore’s response to the outcome of its Climate Resolution vote will be provided in the 2022 climate and annual reports in March. Glencore’s investor update will be held on December 6. On third-quarter production performance, Glencore CEO Gary Nagle drew attention to the impacts of extreme weather in Australia, industrial action at nickel assets in Canada and Norway, and the emergence of significant supply chain issues in Kazakhstan, stemming from the Russia/Ukraine war. Full-year 2022 production guidance has, accordingly, been reduced for affected commodities. Anticipated in the second half is a significantly reduced, but still above-average, contribution, which will likely exceed $1.6-billion, being the top end of the pro-rated long-term earnings before interest and tax guidance range of $2.2-billion to $3.2-billion a year, the company stated in a release to Mining Weekly. In the three months to the end of September, copper output was down 14% year-on-year to 770.5 kt, zinc 18% lower at 699.6 kt, lead down 21% to 136.9 kt, gold down 15% to 504 koz, and silver down 25% to 17 878 koz. Third-quarter cobalt production rose to 33.1 kt, nickel to 81.6 kt and ferrochrome to 1 110 kt. Climate sensitive coal production was 7% higher at 81.9 mt and oil 16% up in barrels of oil equivalent (boe) at 4 822 kboe. Changes in fourth quarter production guidance involve mainly a tightening of the ranges, with zinc forecast to be 6% down, nickel 8% down and coal 9% down. In the three months to September 30, own sourced copper production was 770 500 t, own sourced zinc production 699 600 t, own sourced nickel production 81 600 t, and attributable ferrochrome production 1 110 000 t. Coal production totalled 81.9-million tonnes and entitlement interest oil production 4.8 million boe.
Platinum group metals (PGMs) mining and marketing company Impala Platinum (Implats) on Friday expressed determination to maximise the tailwinds of strong prevailing PGM prices and deliver its guided business performance for the benefit of all stakeholders. Six-element (6E) concentrate volumes were a 2% higher 824 000 oz in the three months to the end of September made up of unchanged managed volumes of 593 000 oz, 2% higher joint venture production to 141 000 oz, and 14% higher third-party receipts of 91 000 oz. Aligned with scheduled processing maintenance, gross 6E refined and saleable production volumes declined by 5% to 705 000 oz, while 6E sales volumes of 708 000 oz were largely unchanged from those in the prior comparable period. Electricity load curtailment by power utility Eskom necessitated adjustments to hoisting, concentrating and smelting rates, and socio-economic pressures were compounded by rising global inflation and local currency depreciation. But notwithstanding the complex operating environment, Implats CEO Nico Muller reported good progress across the company’s suite of mining and processing projects, with revenue expected to remain robust and discussions with core customers confirming expectations of rising demand for key products over the coming year. Guidance parameters for the financial year to the end of June have been maintained amid group unit costs and capital expenditure remaining vulnerable to sustained rand depreciation. “We are determined to maximise the tailwinds of strong prevailing PGM prices and deliver our guided business performance in FY2023, for the benefit of all our stakeholders,” Muller stated in a release to Mining Weekly. PRODUCTION Gross tonnes milled at managed operations improved to 5.85-million tonnes on volume gains at Impala Rustenburg and Zimplats, stable production at Marula, and marginally lower mill throughput at Impala Canada. Milled grade declined marginally to 3.61 g/t, resulting in unchanged 6E concentrate production of 593 000 oz at managed operations. Concentrate production from the Mimosa and Two Rivers joint ventures improved by 2% to 141 000 oz, while third-party 6E concentrate deliveries to Impala Refining Service rose by 14% to 91 000 oz. Consequently, Group 6E-in-concentrate production increased by 2% to 824 000 oz. Refined 6E production, which includes saleable ounces from Impala Canada, was impacted by scheduled processing maintenance and ongoing power disruptions in South Africa and declined by 5% to 705 000 oz. The scheduled maintenance was successfully completed in July and August, with smelting rates impacted by the increased frequency and severity of load curtailment in September. Refined production of platinum declined by 4% and palladium by 3%, with a more notable reduction in refined volumes of rhodium and other minor PGMs. This timing difference was directly owing to the longer duration of the refining process for these precious metals and the impact thereon of the maintenance programme during the period. IMPALA RUSTENBURG Milled production at Impala Rustenburg increased by 2% to 2.65-million tonnes, but milled head grade declined by 4% to 3.85 g/t owing to changes in the ore mix across the shaft complex. As a result, 6E-in-concentrate production declined by 2% to 310 000 oz. Production momentum at Impala Rustenburg was impacted by unprotected industrial action among the contractor workforce at the end of FY2022 and again in September 2022 when a two-day dispute arose with permanent workers as a result of the individual tax status of certain permanent employees, which impacted the quantum of their employee share ownership trust payouts. Production was further impacted by Eskom loadshedding during the reporting period and safety stoppages following the fatality at 16 Shaft. Refined 6E production of 300 000 oz was 3% higher during the quarter, up from 292 000 oz in the prior comparable period. ZIMPLATS Zimplats’ tonnes milled increased by 3% to 1.7...
This week, Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the funding milestone achieved by mine development company Orion Minerals; the Department of Science and Innovation's suggestion that South Africa should make green hydrogen part of its Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan; and US company Plug's platinum-using green hydrogen and fuel cell solutions.
Three women who have been in logistics collectively for more than 30 years have formed a company intent on helping to smooth out rail and port logistics in the Southern African region. The three are Nosipho Damasane, Nyameka Madikizela and Ncumisa Dube, who have formed Indlela Connections. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) All three have worked in both the private and public port and rail sectors and have local and international experience. Indlela is intent on improving rail and port turnaround times and well cargo movement. Real time monitoring of the rail infrastructure is undertaken to maximise rail time and save money. “We detect material faults before they happen,” Damasane told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. Where rail authorities have insufficient rolling stock capacity, Indlela will also invest in locomotives and wagons. Currently, it is negotiating to buy wagons and locomotives in tranches to support three railways in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), with one rail authority this week accepting the company’s offer and the other two in advanced stages of negotiation. The company is partnering with a listed Swedish company that provides performance management units that help to streamline performance, with a pilot being run to facilitate connectivity. Indlela CEO Madikizela outlined how the sensors have been successfully put to work on wagons and wheels on the rail line from Swaziland to the Maputo port in Mozambique, with real-time information becoming available as the trains are traversing. “We use the same trains, but we reduce the number of days,” said Damasane. The specific focus of the first phase is on rail as a prelude to looking from pit-to-port, taking in trucking. “The key driver is to improve turnaround time, to give customers satisfaction and to make sure that the customers can get their cargo from pit to port at the right time and plan so that they can improve the logistics themselves,” added Damasane, who is well known as the nonexecutive chairperson of Richards Bay Coal Terminal.
South Africa should leverage the hydrogen opportunity as part of its official economic reconstruction and economic recovery plan. Dr Cosmas Chiteme, the director of hydrogen and energy at Department of Science and Innovation, highlighted this as the top key message on the way forward at the conclusion of his address to the Seventh Platinum Group Metal (PGM) Roundtable, hosted by South Africa’s Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra). (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) The theme of the event was exploring opportunities within the PGMs sector to support a just transition to a climate-resilient and sustainable South African society. Disclosed during question time was that South Africa will have a stand at the fuel cell expo scheduled to place in Tokyo in March 2023, where South Africa's private sector will also be participating In addition, green hydrogen and green ammonia collaboration has been initiated with Germany and Japan, and locally, fuel cell power is to be introduced along Malibongwe Drive, northwest of Johannesburg, to alleviate major traffic congestion. There will also be continued deployment of fuel cell systems in schools, clinics, government facilities and increased engagement with local authorities as an advance towards 10 kW systems is progressed. “A few years ago, our focus was largely on fuel cell technology and PGM beneficiation. Now a wide array of issues is coming to the fore, including the production, domestic use and export of green hydrogen, feedstock for industrial processes, and energy sources for industrial and domestic use,” Mistra executive director Joel Netshitenzhe said as he emphasised the multiple uses of green hydrogen. “Two issues also stand out for continuing reflection. The first is about the statutory platform to facilitate the emergent industry. As a major centre in the value chain of fuel cell technology and green hydrogen, South Africa will indeed have to be among global first movers in ensuring that hydrogen applications are harmonised, safe and interoperable through both hard and soft regulatory mechanisms,” Netshitenzhe told the online event covered by Mining Weekly. “The second issue is about skills development. It is estimated that across the spatial dimension in the Platinum Valley and the Saldanha and Boegoebaai hubs as well the sectoral applications in mining, steel production and electricity generation, some 20 000 jobs can be created in the hydrogen economy by 2030,” he added. These jobs would range from science, technology and innovation to artisanship services, which demanded that training in all related areas needed to be systematically pursued and the extensive experiences that South Africa had garnered over the years built on. Cooperation with educational institutions, equipment manufacturers, and state parties across the globe needed to be strengthened. “In the bold programme of the Department of Science and Innovation to convert large numbers of buses, trucks and forklifts to green hydrogen by 2025, in the programme to promote domestic fuel cell and hydrogen demand and in the initiatives to ensure localisation in fuel cell manufacturing, let us not find ourselves constrained by a skills deficit that we can more intently start addressing today,” added Netshitenzhe. SECURITY OF PGM SUPPLY This year, the science agents of the United States department of interior placed PGMs among commodities critical to its economy and national security and flagged supply risks as an area requiring attention. A few months ago, when the Shanghai platinum and precious metals centre was initiated, companies were encouraged to secure long-term PGM supplies. As such, given South Africa’s large PGM endowments, the country had a responsibility to ensure security of supply, which would, Netshitenzhe said, require social compacting between mining companies, workers and communities. HYDROGEN SOCIETY ROADMAP Higher Education Minister Dr Blade Nzimande, who led a delegation to ...
Mine development company Orion Minerals has achieved a vital funding milestone in very difficult market circumstances, S2 Research’s Simon Hudson-Peacock states in an analysis of the convertible loan of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and a valuation update. Orion’s Prieska copper/zinc mine is now firmly on its way towards commercial production in the Northern Cape following the R250-million IDC kickstart in exchange for what S2 Research estimates is an effective 16.5% economic interest in the mine. Facilities are now in place for the advancement of both the Prieska copper/zinc mine project and the Okiep project, which is also in the Northern Cape. The Prieska mine is funded beyond the early works bankable feasibility study (BFS) and dewatering programme. S2 Research describes the valuation of Orion as remaining robust at reduced commodity prices and calculates the valuation per Orion share at current market commodity prices and exchange rates to be 132 cents per share (cps), compared with the current share price of the ASX- and JSE-listed company of 21 cps. “I am very surprised that the market did not react more favourably to this news,” Hudson-Peacock said in an email to Mining Weekly amid Prieska copper/zinc being largely funded and further dilution for this project being limited. “The financing risk has been substantially reduced, a keystone investment partner locked in and progress towards commercial production can now ramp up,” he added. NORTHERN CAPE The Northern Cape is a major mining investment opportunity and there is a lot more to come in the province from a mining development point of view. South Africa has the mining skills that can turn the Northern Cape opportunity to positive account, as well as financial institutions that can serve as the cornerstones, such as the IDC and others. At the end of the day, funding mine development projects in the province generates employment and the entire mining value change, which serves as a power catalyst for economic growth and the generation of crucial foreign exchange. Mining value chains entwine themselves around communities so meaningfully that near-mine people become part of mining. The new copper/zinc mine that the IDC is helping to fund in Prieska will create economic activity from which many will benefit. The ambition is to see more than 70% of employees of the near-term operation being from the Northern Cape and as many as possible from the local Prieska community. The host community being an agricultural community needs to be reskilled and retrained, which takes time. Orion, headed by CEO Errol Smart, will be running many training programmes over the next five to six years because the company wants to employ good, stable local people not only as core employees but effective development partners. As a 5% shareholder of the Prieska copper/zinc mine, the community will benefit from the IDC funding paying for that 5% participation as well as what is a win-win development. PROSPECTIVITY GALORE Prieska copper/zinc is being developed on one of the world’s biggest volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) ore deposits of its kind and it is open in every direction. There is a VMS resource of 30.49-million tons at 1.2% copper and 3.7% zinc and a reserve of 14.5-million tons at 1.1% copper and 3.2% zinc. An updated BFS completed in May 2020 showed a 2.4-year payback period from first production and an all-in sustaining margin of 47%. Orion has stopped drilling because it has enough ore for 12 years. It has done the geophysics which show that there is 50% more than that, and it remains open. So, this is a long-life operation and that is what makes it so particularly special. It has already endured for 20 years and will probably endure for another 20 years. What it does is create a development hub and only 65 km to the north of the Prieska mine, Orion has the fantastic Jacobmynspan nickel/cobalt/platinum project under development that is lining up to be really excitin...
The quality of mine water discharge has improved significantly over the last decade, and research suggests that government could consider a transition away from current, active acid mine drainage (AMD) treatments, to a more passive approach. Council for Geoscience (CGS) environmental geosciences senior scientist Dr Godfrey Madzivire, speaking at the 2022 CGS Summit, explained that AMD is currently treated using High-Density Sludge (HDS) treatment plants, which are costly and energy intensive. Moreover, as the HDS plants are powered by coal-fired power stations, the current solution is, in essence, “shifting the burden from the hydrosphere to the atmosphere”. In his presentation on ‘Natural processes in pollution attenuation: case study for a long-term solution to mine water management in the Witwatersrand goldfields', he explained that AMD is characterised by two types of acidity – vestigial acidity and juvenile acidity. In an earlier presentation, CGS water and the environment specialist scientist Dr Henk Coetzee explained that vestigial acidity is generated by the initial flushing of solid oxidation products, that is, the soluble salts formed when pyrite is oxidised, which are “flushed out” as the water level rises. Vestigial acidity has high salinity and is of very poor quality, but is short-lived. Juvenile acidity, meanwhile, is the newly generated acidity, which is less contaminated and its rate of generation slows substantially after initial flooding. Madzivire explained that vestigial acidity is depleted after 20 to 40 years, while juvenile acidity continues “in perpetuity”. He stated that current AMD treatment methods resulted from the Inter-Ministerial Recommendations Committee Report, published in 2010, which used a model developed by the Department of Water and Sanitation, which “did not consider natural attenuation”. He commented that, when mining activity ceases and the water is allowed to rise – as the pumps that maintain the water level are shut off – the highly toxic “first flush” occurs, with the quality of the mine water discharge improving thereafter. He noted that the inter-Ministerial recommendations were based on results compiled between 2002 and 2010, during the first flush stage for a significant number of mines, and as a result the water had very high sulphate concentrations and pH values as low as 2. However, as early as 2010, the mine water pH had improved to between 5.5. and 6, and over the last decade, sulphate concentration in the mine discharge has declined by 30%, while iron concentration has declined by 50%. Given these improvements, Madzivire suggested that a shift toward more sustainable water management solutions in the Wits basin should be pursued, outlining scenarios for long-term mine water management such as completely flooding the mine void; using water to dilute vestigial pollution or passive treatment also known as natural attenuation. He cited preliminary results from the East Rand AMD treatment facilities, noting that when water is discharged from the mines, it has a sulphate concentration of 1 500 mg/l. “Just after, when it mixes with the water in the Blesbok, the concentration declines to 300 mg/l. We still need to explore if this is because of the dilution, or natural attenuation. As the water flows towards the Vaal River system, additional natural processes occur, and the sulphate concentration drops further to 200 mg/l, which is better than the recommended rate for potable water.” He commented that it is uncertain if entities can continually use HDS to treat the water in the mine void, and while the ideal solution is dilution, the dilution source can also be highly polluted, and the likelihood of experiencing “ideal” conditions is slim. As such, passive methods, in conjunction with controlled flooding, are the most feasible for longer-term mine water management. CONTROLLED FLOODING Coetzee, in his presentation on ‘Flooding of the Witwatersrand gold mines: the influence of to...
Geoscientists could have a hand in shaping the geopolitical future of African countries, said Tullow Oil and The Metals Company nonexecutive director Sheila Khama, who is also a former CEO of De Beers Botswana, and a former policy extractives adviser at the World Bank. During her keynote address on Day 2 of the 2022 Council for Geoscience Summit, she noted that “the geopolitics of decarbonisation is on the centre stage”, and those in the field of geosciences will play a pivotal role in advancing the extraction of the minerals needed for the energy transition. “When I think of the role of geoscience in sustainable development, one of the things I think we very rarely [consider] as countries is why we want to exploit certain minerals and at what pace. This is often left to private companies who are looking at return on investment, not at the intergenerational value, or intergenerational access. “I sense that much more can be done to help government engage with the private sector and reach some kind of consensus on the rate of extraction, the timing of extraction, and the volume of [minerals] extracted, to ensure that the resources can serve intergenerational economic development. And I think no one is better placed than geoscientists to be able to assist with that kind of information.” She explained that those in geoscience disciplines must set themselves in the public discourse and empower the public by providing knowledge and influencing progressive thinking. “At the moment, there are numerous discussions on the notion of critical minerals. I sense that most people don’t have a clue what critical minerals are and why a mineral becomes critical. A lot of people do not understand that the criticality of minerals is very time specific; it's very technology specific; it's very demand specific, and it can change.” She suggested that helping the public understand the terminology popping up in the mainstream could be very important in framing conversations around mineral extraction, the circular economy, emerging decarbonisation technologies and mining’s economic significance. “Many people think that we can decarbonise without using minerals. [They] don't appreciate the volume of minerals that must still be extracted before we can meet our current demand, let alone future demand. Most people talk about the circular economy and don't have a clue what that means. [They] speak about recycling, not realising that there aren’t enough minerals today that can be recycled to meet existing demand. “The result of this failure to understand is tension in the public discourse, wherein people think mining is the enemy.” Khama said that it behoves the geoscientific community to be part of “a groundswell of information” that will hopefully lead to the right policies. “Policies are made by politicians who thrive on positive public [opinion].” She stressed that geoscientists should, therefore, try to steer public opinion by actively engaging with and informing the public. Further, she noted that it seems self-defeating, that one of the critical strengths of the region is its mineral potential, and yet, “when African government representatives go into negotiations, you don't see that they're surrounded by scientific expertise, they simply speak off the cuff.” She requested that more research be done on critical minerals, rare earths, and other minerals that are integral to the digital economy, adding that, “we need to move from the general to the specific,” by prioritising activities that advance specific outcomes rather than hoping to attract broad exploration spend. She suggested that geoscientists could also help governments understand that not all deposits speak to large mining companies and could help champion legislation that is specific to juniors and small-scale miners. “Most of the mining laws on the African continent are drafted to regulate large mining companies. This is a flaw. There are countries, for instance, in the Lake District lik...
The country requires that the Council for Geoscience (CGS) occupy a more preeminent role, to bolster the use of geosciences to help address socioeconomic challenges, says Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe. “These challenges include, but are not limited to, energy security, a just energy transition, sustainable food supply, economic growth, climate change, and disaster management that arises from natural phenomena.” The minister, addressing the CGS 2022 Summit on October 25, noted that, given the geosciences' capability to assist with these challenges, the 2010 Amendment of the Geoscience Act empowered the CGS to “review all geotechnical reports and provide appropriate advice to the local authorities in consideration of their infrastructure development programmes”. “It is not the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s CGS. It is the country’s CGS, and as such, I call upon our municipalities to imbue this notion in their by-laws to augment their service delivery programmes to the satisfaction of the people they serve.” He cited the government’s multibillion infrastructure build programme, stating that it will require CGS and the geotechnical community to “play an acute role” in safeguarding the integrity of critical infrastructure investment. “It is essential that infrastructural development be accompanied by sound geotechnical investigations and information. As the national mandated authority in respect of geohazards related to infrastructure development, the CGS should, in future ensure safe development [away from] hazardous ground, by verifying that all necessary steps of the appropriate geotechnical investigations are performed [before] any housing and infrastructure development.” He commented that the CGS is already compiling geotechnical investigation reports on potentially unstable dolomitic areas identified for the construction of Reconstruction and Development Programme houses and will be expected to participate in the government’s infrastructural development programme. Moreover, the CGS will play a technical role in addressing the urgent problems of water ingress and Acid Mine Drainage that have resulted from the negative impacts of the mining industry. It is also investigating the effects of other human activities on our water resources, through both episodic and continuous monitoring and by offering support and recommendations to institutions and other government departments. Mantashe added that the CGS is actively involved in water-related research and the development of local skilled expertise, by collaborating with several institutions. These include the Water Research Commission, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Department of Water Affairs, the Department of Science and Innovation, the Housing Development Agency, and the South African National Research Foundation, as part of its efforts to assist with the “urgent” water-scarcity and water-related challenges affecting the country.
Notwithstanding the recent softening of the diamond market and issues that have affected production at the Cullinan and Finch diamonds mines, Petra Diamonds remains in a strong position, being considerably more resilient through its strengthened balance sheet and the implementation of its operating model, together with ongoing cash generation. Petra CEO Richard Duffy highlighted this before reiterating guidance for the company’s financial year 2023 (FY23) and taking comfort from the underlying fundamental market support as a result of the structural supply deficit, regardless of any short-term volatility relating to prevailing macroeconomic challenges. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) The London Stock Exchange-listed Jersey-headquartered diamond mining and marketing company produced 763 220 carats in the three months to the end of September, when 3 147 731 t were treated, 520 000 carats sold, and $104.3-million worth of revenue generated. At the Williamson diamond mine, in Tanzania, ore processed in the three months to the end of September increased 22% year-on-year. Finsch production was 2% higher than in the last quarter of the 2022 financial year and Cullinan production was down 13% year-on year to 763 220 carats owing to lower grades. Options for a responsible exit at Koffiefontein diamond mine are being explored as the mine approaches the end of its mine plan. This is being done in close consultation with its stakeholders, in particular the workforce. The company has maintained its production guidance for the year, although this will likely be towards the lower end of the range for Cullinan Mine and Finsch, the company stated in a release to Mining Weekly. Lost time injury frequency improved 48% year-on-year, ore processed rose 22%, and gross debt reduced by $143.6-million during the quarter. Cullinan mined and treated 1.1-million tonnes for the quarter and run-of-mine grades at 33.2 cpht were in line with those achieved in the last quarter of FY22. This is attributable to a lower run-of-mine (ROM) grade resulting from the previously announced change in the ore make-up of the C-Cut block cave footprint as the production progresses from south west to north east due to cave maturity with a higher proportion of cave waste. Various options are being considered to mitigate this impact. Finsch tonnes from underground were negatively impacted by a safety stoppage notice and lower tunnel availability on 73 and 75 levels. ROM grade benefitted from enhanced drill, blast and draw controls previously reported on, as well as certain changes effected in the treatment plant. “We continue to benefit from the operational improvements we have made across the business which provide for greater stability and resilience. “We will continue to seek to mitigate the impact of the recent challenges experienced at Cullinan Mine and Finsch and remain confident in our ability to generate cash to fund capex, allow further deleveraging and the payment of dividends,” said Duffy. “While our operations have benefitted from a weaker rand, we continue to closely monitor the current macro-economic uncertainties, particularly the impact of inflation on our cost base, and the impact of sanctions on Russian producers as well as the ongoing implications of Covid on demand in China. “ The backdrop of structural changes to the supply and demand fundamentals in the diamond market remains unchanged and we anticipate it to remain supportive going forward, although we expect some short-term volatility driven largely by the ongoing lockdowns in China,” he added. Petra has extended the closing of its second sales tender for FY23 for a portion of its gem and near gem quality goods as a result of unusual market conditions. These are Duffy’s answers to questions put to him by investors: What do you see as realistic options for Koffiefontein mine as you look to exit? As we announced, we had been through a process in looking at options for us to exit Koffiefonte...
During his keynote address at the Council for Geoscience (CGS) Summit, held at the Durban International Convention Centre from October 25 to 27, Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe expressed his belief that coal could “reinvent itself”, given sufficient investment. Mantashe cited the CGS’s lead role in the pilot carbon capture, utilisation and storage project in Leandra, Mpumalanga. The project, which is expected to become operational in early 2024, will test the feasibility of injecting between 10 000 t to 50 000 t of carbon dioxide a year, to a depth of at least 1 km. He described the project as one that “gives [ . . .] hope that our Just Energy Transition programme can be attained [using] one of our most valuable commodities. One that has provided baseload for the country.” On the subject of coal, he noted that, while the government’s commitment to “international protocol on climate change remains resolute”, the transition from a high- to a low-carbon economy might be achieved with coal as part of the solution, should the hypothesis of clean coal prove viable. He stressed that the energy transition should not hinder electricity access, commenting on the pressure on developing countries to decarbonise, despite their inability to provide access to the vast majority of their citizens. To that end, he suggested that some activists’ calls for the eradication of coal were short-sighted, pointing to the energy challenges in Europe following Russia’s decision to cut gas supply to the region. He noted that South Africa’s coal exports to Europe rose by 720% as a result. He commented that the CGS’s role in the Just Energy Transition (JET) was to ask members to foster a discussion around energy solutions, adding that current engagements were too polarising. In addition to pointing out that South Africa’s future energy mix would incorporate a variety of energy sources, including nuclear as a potential replacement for baseload supply in the longer term, he stated: “As we seek all manner of sources of sustainable energy sources, sources such as geothermal must be considered in South Africa. The preliminary research undertaken by the CGS illuminates this prospect, albeit at early stages. Every effort must be put into confirming the prospects to enrich our energy basket.” The CGS also has a key role in helping South Africa find and extract critical minerals. “Any new technology, any green technology, requires [inputs] that are grown, or mined”, and the CGS acts as a repository of the geological information and data that underpins the mining industry. “We have allocated an additional R500-million to the CGS in the current cycle of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework to accelerate geomapping in support for exploration,” he added, highlighting that the Geoscience Act empowers the CGS to undertake exploration. The Minister stressed that he was expecting the organisation to work with the private sector to re-catalyse exploration activities in the country, in line with current geological potential. “As the world’s economic trajectory demands a new suite of minerals deemed to be critical minerals for lower carbon footprint, there has never been a better time for the geoscience communities to work together and prepare to unravel the possibilities of South Africa as a source of these minerals.” He added that the trend toward modernising geological mapping required a greater need for rapid collection, interpretation, and integration of mapping data and the dissemination of the products to clients and stakeholders in digital formats that were accessible using the Internet. As such, the government has taken a deliberate decision to resource the CGS to embed applications of artificial intelligence in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Mantashe also lauded the CGS for assisting with the problem of illegal mining. “I appreciate the responsiveness of the CGS in speedily developing illegal mining tracker technique using geoscienti...
The board and management team of Gold Fields have unanimously recommended the implementation of the Yamana Gold transaction, Gold Fields chairperson Yunus Suleman stated in a letter to shareholders on Monday. An independent evaluation has estimated Yamana's mineral asset value at between $6-billion and $8-billion, in line with Gold Fields' initial all-share offer of $6.7-billion. “What we are seeing now is an underlying valuation on a fairly conservative basis. It has actually confirmed the value and the upside we can see in addition to that certainly shows that there’s sufficient value and upside value available for both sets of shareholders in the combined company report,” Gold Fields CEO Chris Griffith said during a conference covered by Mining Weekly. “We’re hoping for the outcome to be positive,” added Griffith of the transaction, which Suleman stated has the potential to drive strong near-term cash flow to support prioritising shareholder distributions and internally finance capital spend. The all-share transaction requires the approval of 75% of Gold Fields shareholders, while Yamana needs 66.67% support. A transaction circular has been issued for an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on November 22. Application will be made for the admission of the Gold Fields shares to be issued pursuant to the transaction listing and trading on the main board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, as well as the New York and Toronto stock exchanges. Under consideration for acquisition are: 100% of Jacobina, an operating underground gold mine in Brazil with life-of-mine (LoM) payable production of 5.7-million ounces of gold; a 50% joint venture (JV) interest in Canadian Malartic, an operating opencast and underground gold mine located in Canada with LoM payable gold production of 5.1-million ounces of gold on an attributable basis; 100% of El Peñón, an operating opencast and underground gold and silver mine in Chile with LoM payable production of 1.5-million ounces of gold and 42.9-million ounces of silver; 100% of Minera Florida, an operating underground gold and silver mine, with zinc deposits, in Chile with LoM payable production of 1.7-million ounces of gold and 3.3-million ounces of silver; 100% of Cerro Moro, an operating opencast and underground gold and silver mine in Argentina with LoM payable production of 0.6-million of gold and 28.4-million ounces of silver; A 56% JV interest in MARA project, a copper, gold, silver and molybdenum development-stage project in Argentina with LoM payable production of 1.4-million ounces of gold, 22.1-million ounces of silver, 5 467-million pounds of copper and 150-million ounces of molybdenum on an attributable basis; and 100% of Wasamac project, a development-stage gold project located in Canada with commercial gold production planned for the fourth quarter of 2027, and a LoM payable production of 2.3-million ounces of gold. As at June 30, year-to-date production for the operating assets of Yamana are 97 000 oz of gold from Jacobina; 168 000 oz of gold from Canadian Malartic, on a 50% attributable basis; 88 000 oz of gold and 1 288 000 oz of silver from El Penon; 34 000 oz of gold from Minera Florida; and 56 000 oz of gold and 3 268 000 oz of silver from Cerro Moro. At the general meeting, Gold Fields CEO Chris Griffith will discuss the proposed transaction in which Gold Fields will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares in the share capital of Yamana, in a share-exchange transaction. Gold Fields’ commitments include ongoing delivery of South Deep gold mine in Gauteng and the Salares Norte project in Chile. Yamana assets are described as representing a combination of asset quality, jurisdictional profile, extensive portfolio and growth optionality, environmental, social and governance credentials and alignment to Gold Fields’ core competencies.
The three letters PEM, which flag platinum-using green hydrogen and fuel cell solutions, are written all over the American green hydrogen company Plug, which is accelerating into what is calculated to be advancing towards becoming a potential $10-trillion-a-year sector. Plug’s PEM electrolyser solutions produce carbon-free green hydrogen using renewable electricity and water, and PEM fuel cells are powering the cleanest of clean electrical mobility. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) What began 15 years ago with Plug putting fuel cells into forklift trucks has grown into the provision of green hydrogen fuel, the building of green hydrogen refuelling stations, the provision of after-market service, and recognition of the importance of a green hydrogen ecosystem. While battery electric vehicle mobility has grabbed most of the headlines, green hydrogen solutions are providing emission-free mobility in a growing number of commercial applications. Hydrogen is really the Swiss army knife of the energy transition, Plug CEO Andy Marsh highlighted at the US company’s green hydrogen symposium covered by Mining Weekly. Quoting Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs as hydrogen being on its way towards providing 20% of world energy, Marsh added: “It could be a $10-trillion a year opportunity – huge.” The role of making green hydrogen economical, easy, and ubiquitous was emphasised by Plug chief strategy officer Sanjay Shrestha emphasised, amid US’s new Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 being a gamechanger for green hydrogen generation. The Act provides financial incentives to businesses that improve energy efficiency, cut down on carbon emissions, and develop new forms of energy. What the Act does, said Shrestha, is make green hydrogen economical compared with every single form of grey hydrogen in the market today. Plug is working on a large integrated renewable energy and green hydrogen plants, which will have capacities ranging up to the level of 1 000 t of green hydrogen a day. It is also working with several partners on the proposed construction of a dedicated green hydrogen pipeline as well as long-duration green hydrogen storage. “If you really think about a long-distance dedicated hydrogen pipeline with mega hydrogen sites, you are going to be able to move low-cost renewable energy from the point of generation to the demand centres. “That will help to stabilise the electric grid and then all of a sudden you’ll see hydrogen become a solution that not only decarbonises transportation, or industrial applications, but also our electricity grid as we think about the whole climate solution going forward,” said Shrestha. In 2023, Plug is looking at revenue of about $285-million from its merchant fuel and cryogenic equipment business and expects that revenue to approach close to $4-billion towards 2030. “But here is, I think, the best part. Based on what we’re doing with the build out of our green hydrogen plant, even with some of the existing industrial gas contracts, we are expecting to exit 2023 with an operating break-even performance in our fuel business. That’s been a drag for us for a very long time, but that’s what we believe is going to happen as we exit 2023, and that’s going to be a big shift. “Finally, on the overall numbers, we’re looking at a mid-20% gross margin for our merchant fuel, as well as the cryogenic business in 2023. But that number will be well above 30% beyond that as we continue to bring these plants online,” an upbeat Shrestha added. PRODUCTION TAX CREDITS US production tax credit (PTC) is improving the total cost of ownership for stationary and mobility power to an extent where the demand for green hydrogen is expected to be so much larger than originally envisaged, improving plant payback. Payback of some of Plug’s first plants was eight to 12 years, but with the passing of the PTC for green hydrogen, that payback will improve by at least four to five years, and capital formation undergo major change, along the...
Global demand for platinum group metals (PGMs) is forecast to taper off beyond 2030, despite a robust outlook for increasing automotive sales, according to platinum group metals producer Impala Platinum (Implats) corporate affairs executive Emma Townshend, who addressed a PGMs students colloquium hosted by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, in Pretoria, on October 20. “Legislation is shifting more from focusing on engine-out emissions to decarbonisation, resulting in very strict government policies that are forcing the adoption of electric fleets – and battery electric vehicles don't need PGMs,” she explained. She revealed that Implats’ platinum, palladium and rhodium (3E) PGM demand mix during 2021 leaned 63% towards the automotive sector, with 24% coming from the industrial sector and 12% going into jewellery. Townshend noted that, while the electrification of vehicles globally was expected to have a limited impact on PGMs in the medium term, it posed an existential demand threat beyond 2030 with the envisaged phasing out of internal combustion engines. Electric vehicle numbers are expected to rise from ten-million in 2020 to 100-million in 2030, which makes up about 7% of the global fleet of vehicles. “The path of electrification has created very substantial demand forecasts. However, in our mind, it's creating uncertainty in terms of production plans and the outlook for South African production in the medium term,” she said. She noted that South African PGM producers typically produce about twice as much platinum as palladium. “One of the big trends that's hurt platinum over the past decade is the substitution of diesel for gasoline engines, which is continuing. Diesel market share in Europe has halved over the last five years. “Meanwhile, hybrids, which are electrified, are actually positive for PGM loadings. We estimate PGM loadings are 10% to 15% higher for hybrid engines versus pure combustion engines,” Townshend explained. However, she said that, thanks in part to research and development done in collaboration with diversified mining major Sibanye and German chemicals company BASF, Implats expected to see the switching of palladium with platinum in gasoline engines, which she said would ignite a rerating of the platinum price relative to relative palladium. Townshend noted that, in South Africa, current revenues were being driven by record palladium and rhodium pricing, but the threat of electrification means that those pricing tailwinds are going to fade over time. She noted that the existential threat of electrification, the wish to move away from labour-intensive, deep, capital expenditure intensive, conventional assets that perform poorly in terms of environment, social and governance metrics, has meant that capital expenditure from the industry has not accelerated in line with profitability, which has implications for future supply. “Companies are focused on low-risk, low-cost, high-quality defensive production, but that doesn't necessarily give us the price security for the metals with the best demand outlook,” she said. Western Limb life-of-mine is a key potential risk to South Africa’s ability to produce and maintain its role as the driver of PGM markets in the future, Townshend said, noting that market development activities needed to carefully consider the “balancing of the basket”. Townshend noted, however, that the hydrogen economy would play a key role in unlocking future demand for PGMs. “When we look at the medium to longer term, we recognise the role that hydrogen can play in terms of hedging deteriorating automotive production. From a South African perspective, because the industry is nascent and still developing, we have an opportunity to develop with it. “It's a huge opportunity for South Africa to play a leading role in terms of industrial development in the sector, which has meaningful demand implications for platinum, iridium and ruthenium in the future,” she said.
South Africa’s minerals potential is not in doubt, with known geological opportunities in chrome, platinum-group metals, gold, iron-ore, titanium minerals and diamonds, as well as several other minerals regarded as critical for the global energy transition. Nevertheless, there is widespread frustration at the slow pace at which the country is moving to ensure that the framework is in place to allow for a genuine assault on the country’s stated goal of attracting 5% of global exploration expenditure in the near term. Council for Geoscience CEO Mosa Mabuza emphasised the potential to turn South Africa into a minerals “exploration site” during a webinar held by Minerals Council South Africa last month. Reiterating the 5% target, Mabuza highlighted the potential still available, even in the well-known Witwatersrand basin, following a council review of old boreholes, which yielded new information about the basin’s ongoing potential. He also highlighted Aggeneys, in the Northern Cape, as having potential for the economic exploration of a sedimentary exhalative, or sedex, deposit. “The world is moving towards renewable- energy sources and the nature of these energy sources is that they are minerals intensive. We should have already begun to look at these critical metals required, and organised ourselves – as a country – to search for these minerals. Exploration is an ecosystem, and there are elements that need to be in place to explore this opportunity.” He also emphasised the presence of a pegmatite belt in the Northern Cape and that the council has geologists working on the belt. “We’ve confirmed that the belt is 67% more than what we originally understood it to be. We published the map sheets covering the pegmatite area in March. We’ve immediately seen an increase in prospecting rights applications in that area. Pegmatites are lithium- bearing. This gives a sense of value creation, and the correlation between investing in geosciences and how this information translates into economic activities.” The council has persistently championed the importance of investing in geology, particularly after it had been directed in 1994 to pursue commercial projects to safeguard its continued existence. “Now we’ve secured funding. We’ve reorganised our programmes as we have an idea of the areas we believe are hot spots. We took an integrated, multidisciplinary approach. We look at physical mapping, we analyse geochemistry and we look at various forms of geophysics and surveys that study structural geology.” Mabuza stated that the council had also started to map offshore prospects, with targets for onshore and offshore mapping set at a scale of 50 000:1. For offshore, the council started at 0%, and aims to achieve 0.5% coverage within the exclusive economic zone by the end of the year. For onshore, it began at a coverage of about 3% and is aiming to achieve an 11% coverage of particular targeted areas by year-end. The council had also been allocated an additional R500-million for the next financial year to support geomapping for exploration. Meanwhile, the council has identified shortcomings in the current South African regulatory framework for exploration and presented them to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), along with the suggested amendments for removing barriers to entry for exploration companies. “We’ve also launched a data management portal – the first time that the Council for Geoscience has launched a portal to make information available. South African financing institutions have little appetite for exploration funding. The risk is high, but that risk is mitigated when you have ideal geological information, and you have a value proposition that can reduce that risk.” Speaking at the Joburg Indaba earlier this month, Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter described South Africa’s geological prospectivity as “fantastic”. This is despite only 15% of the country’s surface area having been mapped at a high reso...
This week, Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses China becoming the largest market for platinum-using fuel cell electric vehicles, which could spell good news for South Africa; Anglo American and Thyssenkrupp’s memorandum of understanding to decarbonize steelmaking; and Sasol and Freeport Saldanha IDZ's memorandum of understanding.
Sydney- and Johannesburg-listed Orion Minerals has agreed funding terms with South Africa’s State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) involving the advance of R250-million (A$22-million) as a senior secured, convertible debt facility to fund early works at Orion’s project at its flagship copper/zinc mine in the Northern Cape. “This is a huge milestone for all our stakeholders,” an upbeat Orion MD Errol Smart said of the arrangement which will enable predevelopment work to get underway at the fully permitted Prieska copper/zinc mine. The funding is particularly beneficial for the shareholders who have supported the company and the local communities that stand to benefit as this region-enhancing new mining project comes to life. Orion, Agama Exploration and Mining Proprietary Limited – the wholly owned Agama subsidiary of Orion – and Prieska Copper Zinc Mine Pty – a majority-owned subsidiary of Orion – reached the non-binding term sheet accord, the proceeds from which will be applied to mine dewatering and trial mining operations to complete the mine’s previously announced early production plan to bankable feasibility accuracy. The R250-million IDC funding package satisfies a key condition to the previously announced A$10-million Triple Flag early funding arrangement to support predevelopment, Orion stated in a release to Mining Weekly. The combined predevelopment funding from the IDC and Triple Flag, now totals more than R350-million (A$32-million). This will allow the commencement of dewatering at 500 m3 per hour from the Prieska underground mine workings. “It will also provide funding for us to carry demonstration trial mining on the +105 crown pillar and selected remnant pillars available above the current water level,” added Smart. Orion has now securing the IDC as project partner at Prieska and at its Okiep project hub, which is also in the Northern Cape. IDC support has been pivotal to Orion’s efforts to unlock what the company described as high-quality base metal assets. The trial mining phase and revised bankable feasibility study are expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2023, allowing project financing to proceed to supplement the $80-million Triple Flag stream financing announced in May 2022. The R250-million sets the mine on its way to the facilitation the final investment decision for mine development, for which dewatering is critical in that it provides access to the main orebody. As the dewatering progresses, additional pillars will be exposed. Orion and IDC anticipate executing the definitive agreements for the convertible loan before year-end, with the funding expected to be available for drawdown late this year. Dewatering is well advanced, with underground storage dams and pump site construction completed and the shaft platform installed to facilitate pump installation.
In what is a major plus for platinum demand and consequently South Africa’s local mining economy, China is poised to become a leading market for platinum-using fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), which provide the zero-emission mobility that the world so desperately needs to combat rampant climate change. In addition, China’s plans to boost climate-friendly green hydrogen generation are also supportive of FCEV penetration. Just launched in China is the first mass-produced passenger FCEV – the Changan Shenlan SL03 – which follows heavy-duty FCEVs being deployed in significant numbers. In 2019, China had about seven-million heavy-duty trucks – or one-third of the world’s 20-million heavy-duty trucks. The Asian giant is also at the forefront of the FCEV bus market, its 5 290 FCEV bus fleet giving it a global share of close to 94%; statistics of the International Energy Agency Advanced Fuel Cells Technology Collaboration Programme show that, at the end of 2020, there were 5 648 FCEV buses globally. Also highly supportive of FCEV growth is further expansion of China’s new energy vehicle (NEV) industry under the country’s 2060 carbon neutral directive. Based on Bloomberg New Energy Finance predictions, by 2040, half of the world’s heavy-duty trucks will be powered by clean energy. Recent World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) research indicates that it is just a matter of time before demand for platinum from FCEVs equals the current level of platinum automotive demand, which is forecast to be over 3 000 000 oz this year. FCEV platinum demand, under WPIC’s ‘commercially-enhanced’ scenario, could exceed 3 000 000 oz as early as 2033, should effective government policies and initiatives spur on the growth of the FCEV market, with production and infrastructure critical mass resulting in economies of scale sufficient to promote widespread FCEV adoption on the grounds of costs and practicable usability. Under a more conservative policy-only based scenario, platinum FCEV demand would equal current automotive demand a little later, by 2039. According to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers statistics, 8 922 FCEVs were registered in 2021. Recent plans under the NEV Industry Development Plan and NEV Technology Roadmap 2.0 will help to stimulate the market for FCEVs further. By 2035, the market share of NEVs in China is expected to exceed 50%, with the number of FCEVs reaching around one-million units, WPIC stated in a release to Mining Weekly. GREEN HYDROGEN Green hydrogen production capacity additions in China comprise 36% of all planned projects globally. These additions support the roll-out of infrastructure such as hydrogen refuelling stations that are needed to make FCEVs a viable consumer option. Green hydrogen generation requires electrolysers and the platinum-based PEM electrolysers used are showing steady market penetration. China, which has taken an ambitious stance on hydrogen refuelling stations growth compared with other countries, is targeting 1 000 hydrogen stations by 2030 – an objective that is likely to be met well in advance of that date. In comparison, the next most ambitious targets are South Korea, at 310 hydrogen stations by 2022, and Germany, aiming for 400 hydrogen stations by 2023. At a local level, more than 20 regions of China have so far issued phased plans for the promotion of FCEV deployment, with Shanghai, for example, recently proposing a 2023 target of 100 hydrogen refuelling stations, 100 billion yuan of industry output, and 10 000 FCEVs deployed. NEW WPIC RESEARCH DIRECTOR With former research director Trevor Raymond now WPIC CEO, Edward Sterck has been appointed as new WPIC director of research from November 1.
Anglo American has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with longstanding customer Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG to collaborate on developing new pathways for the decarbonisation of steelmaking. This follows Anglo signing of an MoU with Japan-headquartered Nippon Steel in July to develop solutions for lower-carbon steelmaking and optimise the premium lump ore it produces at Kumba Iron Ore. As a supplier of high-quality iron-ore to the steelmaking industry, the London- and Johannesburg-listed Anglo is helping to shape a greener future for steel, the backbone of global infrastructure. In its Climate Change report of October 2021, Anglo recognised the steel value chain as being key to Scope 3 emissions reduction. As the steel sector advances its efforts to transition from traditionally carbon-intensive production methods to cleaner, more sustainable processes, high quality iron-ore products, such as those supplied by Anglo, are sought-after enablers of low-carbon steel production at scale. The focus with Thyssenkrupp will be on accelerating the development of high-quality feedstock for lower-carbon steel production, using both conventional blast furnace and direct reduction iron (DRI) steelmaking. DRI is recognised as being a less carbon intensive method that requires iron-ore of a particularly high quality. When using green hydrogen as a reducing agent, the DRI process can be made largely carbon-dioxide free. Anglo has developed a close association with green hydrogen, which it plans to generate from electrolysis on its mine sites, using renewable energy sources. At its Mogalakwena platinum group metals mine in South Africa, it is piloting a 500 t green hydrogen truck and intends rolling out this emission-free technology across its other operations in the years to come. With Thyssenkrupp, Anglo is setting out to combine the premium physical and chemical qualities of its minerals with Thyssenkrupp's innovative technology to drive more sustainable operations – “all the while responding to society’s growing expectations for climate-responsible production practices,” Anglo American marketing business CEO Peter Whitcutt stated in a release to Mining Weekly. ThyssenKrupp CTO Dr Arnd Köfler stated: "We want to decarbonise the steel value chain inside and outside our plant boundaries.” Thyssenkrupp manufactures carbon flat steel for a wide range of industries, including automotive, energy generation, appliances and packaging. “We are making our own production low-carbon through a combination of direct reduction plants with innovative melters. In addition, we are working with many partners to make steel low-carbon from A to Z,” Köfler added.
ASX-listed Theta Gold Mines has entered into a non-binding streaming term sheet with Sprott Resources Streaming and Royalty Corporation worth A$110-million, in return for a gold stream on the TGME gold project, in South Africa. Theta said on Wednesday that the TGME stream would be a significant milestone on the path to achieving first gold production at the mine, and would cover some 90% of the TGME gold project’s first stage of $77-million peak funding requirement. The project is expected to deliver Sprott up to 100 000 oz of gold a year over its life-of-mine (LoM), for which Sprott will pay 10% of the gold price per ounce delivered under the stream. Theta has the option to buy back 50% of the stream based on a pre-agreed price, following which Theta will deliver 2% of the ongoing gold production. Prior to the initial gold delivery, Theta will pay, either in cash or shares, 9.5% a year interest to Sprott for the funds advanced. “We are very pleased to announce this significant milestone in our project financing efforts for the construction of the TGME gold project,” said Theta executive chairperson Bill Guy. “The streaming deal is a much more cashflow-friendly style of financing compared to a straight debt finance. It is less risky to a start-up project where the unique repayment mechanism provides the company the flexibility to manage its cashflow as long as the minimum gold delivery requirements are met. “Once the Sprott funding is closed, the company may commit to further upgrading our ore reserve base, as well as to potentially further expand our total mineral resource in order to increase production scale and life-of-mine from the existing Stage 1 definitive feasibility study mine schedule, hence creating ongoing significant value growth for our shareholders.” Guy said that the recently published definitive feasibility study into the TGME project demonstrated robust economics for a horizontal stope underground mining and milling operation with low initial capital cost and high rate of return. The study estimated that the mine would require a capital investment of A$232-mllion, and was based on the initial development of four mines, and has estimated an initial LoM plan of nearly 13 years, at a processing rate of 540 000 t/y. First gold production is targeted for the second quarter of 2024, with the plant expected to produce over 100 000 oz/y by the third year of production. Over the LoM, Theta could recover as much as 1.08-million ounces of gold from the 1.24-million ounces mined. An environmental impact assessment is ongoing with the local authorities and is expected to be completed later this year, along with the final approvals for two water use licences under application.
Surface gold mining company DRDGold on Wednesday reported a 1% quarter-on-quarter increase in gold production to 1 453 kg, on a 1% increase in tonnage throughput. DRDGold’s principal subsidiaries are Ergo, its flagship metallurgical plant located 50 km east of Johannesburg, in Brakpan; and Far West Gold Recoveries, near Carletonville, west of Johannesburg. In an operational update for the three months to the end of September, the Johannesburg- and New York-listed company reported a 4 kg decrease in gold sold to 1 442 kg. This resulted in cash operating costs per kilogram increasing 2% from the previous quarter to R658 530/kg. Cash operating costs per tonne of material processed remained stable at R133/t. All-in sustaining costs per kilogram decreased 14% quarter-on-quarter to R755 201/kg, on a 68% decrease in sustaining capital expenditure. All-in costs per kilogram were a 9%-lower R796 255/kg quarter-on-quarter. Adjusted earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortisation decreased by 19% from the previous quarter to R386.4-million, owing primarily to an insurance claim of R84.7-million recognised in the previous quarter. Cash and cash equivalents decreased by R280.5-million to R2 245.1-million after payment of the final cash dividend of R342.5-million for the year to the end of June. The cash generated during the current quarter will go towards the extended capital expenditure programme for the 12 months to the end of June next year. A favourable position remains for the declaration of an interim cash dividend. As Mining Weekly reported in August, DRDGold has paid consecutive financial year dividends for 15 years, distributing a total of 60c a share in the previous financial year. In the financial year now under way, it intends investing R700-milion, up on the previous financial year's R584.1-million. Ergo and the Knights plant in Germiston comprise what may well be world’s largest gold surface tailings retreatment facility. Together with the milling and pump station at Crown Mines and City Deep – both former plants – these operations treat approximately 1.7-million tonnes a month (t/m). Far West Gold Recoveries, acquired from Sibanye-Stillwater in 2018, increased gold reserves by 90%. The Driefontein plant 2 has a capacity of 600 000 t/m and Driefontein 4 tailings storage facility a capacity of 525 000 t/m.
Integrated energy and chemicals company Sasol, already a seasoned grey hydrogen producer, and Freeport Saldanha Industrial Development Zone on Tuesday announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to facilitate a green hydrogen hub in the Western Cape. In terms of the MOU, the parties agree to collaborate with a view of achieving a bankable and implementable project. The MOU follows Sasol’s agreement with ArcelorMittal South Africa that also takes in the Saldanha green hydrogen hub. Together with the Northern Cape Economic Development Agency, Sasol is also evaluating the proposed port of Boegoebaai for green hydrogen derivative exports. Freeport Saldanha CEO Kaashifah Beukes described Saldanha Bay as having a strong strategic fit with Sasol's ambition to be a leading driver and contributor to the development of South Africa's green hydrogen economy. In addition, Freeport Saldanha has brought together several stakeholders to drive catalytic investments in sustainable industrialisation and product streams, which adds value to Sasol and ArcelorMittal South Africa, the latter intent on becoming the first African green flat steel producer by using green hydrogen to produce direct reduced iron. Meanwhile, South Africa has an opportunity to establish itself as a key player in the global transition to renewable forms of energy. With strong access to solar and wind resources and large industrial activities, the development of green hydrogen – a clean alternative to fossil fuels based on renewable energy – could help drive forward South Africa’s decarbonisation ambitions and serve a range of wider national objectives, Beukes and CSIR researcher Thomas Roos stated in a recent co-authored op-ed to Mining Weekly. Earlier this year, South Africa updated its Hydrogen Society Roadmap, which aims to bring about a carbon neutral society that is economically inclusive and environmentally stable. For industries where electrification isn’t possible, such as steel production, shipping, aviation, chemicals, and cement production, the development of green hydrogen will be essential to ensuring that these industries are sustainable and can continue to contribute to the South African economy for years to come, Beukes and Roos stated. BOEGOEBAAI’S LARGE LAND TRACTS Boegoebaai, situated 60 km north of Port Nolloth, has large tracts of land and globally competitive renewable energy factors and a 24-month study of the strategic potential of the green hydrogen hub has reached the halfway mark. Part of the planning being done is for 9 GW of renewable sun and wind energy to be generated, 400 000 t of green hydrogen a year to be produced, and 6 000 jobs to be created. The initial concession is for a 5 GW electrolyser to be deployed. Green hydrogen – produced by the electrolysis of water where the energy source comes from renewables such as wind or solar – can play a huge part in the transition away from fossil fuels. Yet reducing the cost of green hydrogen production is crucial to accelerating its use as a zero-emission, carbon-free fuel to help achieve net zero goals. The use of platinum group metals (PGMs) by proton exchange membrane (PEM )electrolysers is another important boost for South Africa, which hosts the bulk of the world’s PGMs. The World Platinum Investment Council stated in a release on Tuesday that innovations are demonstrating the potential for a new era of sustainable offshore green hydrogen production to help deliver cost-competitive green hydrogen, by combining wind power with platinum-based PEM)electrolysers to produce green hydrogen in an off-grid solution. This brings together two established technologies; electrolysis – first discovered over three centuries ago –and wind power, with today’s industry the result of developments that occurred in Denmark at the end of the 19th century. Wind power is now one of the fastest-growing renewable energy technologies. Usage is on the rise worldwide, in part because costs are fallin...
LSE- and TSX-listed Endeavour Mining on Monday launched the construction of its Lafigué project on the Fetekro property, in Côte d’Ivoire, following the completion of a robust definitive feasibility study (DFS). The Lafigué mine will produce an average of 203 000 oz/y at an all-in sustaining cost of $871/oz over a 12.8-year mine life. CEO Sebastien de Montessus said in a statement that Lafigué would become a cornerstone mine for Endeavour and that would enhance the group’s geographical diversification. “We are ideally positioned to launch the construction of Lafigué, given our net cash position, the continued strong performance of our operations, and our success in de-risking the Sabadola-Massawa expansion with a significant portion of the capital already committed on-budget. Moreover, we are seeing reduced inflationary pressures and favourable foreign exchange rates compared to earlier in the year,” he said. The DFS estimates upfront capital of $448-million and yielded an aftertax net present value, using a 5% discount, of $477-million and an internal rate or return of 21% with a 4.2 year payback. First production from Lafigué is expected early in the third quarter of 2024. Endeavour executive VP for exploration and growth Patrick Bouisset said that the Lafigué discovery was an example of how the mining company created value. “For a modest exploration investment of $31-million, which represents a discovery cost of $12/oz, we have added a new cornerstone asset to our portfolio. To continue to source our projects organically, we have increased our greenfield exploration efforts, which, over recent months, have resulted in significant success at our Tanda-Iguela property in Côte d’Ivoire, where we expect to publish a maiden resource later this year.”
High on the list of the steps that must be taken to stop South African mining from fading further into sunset mode is free access to geological information from State institutions such as the Council for Geoscience. Next is the provision of a modern, functional, and transparent mineral cadastre system that must include access to historical holdings to ensure transparency of historical and new mineral data. A functioning cadastre system would allow explorers to see what licences are available and speedily facilitate the processing of applications for available licences. In addition, a well-trained and functional Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) is essential to enable the quick turnaround of licence applications and enforcement of the ‘use it or lose it’ principle. A tax advantage to investors in exploration companies is the missing investment spur that must be put in place. A simplified legislative framework must be put in place and kept in place, and access to finance and capital flows must include revision of Johannesburg Stock Exchange requirements for junior exploration and mining. These and many other pointers were provided by successful explorer James Campbell, the CEO of Botswana Diamonds, the London- and Botswana-listed development company that has been able to work with the challenging systems that the South African government has put in place, even though it requires a great deal of work. The absence of a central repository of information for new exploration entrants into South Africa is a large barrier to entry for newcomers, says Campbell, who spoke to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Mining Weekly: The lack of exploration in South Africa is worrying, yet Botswana Diamonds seems to be going great guns in South Africa at Thorny River and Marsfontein. Campbell: We are able to work with the DMRE. We are able to work with the systems that the government has in place, but it does take a great deal of work to get things done. I think what was published last week was that the telephone systems for DMRE don't work. But be that as it may, we just make sure that we have people on the ground to go and visit the DMRE to make sure our licenses progress. But I think what is important to mention is that we're a junior, and juniors go to places which are highly prospective, but are difficult places to work. We've operated across the whole of Africa. I ran a company called West Africa Diamonds in Sierra Leone just after the war there. We go to places and we know and acknowledge that it's hard work to get things done, whether it's the bureaucracy, whether it's the deep sand of the Kalahari in Botswana, whether it's just coming out of a war in Sierra Leone. We see these as opportunities, and that's why we believe South Africa, which has got fantastic infrastructure, although it is crumbling a little bit, is a great place to be because of its high prospectivity. Do you foresee your exploration in South Africa transitioning to mining? We absolutely hope so. We've applied for two mining permits on the Thorny River project already, and we're in the process of applying for a water use licence. We've done considerable geological work, bulk sampling, micro diamond work, drilling, mineral chemistry, and we believe that the kimberlites ,which are east of Marsfontein, and what we call the Thorny River project, are commercial, and there we’ve applied for a mining permit, which is almost a unique form of legislation, when I look at the different regulations throughout Africa. In most of Africa, it's a mining licence or nothing, and a mining permit is designed for small scale miners, and it's a really neat piece of legislation, which allows companies like ours to commercially exploit small deposits over a shorter period of time. In your concluding remarks during a recent presentation, you spoke of the need to be able to access geological information in South Africa at zero cost. How ...
A multi-phased development approach is being adopted at the Karo Platinum project in Zimbabwe, where a 17-year opencast mine is to be built with a timeline to deliver its first ore to mill in July 2024. “In July 2024, we will put the first ore in mill,” Karo Mining Holdings MD Bernard Pryor told a project update presentation covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Land has been allocated for a 300 MW solar plant to serve the project, the 12-month design and construction period for which began on July 1. The updated output is scheduled at 194 000 oz a year, which puts the project in line with Anglo American Platinum’s Unki mine, also on Zimbabwe’s Great Dyke. Total cost to first ore in mill is estimated at $391-million, with $20-million spent to date and with Tharisa able to provide an extra escalation reserve of $26-million should it be needed in today’s volatile world of escalation and inflation. Under the Zimbabwean government, the project, with a total value of $686-million, has a five-year tax holiday. Its internal rate of return is just over 26% and return on investment capital is 30%. The earthworks contracter began clearing the site this week for earthworks terracing to begin in December. “The accelerator is flat to the floor,” was how Pryor described the project’s pace. Orders for ball mills and flotations cells, the two long-lead items, have been placed. The ball mills are on the critical path that defines the 24-month construction period and the advanced flotation cells area expected to lift metal recovery to 82%. Civils contracts will be awarded this month and final negotiations are under way with the selected mining contractor, a mix a South African mining contractor and a local Zimbabwean mining contractor, and “we should execute that in the next few weeks”. In a country described by Pryor as having an exceptional level of education and challenged employment, there has been a nigh hundred-to-one response to the ten senior jobs advertised. “My experience here in Zimbabwe is that the workforce is very capable, educated and has a greats work ethic, which will certainly help us to bring this project in on time and on budget,” Pryor said. A first-phase resource of just under 10-million ounces has a six-element grade of 2.04 g/t. Typically, the reef horizons are between two and three metres thick and Karo will be targeting anywhere between 3 m and 5 m in terms of its mining proposition, Tharisa CEO Phoevos Pouroulis stated. Currently Tharisa plc owns 70% and Leto Settlement the remaining 30% of Karo Mining Holdings plc, which in turn owns Karo Zimbabwe Holdings in joint venture with Generation Minerals, which is the Republic of Zimbabwe’s carried interest in the Karo Platinum project. Pryor described environmental social and governance (ESG) as one of the project’s most important targets, along with International Finance Corporation-compliant performance standards being applied to the mining and concentrator processing plant. “We still have the water supply and the power supply to be approved by the Zimbabwean government. Those are in process, and we see no real issues with them. “In terms of the tailings dam, clearly a subject that is important to all miners, this is a structurally safe dam, rock built not earth or dam built, and it has been independently designed and checked by our consultants,” said Pryor. The community is seen as key, with the two towns within 30 minutes’ drive of the project site earmarked for employee recruitment. “We will prioritise local recruitment so that we can benefit the local communities as much as possible,” Pryor promised. A dedicated social and environmental team of 12 people will ensure that all ESG obligations are met, he added. Government has allocated new land for 12 households to be relocated and the new houses will be built according to laid-down standards in the next six to nine months, with previously absent power and water supply laid on. GREEN E...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses how expanding bulk mineral exports can increase employment to 500 000 direct jobs; South Africa's red tape in issuing a prospecting right; and AngloGold Ashanti's goal to reduce its emissions by 30% by 2030.
The exciting part of the Eva Copper project is the near-term production prospect that it brings with it, says Harmony Gold Mining Company investor relations head Jared Coetzer of the Johannesburg- and New York-listed company’s purchase of the Australian copper project, that comes with 2 100 km2 of exploration land, for a cash consideration of $170-million and up to $60-million in contingent payments. “The project itself is a quick build,” says Coetzer, who was speaking to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) “We understand the risks. We understand what needs to happen. It's 100% owned and operated. We’re in full control of this project”, sold off by Canada’s Copper Mountain, whose president and CEO Gil Clausen highlighted the transaction as demonstrating the value that the Toronto-listed company had developed in Eva since its acquisition of Altona Mining in 2018. The acquisition has brought forward Harmony’s copper story, adding 1.718-billion pounds of copper and 260 000 oz of gold to Harmony’s mineral reserves. Harmony’s existing cash and facilities will see to the $170-million needed now, with the strength of its balance sheet leaving the company in a comfortable net debt to earnings position. “We're very comfortable to pay the cash required for this now, “ says Coetzer, and then cross the capital expenditure (capex) bridge required for project development when it arrives at that point in a few years’ time. Studies conducted by Copper Mountain estimate development capital of $597-million will be required to build Eva Copper. Over the next 12 months, Harmony will be undertaking a detailed review and optimisation of the existing feasibility study. The closing of the transaction, which is expected to take place in the first quarter of next year, is subject to certain customary conditions, including approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board in Australia and Copper Mountain bondholder approval. "Eva Copper lowers our risk profile, providing additional scale and meaningful diversification that positions Harmony for the future," said Harmony CEO Peter Steenkamp in a statement. Harmony has already received approval from the South African Reserve Bank. Timing of the development capital will dovetail with Harmony’s current capital expenditure profile. The peak brownfield expansion, namely Mine Waste Solutions, will be almost complete by the time construction of Eva begins. The construction of Eva will take between two and three years to complete. Ramp-up to full production will be quick, owing to the shallowness of the orebody. Mining Weekly: For many years, Harmony has held on to the still-undeveloped Tier 1 copper/gold Wafi-Golpu project in Papua New Guinea. Why should Harmony now want another undeveloped project on its hands? Coetzer: It's a good question and certainly one that's come up a lot. I think the important thing to understand is that this Australian asset is permitted whereas Wafi-Golpu is not permitted, and that’s been the real Achilles’ heel for us over the last few years, getting the special mining lease in place. One of the big decisions behind the Eva Copper acquisition was the fact that it's in a tier-one jurisdiction, has low operating risk and is permitted. We feel that this really does transform our business. What it does it brings forward the copper gold story. We've been talking about Wafi-Golpu for many years now. It’s the perennial gorilla in the room. We were in Denver a couple of weeks ago, the first question that gets asked is where is Wafi-Golpu and the copper gold story Harmony has been talking about for the last number of years.. It's very important to us and I think it's a great opportunity for us to fast-track that story. The exciting parts with this Eva Copper project is that introduces a producing copper asset well before Wafi-Golpu reaches its peak capex. It dovetails really well between where we are now and where we want to be in a couple of year...
South Africa is on track to achieve a new record low in mining fatalities for the year, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said during the Mine Occupational Health and Safety Tripartite Summit hosted by the Mine Health and Safety Council, in Midrand, on October 13. To date, 38 work-related fatalities have been recorded in the South African mining industry, a significant drop from the 74 recorded last year, Mantashe said. The lowest ever number of fatalities recorded by the South African mining industry in any year was in 2019, when there were 51 fatalities. The industry’s safety performance, however, worsened again in 2020 and 2021 when 60 and 74 fatalities were recorded. Mantashe also warned that there were still two-and-a-half months to go before the end of the year and that much could change during that time. He implored delegates attending the summit to continue striving for zero harm and zero fatalities. The summit is aimed at addressing the bottlenecks that prevent the industry from achieving zero harm and zero fatalities. Mantashe singled out fall-of-ground (FoG) incidents as a longstanding area of significant concern, but he also applauded the lack of incidents in both the gold and platinum group metals (PGMs) mining sectors so far this year. Mining Weekly reported earlier this year that the gold and PGMs mines had achieved zero FoG-related deaths throughout the first half of this year. The mining industry has been paying particular attention to the issue and has been taking steps to do all it can to eliminate FoG-related deaths. The Minerals Council South Africa, the Mandela Mining Precinct and other partners earlier this year also launched an innovation competition aimed at identifying technologies that could help eliminate the risk of FoG-related deaths in the mining sector. Mantashe encouraged continued efforts to eventually eliminate all risk associated with FoG incidents, reiterating that one fatality was a fatality too many. He also commended the 67% reduction in machinery-related fatalities so far this year. Further, Mantashe raised concerns about the safety of South Africa’s tailings storage facilities (TSFs), singling out the Free State as having many more TSFs that were akin to the Jagersfontein tailings facility. He implied that there was a general lack of proper qualifications among those who manage the TSFs, saying these employees were qualified in mining rather than in water management. Organised labour stakeholder advocate Hanlie van Vuuren, meanwhile, called on Mantashe to conduct an urgent and immediate survey of all tailings facilities in the country. “We have a responsibility to improve the image and reputation of the sector and we can do better,” Mantashe agreed. He said it was important to continue pushing for zero harm and zero fatalities because the mining sector was important for South Africa’s economy, and that it needed to grow. He called on delegates to do more exploration and open up more mines to achieve a 12% contribution to [gross domestic product]. He said mining was not dead in South Africa, only that it was no longer focused so heavily on gold mining but on a more diversified portfolio of metals and minerals. Mantashe claimed that mining saved the fiscus during the Covid-19 pandemic, and so it should work hard to not destroy jobs through injuries and fatalities but rather create jobs by ensuring worker safety. Mantashe said relations between all stakeholders were important, and that much of it depended on continued improvement in health and safety. “The protection of workers is critical to ensure that the industry continues to thrive and contribute to the economy,” he said. Mantashe also called for a swift resolution and end to strikes, or to avoid them altogether by working more cooperatively. He said industrial action caused much stress for workers, and that stressed miners who were under pressure suffered lapses in their safety consciousness, which could lead t...
Gold mining company AngloGold Ashanti on Wednesday released a carbon emissions reduction target that aims to achieve a 30% absolute reduction in its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 through a combination of renewable energy projects, fleet electrification and lower-emission power sources. The Johannesburg- and New York-listed company, which has reduced its absolute GHG emissions by more than two-thirds since 2007, is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. The targeted reduction, from a 2021 baseline of 1.4-million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, aims to see emissions from the company’s activities diminish to about one-million tonnes by the end of the decade. When growth projects are factored in, including those in Nevada and Colombia, AngloGold Ashanti is targeting a 46% reduction in emissions by the end of the decade. Scope 1 covers emissions from within the mine site, while Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the purchase of electricity from third-party providers. The capital cost required to achieve these reductions over the coming eight years is anticipated to be about $1.1-billion, of which $350-million will be funded over that period by AngloGold and the remaining $750-million through third-party funding, including from providers of renewable energy infrastructure. The company plans in the coming weeks to initiate a process to secure a green funding facility of $250-million to $300-million to finance its portion of these decarbonisation initiatives across its business. “We have a clear pathway to achieve our target by 2030, when we expect to have lowered our overall emissions by almost a third,” said AngloGold CEO Alberto Calderon in a release to Mining Weekly. “This ensures we continue to do our part in reducing our carbon footprint, while also improving the value of our business,” Calderon added. REDUCTIONS FROM ALL BUSINESS UNITS The targeted reductions incorporate initiatives at each business unit including the introduction of renewable energy, cleaner grid power and partial fleet electrification. Approximately 60% of the planned emissions reductions will come from large renewable energy projects including wind and solar projects at the company’s Australian operations and solar-power plants at both Siguiri in Guinea and the Iduapriem and Obuasi operations in Ghana. In addition, a prefeasibility study has commenced at the Cuiaba mine in Brazil to confirm the benefits of replacing some mobile fleet with battery electric vehicles (BEVs). AngloGold will also be working with Sandvik to trial underground mining’s largest-capacity BEV truck at Sunrise Dam. The viability of a wind farm at Cerro Vanguardia in Argentina is also being investigated. The vast majority of these projects are expected to be net present value-positive adding value to its business by reducing energy costs and improving energy security. Two ‘clean grid’ initiatives are already close to completion – a switch from diesel generation at the Geita mine site in Tanzania to the country’s national power grid, which has a high proportion of power sourced from gas and renewables, and the transition to full hydro-grid power in Brazil. DECARBONISATION STARTED IN 2008 AngloGold’s decarbonisation journey started in 2008 when the company set a long-term target to reduce emissions intensity by 30% from its 2007 base. By 2021 it had achieved a 47% reduction in emissions intensity, through some fuel switching and efficiency improvements but also owing to the closure and divestment of assets. Last year AngloGold Ashanti’s board approved a new climate change strategy and the company published its inaugural Climate Change Report in line with the guidelines and recommendation of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures. The company’s 2030 targets are embedded in a Roadmap to Net Zero which focuses on all sources of energy-related emissions, both at the company’s mine sites and from its electric power providers. As an...
Energy transition company Shell has established a nine-member consortium to create electrification solutions for mining sites. The electrification offers a shift away from reliance on diesel. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Coming together with Shell to introduce the mining electrification of off-road vehicles – with the pilot offering including ultrafast charging complemented with renewable electricity generation on-site or through the grid – are Skeleton, Microvast, Stäubli, Carnegie Robotics, Heliox, Spirae, Alliance Automation and Worley. For hard-to-abate sectors like mining, Shell described the initiative as being critical owing to mobile equipment comprising up to 50% of mining’s carbon dioxide emissions. By 2030, it is estimated that a battery-electric haulage truck will lower total cost of ownership, involve 20% lower maintenance costs, and incur 40% lower fuel costs than existing diesel trucks, Shell stated in a release to Mining Weekly. “It is increasingly clear that no one single organisation can solve decarbonisation alone,” said Shell VP sectoral decarbonisation and innovation Grischa Sauerberg. “The need for a collaborative effort is particularly evident within carbon-intensive industries like mining, where the challenges are great but the opportunities are even greater. “To overcome these challenges and unlock these opportunities, Shell is helping to bring together some of the sector’s most innovative companies – with electrification proving an important first step towards the shaping of a clear decarbonisation pathway,” Sauerberg added. The mining electrification solutions for off-road vehicles consist of: power provisioning and microgrids; ultrafast charging taking approximately 90 seconds; and in-vehicle energy storage through a combination of advanced battery and capacitor technologies. “The challenge of decarbonisation is immense, but not impossible – providing collaboration and innovation go hand in hand at all times. Both of which were on show during the recent Charge On Innovation Challenge, which saw the Shell-led consortium of equipment manufacturers, technology partners, industry experts and Shell Energy – our in-house supplier of renewable power – push the boundaries of what is possible for hard-to-abate sectors like mining. Our winning solutions are proof of how, together, the industry can help power progress by realising the full potential of the technologies available to us – whether that is through electrification, digital tools or low-carbon fuels,” said Sauerberg.
Platinum group metals (PGMs) and chrome co-producer Tharisa, which on Tuesday reported considerably higher production in the 12 months to September 30, has achieved seven fatality-free years. “We continue to strive to be a zero-harm company,” said Tharisa CEO Phoevos Pouroulis. Production increased across the board at the flagship Tharisa mine, with improved recoveries at the Vulcan plant. The Johannesburg- and London-listed Tharisa, in its financial year (FY) 2022, produced 13.6% more PGMs totalling 179 200 oz and 5.1% more chrome totalling 1 582 700 t. The company’s PGMs basket price in the 12 months was 16.6% down at $2 564/oz but the annual metallurgical grade chrome price 35.7% up at $209/t. A cash balance of $143.4-million and positive net cash position of $78.6-million is reported ahead of ground breaking at the Karo Platinum growth project in Zimbabwe in December, with inaugural production expected within the next 24 months. In FY2023, six-element PGMs production is forecast at between 175 000 oz and 185 000 oz and chrome concentrates production at 1.75-million tons to 1.85-million tons. Pouroulis described FY2022 as being a rewarding year operationally that would translate to a strong set of financial results. “This operational performance is built on key decisions we made some years ago with the goal of accelerating our growth strategy,” Pouroulis stated in a release to Mining Weekly. Although PGM prices were trading in the lower half of their 12-month range, Tharisa described them as not retreating as much as anticipated. The company saw demand-supply fundamentals, particularly for palladium and rhodium, remaining in deficit, and platinum being in deficit within the next 18 months. It noted that primary supply from South Africa was slowing, owing to a lack of development, rising costs and electricity curtailments, which was affecting deep level mines in particular. “At the same time, the increasing importance of PGMs for the future of the hydrogen economy underpins our conviction that the fundamentals for these precious metals remain strong,” the company added. “Chrome prices were volatile during the quarter where they retreated in line with expectation, mostly due to stainless steel and ferrochrome production curtailments in China. Consequently, port inventory rose slightly, albeit off a very low base. Inflationary cost pressures, supply chain constraints and the Covid policy in China remained key macro issues to the market. Towards the end of the quarter, increased demand stimulated a higher price environment as production of steel and alloy normalised. “Policy announcements from the Party Congress on 16 October 2022 in China relating to the relaxation of Covid policies, and more stimulus packages being announced, would bode well for demand of Tharisa’s chrome concentrates. “We believe that supply disruptions will mitigate a price retreat, in the face of pricing risks and slowing economies heading towards a recessionary environment,” the company added.
Expanding bulk mineral exports can increase employment to 500 000 direct jobs, up on the 459 000 of last year. What is generally required is for South Africa to lift its export performance to levels of existing capacity. The reward is R151-billion worth of extra export revenue. As measured by delivered tonnages compared with contracted tonnages, in 2022 the opportunity cost for all bulk minerals – iron-ore, coal, chrome, ferrochrome and manganese – was R50-billion. But this is not opportunity cost, this is opportunity lost, Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter highlighted at the Joburg Indaba, covered by Mining Weekly. Increased taxes from this would be R27-billion. Roughly 19% of every rand earned from exports comes back in tax revenue to the fiscus. Increasing coal to 91-million tons to meet the existing capacity of the Richards Bay Coal Terminal would add an additional R92-billion. Taking iron-ore exports to 67-million tons would add another R33-billion to the export total. Five-billion rand extra would accrue from lifting chrome exports to 15-million tons. The country could get R18-billion more by exporting four-million tons of ferrochrome – and another R3-billion could be obtained from more manganese going to market. It all hinges on getting logistics right through a partnership of State-owned companies and the mining companies themselves. Improved rail and port services are a must because of the major benefits that will accrue. “We need to make sure that in partnership we are focused on improving our performance and how we compete on that international playing field. “We can be a lot more globally competitive and we think this is an opportunity for us,” Baxter emphasised.
Why does it take 354 working days for South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) to issue a prospecting right which Botswana accomplishes in 40 days? Mineral Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter put that rhetorical question to the Joburg Indaba under a broad comment of what South Africa can learn from other countries. “There’s a lot we can learn,” said Baxter. Botswana’s status is expected to be elevated still higher with the imminent launch of a new multi-authentication portal, whereas a leading bidder on the DMRE tender for the supply of a new cadastre has opted to withdraw from the tender because it is unable to understand the drivers of the DMRE’s terms of reference. “We’ve got a lot to do to make sure that we are the best in the world,” said Baxter, who recently returned from Australia, where Australia’s coal and iron-ore models were observed first-hand at a time when coal exports from South Africa have been declining disappointingly as a result of rail issues – and Australia’s have been rising despite China banning the Importation of coal from Australia. Notwithstanding the ban, Australia’s coal export performance has gone from 350-million tons to 395-million tons in five years. “They press the button, they work with government, they invest in the resources, and they get on with the job. Here we sit and talk, and we need to start focusing on doing things that really make a difference in the grand scheme of things,” said Baxter. Before Covid hit, South Africa was exporting more than 70-million tons of coal; this year it will be lucky to hit the 50-million-ton mark, at an opportunity cost of R50-billion. “We need to do something different,” Baxter told the Joburg Indaba covered by Mining Weekly. The capacity of the coal line is 78-million tons and the capacity of the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) is 91-million capacity – and RBCT could be escalated to 110-million tons of export capacity at a capital cost of R1-billion capital and a very short duration of only two months. The public sector is the custodian of the rail line and the private sector owns RBCT, which highlights the State as once again badly trailing business. “So, just imagine if we were exporting 110-million tons, basically more than double our export performance. In my view, I think it’s very achievable, but the question we need to ask ourselves here is how are we going to achieve it,” said Baxter. CHROME, FERROCHROME AND MAPUTO The slide displayed by Baxter on the exports from South Africa of chrome and ferrochrome again showed the need for South Africa to learn from other countries. Illustrated were exports through the Port of Maputo in Mozambique being on a sharp rise and the exports through Richards Bay bulk handing facilities in South Africa being in sharp decline. “I’m not saying Maputo is the nirvana. Maputo is certainly helping,” said Baxter, whereas Richards Bay bulk handing facilities are a major let down. “We need to try and resolve this particular issue and we’ve been in extensive engagement with Transnet,” Baxter added. ALL MANGANESE SHOULD BE RAILED Of the 22-million tons of manganese exported, South Africa is having to transport six-million to seven-million tons by road and railing only 14-million tons to 15-million tons. “We think it should all be on rail because it is much cheaper by rail. Transnet would get much more benefit, and we’d save a lot more on cost,” said Baxter. There is also the question of the rail letdown resulting in heavy damages to road infrastructure owing to the mining industry having to resort to the use of road transport to get manganese to port. “I must tell you, we send a lot of time engaging with the farming community because they don’t like their roads being messed up in some of these areas. “On the rail side, there is no doubt in our view that pushing on the same piece of string is not going to get the answer that we want. We need to start looking at what models work around the world an...
With effect from early 2023, Al Cook has been announced as the new CEO of De Beers Group and current CEO Bruce Cleaver as co-chairperson. This follows Cleaver’s decision to step back after six years to a non-executive role, Anglo American CE and De Beers Group chairperson Duncan Wanblad stated in a release to Mining Weekly. Cook brings more than 25 years of international leadership experience, gained predominantly at BP and Equinor, most recently leading Equinor’s multibillion-dollar global exploration and production business across Africa, the Americas and Europe. He previously led Equinor's global strategy and business development, developing the company’s net zero strategy. Equinor ASA is a Norway-based global energy company. Wanblad described Cook’s multidisciplinary strategic skillset and strong personal conviction and values as being ideally suited to the nature of De Beers, a global business that spans much of the spectrum from exploration and mining to Bond Street and Madison Avenue. Cook expressed deep recognition of the importance of De Beers' approach to responsible mining, most notably in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. “It is our responsibility to work with the industry on continuing to fulfil the true promise of diamonds,” said Cook, who is described as being passionate about bringing enduring economic, social and environmental value to communities throughout his career. The diamond industry in general, and De Beers Group in particular, have a hugely exciting future ahead, said Cleaver, who is looking forward to working closely with Cook and the leadership team. Cook joined Equinor after a 20-year career at BP that spanned a number of corporate, commercial and operational and major project development roles. He holds an MA in Natural Sciences from St John’s College, Cambridge University in the UK, and completed the International Executive Programme at INSEAD, France. He is a trustee of the Power of Nutrition charity, which helps address malnutrition in children across Africa and Asia.
Germany has announced that its new funding commitment of R6.2-billion (€355-million) for South Africa includes funding for the country’s “just transition towards climate neutrality”. The announcement of the two-year funding commitment follows government-to-government negotiations, led on South Africa’s side by the National Treasury, on South African-German development cooperation, which took place on October 5 in Pretoria. Head of the German delegation Birgit Pickel described the Just Energy Transition Partnership, or JETP, which was announced at the COP26 climate negotiation in Glasgow, Scotland, as a “milestone in international cooperation” and underlined Germany’s strong commitment to the partnership. Besides Germany, the JETP includes the European Union, France, the UK and the US, which have offered potential funding of $8.5-billion for an investment plan that is currently the subject of negotiations between South Africa and these developed countries. It is anticipated that the investment plan, which will have a strong electricity focus but will also include green hydrogen and electric vehicle elements, could be signed off at or before the upcoming COP27 climate talks to be held in Egypt in November. Following the recent bilateral talks, South Africa and Germany issued a joint statement that emphasised the importance of the “just” component of the transition to protect livelihoods and the economic base of the coal basin in policy discussions on the JETP. Separately, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen signed a $95-million loan agreement on October 6 for the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), and indicated that its contribution would help drive the overall JETP programmes in “South Africa, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines starting in October 2022”. The CTF is a multilateral trust fund which helps to scale-up low carbon technologies in developing countries. Meanwhile, the joint statement issued by South Africa and Germany also reconfirmed their five bilateral focal areas, including: peaceful and inclusive societies; climate and energy; sustainable economic development; training and employment; and health and pandemics. Besides the emphasis on the JETP, it was announced that South Africa and Germany would further strengthen existing bilateral technical and vocational education and training skills development cooperation, which would be complemented by further initiatives focusing on “pathways from learning to earning”. To strengthen governance and fight the ‘second pandemic’ of gender-based violence, Germany made additional commitments in the areas of violence and crime prevention and to tackle corruption.
The Minerals Council South Africa and the Mandela Mining Precinct plan to announce the finalists of an open innovation challenge – championed by Sibanye-Stillwater and Impala Platinum – to identify high-potential innovations for real-time rock hazard identification and loose rock removal in South African mines. The challenge forms part of the Mandela Mining Precinct’s Advanced Orebody Knowledge programme, which is aimed at providing mine planners, rock engineers, geologists and other decision-makers with information and knowledge that will contribute to optimal extraction and zero harm objectives. It also forms part of the Minerals Council’s Elimination of Fall of Ground (FoG) Fatalities Action Plan, which is a holistic approach that encompasses technical and human elements supported by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, the Mine Health and Safety Council, as well as organised labour and suppliers. The action plan, which was approved in July 2021, includes a financial investment of R46-million over five years. The open innovation challenge, which was first announced on August 12 and which will close on October 12, was an invitation to identify and implement new technology that will enable the development of user-friendly solutions for improving geological confidence at the face, while also making the underground mining environment safer during the removal of loose rocks after blasting and during cleaning before workers enter the area for drilling. The finalists will be announced in early November. The challenge seeks to address a two-fold problem – identifying the rock features that could be potentially hazardous and then safely supporting or removing them. “For falls of ground safety, statistical analysis revealed a lot of accidents happened during the barring process. This is why we needed to search for whatever technologies, instruments and systems are out there that can help remove loose rock in the safest possible way – preferably remotely, without people being exposed,” Minerals Council safety and sustainable development senior policy analyst Lerato Tsele tells Mining Weekly. She explains that the business case for the Minerals Council on this project centered on saving lives, adding that Sibanye-Stillwater and Impala platinum mines have availed themselves to pilot whatever tool or equipment or technology emerges from the challenge. South African underground narrow, tabular gold and platinum mines have the highest FOG risks. Intense fracturing often occurs owing to high stresses encountered at depth and the structural complexity of these orebodies. This fracturing is also exacerbated by the drill-and-blast method that is traditionally practiced in hard-rock narrow reef mines. The combination of faults, joints and shallow-dipping fractures occurring in tabular stopes can compromise the integrity of the hanging wall, resulting in rock mass instabilities. These instabilities, if untreated, may result in hazardous FoGs. This is why they are typically the target of safe-making and support activities during mining. The identification and visualization of geological structures and hazards on the face by mining personnel is typically limited to in-person visual and physical examination and the ability to identify hazards and risks ahead of the face are limited. A new, better leading practice is being sought for frontline workers in hard rock, tabular, underground mining to more accurately identify and visualize hazards relating to rock faults, joints and fractures. Once unstable and unsafe rocks have been identified, it is necessary to support or remove them safely. The method of using a pinch bar to sound the rock to establish its integrity and then using it to remove the rock exposes the worker directly to the hazard, not to mention it being physically demanding. A new tool to safely remove a loose rock from the rock mass in a controlled manner is required to ensure zero harm to those tasked with carrying out m...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer unpacks the latest news coming out of this year’s Joburg Indaba.
The Joburg Indaba heard this week, from Minerals Council South Africa President, that mining’s biggest opportunity lies in helping achieve a net-zero carbon world. Meanwhile, the country’s geological prospectivity is extremely positive according to Minerals Council CEO. The Joburg Indaba also heard that development is the only conversation South Africa should be having.
South Africa-headquartered Harmony Gold is extending its diversification drive, announcing on Thursday that it would buy a copper/gold project in Australia for up to $230-million. The JSE- and NYSE-listed gold miner will buy the Eva Copper project and its 2 100 km2 exploration land from TSX- and ASX-listed Copper Mountain Mining for $170-million in cash and up to $60-million in contingent payments. Eva will add 1.718-billion pounds of copper and 260 000 oz of gold to Harmony’s mineral reserves and extend the company’s diversification into copper, a future-facing metal critical to the energy transition. The project is envisioned to be a conventional openpit operation, which will produce more than 100-million pounds a year of copper production and 14 000 oz/y of gold over a 15-year mine life. “Acquiring Eva Copper is strategically important to our growth journey. It opens a new copper/gold frontier for Harmony within a highly attractive Australian mining area, supplementing our 50% interest in the Tier 1 copper/gold Wafi-Golpu project. "Eva Copper lowers our risk profile, providing additional scale and meaningful diversification that positions Harmony for the future," said Harmony CEO Peter Steenkamp in a statement. Harmony will fund the transaction, which already received approval from the South African Reserve Bank, with existing cash and available debt facilities. Studies conducted by Copper Mountain estimate development capital of $597-million will be required to build Eva Copper. Harmony said that, over the next 12 months, it would undertake a detailed review and optimisation of the existing feasibility study. Timing of the development capital will dovetail with Harmony’s current capital expenditure profile. The peak brownfield expansion, namely Mine Waste Solutions, will be almost complete by the time construction of Eva begins. The construction of Eva will take between two and three years to complete. Ramp-up to full production will be quick, owing to the shallowness of the orebody. Speculation has been rife for months that Copper Mountain, which focuses on its namesake mine in Canada, is planning a project sell-off. In June, it hired Macquarie Capital to evaluate its strategic options. Copper Mountain president and CEO Gil Clausen said that the transaction demonstrated the value that the company had developed in the Eva project since its acquisition of Altona Mining in 2018. The closing of the transaction is subject to certain customary conditions, including approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board in Australia and Copper Mountain bondholder approval. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023.
Development is the only conversation that South Africa should be having, former Anglo America CEO, director and consulting business executive Mark Cutifani said amid strong applause at the Joburg Indaba on Thursday – and mining should be recognised as an industry that can serve as a very effective development catalyst, he added. “We’re the rock on which we can build South Africa. But we need to have tough conversations, we need to be clear and we also need to listen and understand how we play our part,” said Cutifani, who took over the time slot that had been allocated to Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Cutifani said the country should not be scared to talk about the development that mining can bring and should opt for a strong focus on development free of dogma. “South Africa’s miracle of 1994 is proof of what South Africa can do, but development is what we have to engage in. “Forget about the politics and which faction is doing what. Let’s talk about development for this country and the future of this country. That must be the debate and we can be a champion of that debate in this country and across the globe. “I wish people would drop ideology because it’s gone. It’s a new world. There’s no such thing as left, right. The world’s moved on. Let’s think about what we need to do to develop the country, and that should be the focus” Cutifani told the conference covered by Mining Weekly. TRUST NEEDS TO BE RESTORED Corruption, he found, had led to mistrust and trust needed to be restored because tendering had become very difficult because of over control. “If you’re doing a tender with the South African government, it’s the most painful, difficult process I’ve ever seen. “There has to be trust and there has to be a practical process, because it’s not practical at the moment,” he said. “Having seen some of the tenders that have been submitted to Eskom, the people are so painfully making sure everything’s done right, which is great, but it’s slowing things down months. “Eskom has to go through so many hoops, steps and jumps that we don’t have to go through in private enterprise because we build an organisation on the basis of one word – trust. “Even though one can assume that in our organisation at least 5% of the people are going to be dishonest, I refuse to build an organisation around mistrust,” he said. Government processes needed to be streamlined, bureaucracy removed and dishonest people dealt with. Cutifani described the breaking of that nexus as being critical, with business needing to work with government to improve the situation.
South Africa’s geological prospectivity is fantastic with only 15% of the country’s surface area having been mapped at a high resolution of 50 000 to 1 geophysical level. Moreover, the world of geology has changed a lot in the last 20 years. “The people that find the deposits these days are the mathematicians and statisticians who sit in little offices looking at the geological abnormalities using algorithms to do so, and then send the geologists to go and find the deposit,” Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter told the Joburg Indaba on Wednesday. That compared with 20 years ago when it was typically hands-on geologist type work. Baxter displayed slides that highlighted South Africa’s potential geological opportunities in chrome, platinum group metals, gold, iron-ore, titanium minerals and diamonds. On mining in South Africa being a sunset or sunrise industry, he said: “We’ve got an incredibly world-class mining sector, business capability that is hard to deny at a global level, and a committed and patriotic business sector, which really matters for this country, and wants to see South Africa succeed. “We’ve got significant research, development and innovation capacity, a pipeline of skills from world-class educational facilities and in some areas great infrastructure but we’re just not getting our service levels on that infrastructure that we need,” Baxter said. Having recently returned from Australia, he noted that mining engineering was no longer offered at any of the universities in Queensland, compared with South Africa, which had a surplus of mining engineers coming out of universities. But these could not be employed because the country was failing to grow the mining sector at a sufficiently fast pace – “and we should be doing something about that”. Direct engagement with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) on how South Africa can have a world-class cadastral system and exploration plan in place. “We are making progress. It has been a little bit frustrating from the point of view of the pace of the progress, but it’s not due to a lack of effort,” Baxter said, adding in response to a question that he had had a discussion on the setting up of a cadastre with the Mineral Resources Minister’s special advisor, the Deputy Minister and the Deputy DG in charge of policy at the Africa Downunder conference in Perth. “It’s an interesting place to engage your government and there was agreement that we need to get the cadastre sorted out quickly. The Minerals Council’s position remains very clear – buy a new off-the-shelf cadastral system. We’ve got two world-class cadastral system companies that operate in South Africa. You don’t have to develop a brand new bespoke system that will take you three years to get operational “We’re talking about an off-the-shelf system will probably take six months to iron out a few of the edges and get working and you want a transparent cadastral system that gives you all the preconverted geological information. “You also want a licensing system linked to that cadastral system that works on much shorter timelines. Many mining companies tell me they applied two years ago for a prospecting right and I’m still waiting, or they find that the application lost or given to someone else. “When you’ve got full transparency, you can make a lot of progress. But at least the DMRE has admitted that Samrad is dysfunctional. Can we see an off-the-shelf system being procured? That’s something we’re really pushing for from our side,” said Baxter As reported by Mining Weekly last month, while South Africa does not have such a commercially available cadastre, fellow African countries that are already thriving on one include Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique and Zambia. Worse still is that the Proudly South African supplier of the system to these countries has opted to walk away from the DMRE’s ten...
The biggest opportunity mining has as an industry is to help the world to transition to a net-zero carbon world, Minerals Council South Africa president Nolitha Fakude said on Wednesday. Fakude, who is also chairperson of Anglo American's management board in South Africa, highlighted this during her keynote address at the Joburg Indaba, covered by Mining Weekly. “With climate change and the global energy transition well underway, it is many of the metals and minerals which we produce right here in South Africa that are required to support this transition – and our abundant sun and wind resources give us yet another wonderful opportunity to produce and benefit from renewable energy sources,” said Fakude. Minerals Council members have a pipeline of 6.5 GW of sustainable energy projects worth more than R100-billion. “But the question we hear others ask of us remains: will South Africa’s policymakers, and indeed the mining industry, organise themselves enough and in time to really benefit from this enviable position? “If we do, then we truly have the power and potential to be the lighthouse industry for South Africa. “Not only would we catalyse the much-needed growth and socio-economic development that our country so desperately needs, but we would also create a pathway and model for other industries to follow suit while helping South Africa’s own decarbonisation journey as we, together, fight global climate change. “This requires a shift in our thinking and ways of working together, away from who we are to what we must become,” she said. “Many factors are impacting our ability and confidence to invest, which include complex regulatory framework. Policy support, regulatory certainty on energy production and efficient robust state-owned institutions are all essential – and so too is the rule of law, security, and the rooting out of corruption. “It is critical for the government to allow the private sector to participate fully in revitalising the potential of key infrastructure in water, energy, and logistics. Partnerships between the public and private sectors are essential to unlock our full mineral potential to create jobs, wealth, and opportunities for future generations. “Within our locus of control, however, is also the willingness to truly collaborate – bringing together labour, government, business, communities, and civil society to enhance our confidence, support the country's investment prospects and secure a just energy transition,” said Fakude. In this regard, Anglo American and EDF Renewables announced a partnership agreement incorporating joint venture company, Envusa Energy, that will develop a regional renewable energy ecosystem in South Africa. The agreement includes the launch of 600 MW of wind and solar projects as a first step towards generating 3 GW to 5 GW of renewable energy. “The ecosystem also illustrates how mining can serve as a springboard for unlocking national growth and development potential. Across our industry, many other companies are on the same path – signalling a commitment to not only making the energy transition real but just and inclusive as well. “The energy transition is not going to be sustainable or just if we do not invest in advancing the economic inclusion of women and young people. “I believe that as the energy transition gains pace, we as an industry can play a leading role in building a more collaborative and inclusive economy – one that places people and the principle of shared prosperity at the heart of development,” said Fakude.
South Africa’s mining sector will be required to make major investments into alternative and renewable energy sources and energy planning to address the dual challenges of decarbonisation and reliable power supply, PwC said on Tuesday when it launched its SA Mine report, which highlights mining’s sterling 2022 financial performance of distributing R190-billion to shareholders, growing capital expenditure by 36% and paying 14% more in taxes. The statistic that less than 5% of the total energy consumed by South African mining in 2020 was sourced from renewables highlighted the big increase in green energy investment still needed. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) An increased cross-industry capital expenditure commitment boded well for the overall economy, communities, suppliers, labourers and government and was expected to contribute to increased tax and job opportunities. Growing demand for commodities in the sector saw record rand prices for the platinum group metals basket, iron-ore, and coal, while most other South African commodity prices remained at relatively high rand levels. Mining companies had found themselves in a very strong financial position, with debt largely paid and returns to shareholders at record rand levels in many instances. The fiscus had benefited to the extent that it could support ongoing socioeconomic grants during the pandemic. However, with higher costs impacted by lower production levels, near-term margin erosion would impact 2023 performance, PwC cautioned. CLEANER, GREENER MINING With issues of decarbonising as well as sustainable and reliable power supply directly connected to 81.4% of South Africa’s 2021 electricity being coal-fired, investment was required to lower mining’s high volume of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Shown as basic resources on the above graphic, mining in 2020 contributed 7 t out of every 10 t of CO2 emitted amid South Africa committed to decarbonising in line with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. Moreover, Minerals Council South Africa had further endorsed this commitment by setting a net-zero-by-2050 target. The potential to use green electrons to produce green molecules, such as green hydrogen, as is being done by Anglo American at its Mogalakwena platinum group metals mine in Limpopo, also needed highlighting. Investing in sustainable energy would also directly connect companies beneficially to environmental social and governance opportunities, including contributing to the just energy transition through upskilling and community support. Moreover, remaining globally competitive required the inclusion of sustainability and circularity across the entire value chain. Global constraints in supply of green commodities would mean increased prices and investment in supply to enable an aligned just transition pace was needed. “In South Africa, we stand to benefit from the demand growth, but whether South Africa and other resource-rich countries will benefit to the full extent will depend on their ability to address bottlenecks in supply and mine-to-market infrastructure,” PwC Africa Energy, Utilities and Resources Leader Andries Rossouw stated. “There is an obvious need to invest in the right skills, infrastructure, energy, and water, and in general, creating an enabling environment for exploration, mine development, production, and sales. “Realising the full potential benefit of our resources and creating long-term sustainable outcomes will depend on our ability to mine cost competitively and to integrate various value chains profitably,” Rossouw added. ECONOMIC CONTEXT, RECOVERY FROM COVID The South African economy was only 1.4% year-on-year larger in the first half of 2022 as a combination of local and international factors held back the pace of economic growth. These included the international economic and geopolitical fallout of the Ukraine conflict, Covid lockdowns in China, floods in KwaZulu-Natal, and elect...
Diversified mining company Anglo American, in partnership with EDF Renewables, on Tuesday announced an agreement to form a new jointly owned company, Envusa Energy, to develop a regional renewable energy ecosystem in South Africa. The energy ecosystem, which is expected to catalyse economic activity in South Africa's renewable energy sector, supporting the country's broader just energy transition, follows the two companies signing a memorandum of understanding in March to explore the ecosystem's development, which is designed to meet Anglo's operational power requirements in South Africa and support the resilience of the local electricity supply systems and the wider decarbonisation of energy in the country. As part of the agreement, Envusa Energy is launching a mature pipeline of more than 600 MW of wind and solar projects in South Africa – a major first step towards the development of an ecosystem that is expected to generate 3 GW to 5 GW of renewable energy by 2030. This first phase of Envusa Energy's renewables projects is expected to be fully funded – including by attracting debt financing that is typical for high quality energy infrastructure projects – and ready for construction to begin in 2023. Envusa Energy is expected to supply Anglo with a blend of renewable energy generated on its mine sites and renewable energy transmitted via the national grid. This energy portfolio approach will aggregate energy from geographically dispersed renewable generating assets and allocate this energy optimally to meet the load demand for Anglo's sites. "I'm delighted to confirm our groundbreaking partnership with EDF Renewables to form Envusa Energy. This is a significant milestone in Anglo American's global decarbonisation journey and another step forwards for South Africa's clean energy future,” Nolitha Fakude, the chairperson of Anglo American's management board in South Africa, said in a release to Mining Weekly. “We’re making great strides towards our 2040 target of carbon neutral operations, while contributing to South Africa's just energy transition through our responsible approach. We believe that the energy transition presents a fresh opportunity for South Africa and the rest of the region to build a clean and inclusive energy ecosystem that can create significant new economic opportunities. I am very encouraged by our progress – affirming Anglo American's commitment to South Africa's next phase of development towards a low-carbon future," Fakude added. Tristan de Drouas, CEO at EDF Renewables in South Africa, expressed his company’s pleasure at being part of what he described as a very innovative venture. “We look forward to bringing our global expertise in renewable energy infrastructure development, design and delivery to Envusa Energy. “This partnership with Anglo American confirms our long-term perspectives in the country: this 600 MW first tranche of projects will be added to the almost 1 GW that EDF Renewables will be building or operating in the country by 2023 – including 420 MW of wind projects in REIPPPP Bid Window 5, whose PPAs were signed with Eskom and the DMRE on 22 September 2022. “Together, these projects further EDF Group's CAP 2030 strategy, which aims to double our net renewable installed energy capacity worldwide (hydropower included) from 28 GW in 2015 to 60 GW by 2030," De Drouas added. The roll-out of the regional renewable energy ecosystem will also serve as a clean energy source for the production of green hydrogen for Anglo's nuGenTM zero emission haulage solution – a planned fleet of hydrogen-powered ultra-class mine haul trucks – significantly reducing on-site diesel emissions towards a carbon neutral future while also supporting the development of South Africa's Hydrogen Valley.
Up to 1 350 t of green hydrogen can now be generated a year from renewable solar and wind power in the Wunsiedel Energy Park, in Germany. “This is another example of platinum-based production of green hydrogen in Europe that will assist both the replacement of imported natural gas and the earlier use of heavy-duty fuel cell electric vehicles. “It highlights platinum’s crucial role in global decarbonisation that has been significantly boosted by energy security concerns in Europe and decarbonisation funding in the US, as detailed in the recent Inflation Reduction Act,” World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) stated in response to Mining Weekly. Platinum group metals (PGMs) mining companies that make up the membership of the WPIC are Anglo American Platinum, impala Platinum, Northam Platinum, Royal Bafokeng Platinum, Sedibelo Platinum and Tharisa. The green hydrogen in Wunsiedel is generated by an electrolyser – with a total capacity of 8.75 MW – from Siemens Energy’s “Silyzer 300”, which is based on platinum-using proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology. Talks regarding the expansion of the plant’s capacity to 17.5 MW are already under way and by 2030, the European Union is set to be generating ten-million tons of green hydrogen a year. A plus for Southern Africa’s PGMs miners is the description of the PEM technology deployed as being optimally suited for operation with renewable energies. Mining Weekly can report that Southern Africa is itself seen as being an ideal generator of green hydrogen, owing to its superior sun, prime wind, abundant land, hydrogen skills, PGMs, and the need to reduce the regions heavy dependence of fossil fuel power to prevent goods being exported being subjected to punitive climate tariffs in the years ahead. Already doing its rounds at the Mogalakwena PGMs mine in Limpopo is Anglo American Platinum’s huge green hydrogen haul truck. Plans are also being made to extend green hydrogen haulage to all other Anglo American mines. In Wunsiedel, the green hydrogen will be used primarily in the region’s industrial and commercial enterprises, as well as in road transport. With this amount of hydrogen, 400 40-ton hydrogen-powered trucks could – assuming a regional distance of 150 km a day – drive for an entire year without emitting any carbon dioxide (CO2). By using the hydrogen generated in Wunsiedel and the related replacement of fossil fuels, annual CO2 emissions can be cut by up to 13 500 t. As general contractor, Siemens’ Smart Infrastructure is responsible for building the hydrogen plant as well as creating an intelligently monitored and controlled electricity grid. The regional business community – encompassing everything from the glass and ceramics industry to transport companies, automotive suppliers and the neighbouring sawmill – is the green hydrogen user base. The hydrogen will be distributed by truck trailers on a decentralised basis to end customers mainly within a radius of 150 km to 200 km, covering Northern Bavaria, Thuringia, Southern Saxony and Western Bohemia. In addition, the regional fleet of commercial vehicles are earmarked for decarbonisation following the construction of a green hydrogen filling station at the Wunsiedel Energy Park, which is scheduled for completion next year. A paper just published by Anita H.Reksten, Magnus S.Thomassen, Steffen Møller-Holst and Kyrre Sundseth state that the deployment of intermittent renewable energy in recent years, and the subsequent increased need for flexibility for the electric power system, has led to an increased focus on green hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources. They describe hydrogen as not only being a flexible energy carrier with the potential application in many sectors, but also lending itself to long-term storage. In this way, it provides a balance for fluctuating renewable energy sources. Uses include fuel for zero-emission transport, especially in heavy-duty transportation and in the maritime sector, in reduction p...
Following the September 11 collapse of the Jagersfontein tailings dam, in the Free State, in South Africa, mining company CEOs, government Ministers from major mining nations and other key stakeholders have been invited by institutional investors to a Global Tailings Summit to be held in London, in the UK, on January 24, four years to the day since the Brumadinho tailings dam collapsed in Brazil, causing extensive damage to property, the environment and loss of life. “This is another dam collapse that is the legacy of having treated mining waste as an externality. The results are the same as lives are lost, houses destroyed, unknown environmental damage and communities continuing to live with unidentified risks in the shadow of tailings facilities. “If the mining industry is to play the role society needs it to in the low carbon transition then it has a vested interest in ensuring a solution is found to address this legacy,” Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative chair and Church of England Pensions Board chief responsible investment officer Adam Matthews said on September 30. The summit is being convened by global investor initiative the Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative, which is led by the Church of England Pensions Board and the Swedish Public Pension Funds. It is supported by 110 investors with more than $23-trillion in assets under management. The initiative has been instrumental in driving tailings safety concerns across the mining industry. The summit will consider proposals that are being development for a global tailings repository to include locations and ownership details for all tailings facilities, whether under public or private control. “Just after Brumadinho, when we convened a huge number of investors together with companies and global experts, it was astonishing to find that there is no global record of tailings facilities. We didn't know which companies had tailings facilities and what level of risk that each facility had. None of that information was there,” Matthews told Mining Weekly. He explained that the first challenge was to establish a database of all tailings facilities. While many companies, particularly publicly listed companies, were more transparent about their tailings facilities, a large number of facilities owned by private entities remained unaccounted for, obscured by the changing of hands over time and, in some cases, poor record keeping. To uncover all of the tailings facilities that have not been made known through reporting and the collection of documentation, the use of satellite imagery has been explored as a viable way of locating them owing to their uniquely identifiable signature. The second challenge, after compiling a comprehensive repository, was then to establish which of those facilities were at risk so that they could be monitored and/or rehabilitated, if needed. Therefore, a global monitoring system is proposed, which will use satellites, as well as, where available, ground sensors to independently monitor the highest-risk dams, whether publicly or privately owned. “Where there's clear ownership structures, you can address those entities, but where there isn’t clear ownership, or where there are facilities that are in countries where there are challenges in terms of being able to address a high risk tailings facility, it becomes more complicated to deal with,” Matthews explained. For this third challenge, the idea of a global tailings legacy rehabilitation fund has been put on the table to act as a dedicated global fund that can be deployed to address the highest risk and most dangerous orphaned tailings dams where clear owner responsibilities cannot be clearly identified or where there is not sufficient funding to do address the problem. “Creating a rehabilitation fund is the kind of intervention that would enable us to address the highest risk facilities. Where that will be based and where that funding comes from are the issues to be discussed in t...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer talks to us about Council for Geoscience wanting South Africans to rally around exploration as the country’s ‘Big, Hairy, Audacious goal’; the JSE’s new product that is appropriate for fund-raising by junior mining companies; and the world’s first offshore green hydrogen production demonstrator platform which has been positioned offshore of France.
The key objective of transparency in applying for prospecting rights and mining rights – and openly managing them – can be enabled by a commercially available cadastre system. While South Africa does not have such a cadastre, fellow African countries that are already thriving on it include Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique and Zambia. Worse still is that the Proudly South African supplier of the system to these countries has opted to walk away from the South African tender invitation – because it is unable to understand the drivers of the terms of reference that South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has set. A cadastre is ideally an end-to-end solution that not only awards exploration and mining licences but also monitors regulation, tax and royalty collection, and revenue distribution. “Minerals Council South Africa is absolutely adamant that we want a commercially available cadastre system in South Africa, and that message is conveyed to both the DMRE and the Council for Geoscience on an ongoing basis,” Minerals Council South Africa’s Junior and Emerging Miners Desk head Grant Mitchell stated during a junior mining and exploration webinar covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) “We really feel that if we are going to unlock the exploration potential of this country, we need a mining cadastre, along with a flow-through share tax system,” added Mitchell. At the same webinar, Council for Geoscience CEO Mosa Mabuza urged all South Africans to rally around exploration as this country’s Big Hairy Audacious Goal, owing to it being essential for the future of mining, a major national strength. The supplier of the cadastre, Trimble, began its work in Africa as Spatial Dimension nearly two decades ago. “Our first mining cadastre project was in 2003 in Mozambique, a World Bank-funded project and we've got well over 20 customers now using our system to manage their mineral rights in their country,” Trimble Natural Resources MD Bill Feast outlined. Through its efforts, Cameroon has an online cadastre system and one can see who has applied where in Côte d'Ivoire. The DRC has been using its system for well over a decade, and one can do a desktop search on where people are applying in Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Libya and Zambia. One can find these portals on its website, where one can see how easy it is to find out the landholding in any of these countries. “I'm sure most of you know how difficult it is at the DMRE to find out who owns what and where,” said Feast. On the reason for walking away from the DMRE’s cadastre tender put out over a year ago, he said: “We didn't understand the drivers behind their terms of reference.” Trimble is now a few weeks away from going live with the Botswana’s new cadastre system, while the DMRE is still, as far as he understands, debating. “Probably by the end of October, there's going to be a new Botswana portal that you're going to be able to log-in to. It's got multi-factor authentication so you'll be able to log-in securely,” he told webinar attendees. “Once you enter the system, you'll be presented with a dashboard of all the mineral rights allocated to you or the company that you represent. “You'll be able to monitor your obligations, make online payments, upload your work reports, upload your production statistics, see whatever the obligations for that particular exploration or mining right are,” said Feast, who provided screenshots of how to apply for a new licence – yes, by simply clicking on ‘apply’. In this case, a prospecting licence for uranium was the outcome. He then uploaded a shapefile of the area applied for. The tenure could be seen in the background, as well as protected areas and exclusion zones. He digitised a square and one could see that the area applied for overlapped with four restricted areas. He was...
Platinum group metals (PGMs) mining and marketing company Anglo American Platinum has launched a new employee share ownership plan (Esop), which it envisages will be implemented in the fourth quarter of this year. The Esop involves employees receiving Anglo Platinum listed shares to the value of R8 000 each a year, in addition to participation in the evergreen ownership of 2% of Rustenburg Platinum Mines, Anglo Platinum’s operating subsidiary. The estimated total value of the employee share allocations over the life of the scheme is R1.8-billion and the estimated day-one value of the 2% evergreen shares, based on the 30-day volume-weighted average price of the shares as at September 23, is R6.5-billion. The Esop will allow permanent employees, excluding executives and other management who already participate in share incentive schemes, to receive shares, thereby benefitting directly from the company’s performance across its operations in South Africa and Zimbabwe, both through dividends declared and share price appreciation. This is the third Esop for the organisation and will replace the second Esop, which expires this month when the final 2020 allocation vests. Each tranche of the of R8 000 in shares will vest three years after allocation. These shares are either allocated from treasury shares or purchased in the market on an annual basis for the purposes of allocating to qualifying employees under the Esop, at a cash outflow of R170-million a year. Once shares have vested, employees will have the option to sell or retain their shares. As part of the evergreen component, Esop trusts will be established in which an aggregate 2% of the shares of Rustenburg Platinum Mines, and held into perpetuity on behalf of qualifying employees. The purchase of these shares will be funded by the company, and qualifying employees will be entitled to receive dividends as and when Rustenburg Platinum Mines declares a dividend. “Guided by our purpose, to re-imagine mining to improve people’s lives, we are committed to driving shared value creation for all our stakeholders,” Anglo Platinum executive head of human resources Virginia Tyobeka stated in a media release to Mining Weekly. “Every colleague in our business plays a crucial role in mining and processing the metals that enable so much of our everyday lives and a cleaner future for our planet. “As an organisation, we are deeply committed to ensuring that our colleagues can benefit from sustainable livelihoods and are rewarded for the hard work that they do. We will be working hard to ensure that everyone understands how the new scheme will be implemented, and that they are empowered to manage their interest in our company sustainably,” Tyobeka added. Anglo Platinum, a producer of PGMs listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange, has mining, smelting and refining operations South Africa, and the Unki platinum mine and smelter in Zimbabwe.
South Africa’s critical minerals potential is being highlighted in an increasingly promising manner by Orion Minerals, the Sydney- and Johannesburg-listed company that is showing the way in the minerals-endowed Northern Cape. Orion, headed by its Boksburg-born CEO Errol Smart, is poised to bestow on South Africa an integrated and far-reaching value chain of future facing metals production in a province which is crying out for more exploration in the new era of enhanced prospecting technology. With their surfaces barely scratched, Orion's properties have already brought back to the fore the province’s significant historical mining of copper, zinc, lead, gold, silver and tungsten, with notable diggings of lithium, rare earth elements and uranium, along with virgin deposits of nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group elements (PGEs) being identified. The company’s Annual Report 2022 just released shows that the approach being adopted by Orion is one of integration from exploration to market, with the company becoming a new-generation South African mining company focused on the development of advanced green metals projects, local refining of battery metals, and the use of green renewable energy from the Northern Cape's bright sunshine. Orion’s core asset portfolio now includes mining and prospecting rights on the: Prieska copper/zinc project, the flagship development, which is permitted and ‘shovel-ready’; Okiep copper project, with potential for near-term production restart; and Jacomynspan project, a nickel, copper, cobalt, PGEs, and gold pursuit, with potential to produce advanced battery precursor products. For the Prieska project, funding of $87-million is being negotiated with Triple Flag to support an early production scenario, which includes potentially bringing forward concentrate production and phased dewatering. For the Okiep copper project, South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation has signalled its intention to partner Orion in the development of the New Okiep Mining Company subsidiary and the Okiep project. Encouraging results have been received from a successful maiden drilling programme on the Koperberg – Carolusberg line of intrusives, confirming historically reported results and proving shallow mineralisation. Sixteen late-time electromagnetic (EM) targets have been identified from a SkyTEM™ airborne EM survey completed over the Okiep project, covering 26 historical copper mines and 150 known copper prospects. A new copper-nickel discovery has been made at the Nous prospect from the first drill-hole completed to test a SkyTEM™ anomaly, with coincident magnetic and EM anomalies. Targets are now being plotted for follow-up drilling. At Jacomynspan, the battery refining agreement – which is poised to bring sought-after value addition to the Northern Cape mining business – has been signed with Stratega Metals, embracing the development of a specialist refining facility, using Strategi’s licensed refining know-how. Presenting a major beneficiation value uplift is metal vapour refining technology that is used to produce battery precursor metal and nano powders used in the electronics industry. Negotiations to acquire the remaining interests in the Jacomynspan nickel/copper/PGEs project were extended to provide additional time for the owners to discuss a potential expanded and revised transaction, whereby additional prospective Southern African nickel projects may be combined with Jacomynspan. The Prieska project, 270 km southwest of Kimberley, is in a district that has access to well-established local and regional infrastructure. Prieska’s development will be uplifted by the Okiep project, with the two projects positioned to turn Orion into a diversified base metals miner. Orion’s main activity is exploration, evaluation and development of base metals in the Areachap Belt, and as such it does not have a source of income, and is reliant on debt and equity raisings to fund its activities. During the reporting...
Green hydrogen and fuel cells will be a very important part of any future energy system, says Switzerland-based energy and sustainability consultancy strategist Dr David Hart. Among the electrolysers that convert renewable electricity into green hydrogen are proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers, with PEM fuel cells then converting the green hydrogen back into green electricity for mobility and stationary power. Both technologies are reliant on platinum group metals (PGMs), which are sourced overwhelmingly from South Africa. Hart, who was speaking to Engineering News & Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview, leads the green hydrogen and fuel cell work of E4tech, which is part of the 40-country, 160-office ERM Group of Companies. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Without large amounts of hydrogen, it is very hard to see how the world will meet any of its climate targets, says Hart. “We will see companies which are facing almost an existential carbon problem make use of green hydrogen. The steel industry, for example, is one of those where we've already started to see green steelmaking come in – and green steelmaking means more direct electricity, but it also means more hydrogen in the mix,” Hart points out. The latest edition of The Economist reports that Europe is about to get its first new steel mill in nearly half a century in Boden, a Swedish town near the Arctic Circle, where steelmaking start-up H2 Green Steel is on the way to employing 1 800 people in its new mill that will use green hydrogen produced on site by the region’s abundant wind and hydropower endowment. “The project matters far beyond the sparsely populated northern Sweden. The consequences could be momentous for the continent’s producers of steel and other basic materials, such as cement and chemicals,” the London publication adds. Hart includes Africa in the other parts of the world where it makes probable sense to go to green hydrogen very early on. SOUTH KOREA’S LEGAL FRAMEWORK By putting green hydrogen into a legal framework, South Korea is the country furthest advanced legislatively, with the East Asian nation also deploying an increasing number of hydrogen-powered mobile and stationary electricity-generating fuel cells. "In general, governments are approaching the hydrogen economy in different ways, and if one talks to the corporations and others in the industry, there is still a bit of grumbling about the sufficiency of the type of regulation that is being put in place – and that’s because regulation has typically been designed for a legacy energy system, which doesn't always fit exactly with a world which is much more about renewable electricity, intermittency, the need for other types of storage, and the need for hydrogen not only for energy, but also for chemicals and for other types of support. “So, there's still work to do in allowing the regulatory frameworks to operate in the best way to support green hydrogen and to support fuel cells, but there's definitely a lot of progress and a lot of interest,” says Hart. Regarding the extent to which global corporations are positioning themselves to best effect in the development of green hydrogen and fuel cell technology, Hart sees a mix of traditional energy companies figuring out how green hydrogen and fuel cells fit into their supply chain, and prominent component manufacturers and start-ups engaging strongly in electrolyser and fuel cell development. There are automotive companies that are looking very hard at becoming electrolyser component producers, rather than producing only internal combustion engines (ICEs) or components for ICEs. Geopolitical circumstances and net-zero requirements are boosting demand, along with insurance advisers and board members pointing out the need to include green hydrogen and fuel cells to meet net-zero commitments. Regarding renewables, he says: “The nice thing that we have seen in the past is that all of the forecasts about the rollout of renewables hav...
The recapitalisation plan that Australia-based Firefinch unveiled last week to put its Morila gold mine, in Mali, back on track has hit a speed bump. The ASX-listed company on Monday cancelled its proposed placement, citing recent downward movements in the US dollar gold price and the Australian dollar/US dollar exchange rate, In a statement, Firefinch said its board of directors had determined it not appropriate to complete the proposed placement, which formed part of a broader recapitalisation package. The recapitalisation includes a proposed A$90-million capital raise, a new agreement with mining services contractor MEIM to convert $23.4-million of outstanding debt into new shares in the company, reducing outstanding debts and strengthening the balance sheet by negotiating settlements with other trade creditors for the conversion of at least $4.89-million of outstanding debt into new shares, and a non-underwritten share purchase plan to raise a further A$10-million.The company says it is now in consultation with the joint lead managers to the placement to consider alternative funding options. Firefinch will be undertaking further assessment of its funding requirements to successfully execute its medium-term production plan. The recapitalisation package will have provided the miner with the funds necessary to continue the Morila production ramp up under the company’s Stage 1 and Stage 2 production plan through to 2024. Firefinch last week set a production target of 180 000 oz for the 18-month period to March 2024, based on the current mineral resources at Morila. The new mid-term production plan envisages a target production rate of 30 000 oz of gold per quarter on average for the 18-month period via the processing of 4.17-million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.54 g/t gold and at a rate of 700 000 t a quarter. The all-in sustaining cost over the 18-month period is forecast to be between $1 425/oz and $1 475/oz. The project is anticipated to be cashflow positive in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Gold recovery company Goldplat, which is listed on London’s Aim, on Monday announced the appointment of Gerard Kisbey-Green – a nonexecutive director and former CEO – as nonexecutive chairperson of the company. He is succeeding Matthew Robinson, who in May announced his intention to resign as a director of the company. Goldplat also announced the appointment of gold analyst Gerard Kemp as a nonexecutive director with immediate effect. After these changes, the board would comprise five directors, four of whom were non-executive and two of whom were considered to be independent. Kisbey-Green has been a director of Goldplat for more than seven years, in an executive and subsequently a non-executive capacity. CEO Werner Klingenberg, who in 2019 succeeded Kisbey-Green as CEO, said he was delighted to have Kisbey-Green be appointed chairperson. “I believe he is well placed, having been a director of Goldplat for more than seven years, in executive and non-executive roles, to guide the board on our current trajectory. He has significant industry and corporate experience and is well suited to guide the board of directors.” Commenting on Kemp’s appointment, Klingenberg said that the 68-year old investment banker would be an “extremely valuable addition” to the board. “He [Kemp] is still active in industry in an advisory role, and will bring to Goldplat his wealth of experience in both investment banking, dealmaking and as an operator in mining businesses.” Before founding M Squared Resources, Kemp held various positions in investment banking and the mining industry, including the CEO of Kaouat Iron and the head of the Pamodzi Resources Investment Fund, where he founded Rand Uranium. He also served as director of business development at Rand Merchant Bank, where he spearheaded a number of South Africa's largest black economic empowerment transactions. He also served as head of investment banking at BoE Merchant Bank and as head of equities research at BoE Securities where he was twice rated South Africa's top gold analyst. Kemp spent 22 years in Anglo American's gold division, as a surveyor and as a mineral economist. Klingenberg also extended his thanks to Robinson for his many years of support, efforts and leadership provided to the board of directors and Goldplat, specifically during a period of strategic change.
South Africans have been urged to rally around exploration as this country's Big Hairy Audacious Goal – a BHAG – so that what is described as "our lowest hanging economic fruit" can be turned to positive account. Council for Geoscience CEO Mosa Mabuza, who was speaking in support of the junior mining sector during a webinar presented by Minerals Council South Africa’s Junior and Emerging Miners Desk, said: “We’ve been given a very important task. In fact, Parliament has set a BHAG for us.” (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Chaired by Minerals Council South Africa’s Junior and Emerging Miners Desk head Grant Mitchell, the webinar’s panellists and speakers included Orion Minerals and junior desk chairperson Errol Smart, Industrial Development Corporation mining industry champion Kevin Hodges, South African Diamond Producers Organisation (Sadpo) CEO Yamkela Makupula, Trimble Natural Resources MD Bill Feast, Lethabo Exploration CEO Mandy Malebe, ChromTech CEO Jono Gay, and JSE origination and deals head Sam Mokorosi. Pronounced ‘bee hag’, Mabuza recalled how the BHAG banner had in years gone by been waved with vigour by former De Beers Group MD Gary Ralfe, on his way to successfully implementing some of the most far-reaching advances of the then South Africa-centred global diamond business. Another massive national BHAG rally is required once again, he emphasised, to attract “in the short term” a minimum of 5% of global exploration expenditure a year. Urgently needed, he harangued, was for "all stakeholders to have their hands on deck, so that we can, as a nation, work towards obtaining the desirable outcomes", for what he regards as South Africa's lowest hanging economic fruit. “We have a very rich mining history,” referring to the number of multinational mining corporations that have been founded and built in South Africa before becoming “truly global”. “They started here, and it’s possible to have them again,” Mabuza enthused during the webinar covered by Mining Weekly. But what had to be recognised was that South Africa, after delineating and understanding some of the mineralising systems, relaxed its exploration effort. This had been made apparent by a revisit to some of the old boreholes of, for example, the historic Witwatersrand basin, which had been exceedingly revealing. “We’ve found some incredible information there that may potentially expand the extent of the Wits basin,” Mabuza revealed. RENEWBLE ENERGY AND CRITICAL MINERALS Regarding the huge minerals potential of the Northern Cape, South Africa had “barely scratched the surface”, and had paid scant attention to renewable energy being material intensive. Regarding critical minerals that the world requires for renewable energy generation, he said: “We should have started yesterday to organise ourselves as a country to begin the search for these minerals”. Owing to exploration being an ecosystem, building blocks needed to be put in place to unleash “this wonderful opportunity”. “I’m delighted that we’re having this discussion now, so that we can strengthen and enrich our thinking in respect of re-imagining and recatalysing exploration activities”, which he described as South Africa’s lowest hanging economic fruit. The Junior and Emerging Miners Desk programme of Minerals Council South Africa represents 38 junior and midtier producers as well as exploration/development companies. In addition, the desk works closely with mining associations, particularly Sadpo and the Clay Brick Association. Junior mining and exploration have been identified as key components in developing and driving the overall mining sector. The release of the exploration strategy and implementation plan by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in April spoke to the need for exploration to be increased to 5% of all global exploration dollars within the next five-year period. The Toronto Stock Exchange has 1 600 small-cap mining companies and the Sydney Stock Exchange 600 compared...
The JSE has a new product that is appropriate for fund-raising by junior mining companies, JSE origination and deals head Sam Mokorosi said on Friday. Mokorosi, who was speaking at Minerals Council South Africa’s Junior and Emerging Miners Desk webinar, highlighted the new product against the background of the JSE wanting to reverse the low number of junior mining listings on the exchange, about which it was very concerned. He highlighted the new product in response to an observation of Council for Geosciences CEO Mosa Mabuza that although South African mining’s future was junior, the country had not made it easy for juniors to list on the stock exchange. “It would be incredible if we can begin to see IPOs in our very own JSE that will be led by junior miners, which would also be based on the quality of the asset that we would be able to delineate in the next weeks, months and years,” said Mabuza. With capital formation in the unlisted, private market growing tremendously since the global financial crisis of 2008, many exchanges around the world, including Nasdaq private markets, have moved into helping unlisted companies to raise capital. “We have a focus on the SMME ecosystem and how we as the JSE can assist with capital formation within that world,” said Mokorosi. The new JSE private placements platform currently has 15 companies raising R3-billion worth of capital on it. “We also have investors on the platform, including large institutions like Sanlam, Old Mutual and Momentum, as well as private equity funds, venture capital, BEE investment companies and high net worth investors. “We’ve created this ecosystem that says please come on to JSE private placement for your fund raise if the listing route is not appropriate for you at this stage,” Mokorosi told the webinar covered by Mining Weekly. The process has been designed to be as simple as possible and enable the fund-raise process take place as quickly as possible. “You as a junior miner would come to us, we would understand what you’re looking to raise money for, do all the FICA checks and then put the fund raise on to our platform. “We do have a set-up fee that is somewhere between R20 000 and R100 000, depending on how much you are raising. Within paying that set-up fee, the deal goes live and within two weeks we’ll put you in front of quantified investors that understand your deal,” Mokorosi added. This unlocks an opportunity for the JSE to enter the private equity and debt market in South Africa and across the continent. The Junior and Emerging Miners Desk programme in the Minerals Council represents 38 junior and midtier producers as well as exploration/development companies. In addition, the desk works closely with mining associations, particularly the South African Diamond Producers Organisation (Sadpo) and the Clay Brick Association. Junior mining and exploration have been identified as key components in developing and driving the overall mining sector. The release of the exploration strategy and implementation plan by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in April spoke to the need for exploration to be increased to 5% of all global exploration dollars within the next five-year period. Chaired by Junior and Emerging Miners Desk head Grant Mitchell, webinar panellists and speakers included Orion Minerals and junior desk chairperson Errol Smart, Industrial Development Corporation mining industry champion Kevin Hodges, Sadpo CEO Yamkela Makupula, Trimble natural resource MD Bill Feast, Lethabo Exploration CEO Mandy Malebe, and ChromTech CEO Jono Gay. The Toronto Stock Exchange has 1 600 small-cap mining companies and the Sydney Stock Exchange 600 compared with the JSE’s miniscule sub-ten.
The world’s first offshore green hydrogen production demonstrator platform has been positioned offshore of France. “This is the first time that renewable hydrogen will be produced at sea,” French company Lhyfe stated in a release to Engineering News & Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) The platform, which has capacity to produce up to 400 kg of renewable green hydrogen a day, equivalent to 1 MW of power, is seen as paving the way for a new energy paradigm awaited worldwide. Offshore wind turbines have the potential to allow all countries with a coastline, including South Africa, to access renewable green hydrogen for transport and industry decarbonisation. By 2030-2035, offshore could represent an additional installed capacity of around 3 GW for Lhyfe alone. The electrolyser was supplied and optimised for the exceptional offshore operating conditions by US proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers supplier Plug Power. The platinum-using PEM electrolyser is the first capable of operating on a floating platform. Through this pilot site, Lhyfe will produce the first kilograms of renewable green hydrogen at quay and then sea, operating automatically, in the most extreme conditions. The bar has been set high with the installation of the production unit on a floating platform that is connected to a floating wind turbine. Five-year-old Lhyfe, which already produces and supplies green hydrogen for mobility and industry, is convinced of the central role offshore has to play in renewable green hydrogen production. The listed company inaugurated the world’s first site for the production of hydrogen from onshore wind turbines in September 2021, and is currently preparing to deploy its solutions Europe-wide. The Sealhyfe platform is targeting: performing all stages of hydrogen production at sea, i.e. converting the electrical voltage from the floating wind turbine, pumping, desalinating and purifying seawater, and breaking the water molecules through electrolysis to obtain renewable green hydrogen; managing the effects on the system of the platform’s motion, including list, accelerations, and swinging movements; enduring the environmental stress of premature ageing through corrosion, impacts, and temperature variations; and operating in an isolated environment, fully automatically, without the physical intervention of an operator, except for scheduled maintenance periods which have been optimally integrated from the design phase. To achieve this technological feat, Lhyfe has relied on the Sem-Rev offshore testing site, with the production unit being installed on the Wavegem wave energy platform developed by Geps Techno. At the end of the quayside test phase, the Sealhyfe platform will integrate the Sem-Rev offshore testing area, off the coast of Le Croisic, about 20 km from the coast. The device will then be supplied with electricity by the pioneering floating wind turbine installed within the offshore test site in 2018. Chantiers de l’atlantique has enhanced the resilience of the system to environmental stress, ventilation systems and the electrical architecture of the system, and Geps Techno and Eiffage Energie Systèmes has provided the system’s integration on a platform and the naval architecture of the latte, specifically for the particularly stormy sea conditions of the site. The Port of Saint-Nazaire has facilitated Sealhyfe’s assembly and testing, and Kraken Subsea Solutions has participated in the design of the underwater electrical connection to the renewable marine energies produced on the Sem-Rev platform. A first six-month trial phase is being started at quay, in the Port of Saint-Nazaire, to obtain initial reference measurements and test all of the systems, including desalination and cooling systems, stack behaviour, remote control, energy management, resistance to environmental conditions, etc. At the end of this first stage, Sealhyfe will spend a period of 12 months off the Atlantic coast. It wi...
Member organisation the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) has published a Tailings Reduction Roadmap, which outlines approaches and solutions that it posits are capable of considerably reducing tailings from the mine life cycle, as part of a broader Tailings Innovation Initiative. The initiative brings together a third of the global mining and metals industry to collaborate with technology innovators, including suppliers and academia, to accelerate technology for reducing tailings waste and to explore the potential to eliminate it in the long term. The Tailings Reduction Roadmap sets out short- and long-term technology options. These include mature solutions that can be implemented in the short term, such as coarse particle flotation technology, which enhances the recovery of coarser particles of ore that have traditionally been seen as waste, and solutions with the potential to reduce tailings in more significant quantities, but that will require further development over the next 10 to 15 years, such as higher precision mining and artificial intelligence. Developed through a series of engagements between technology suppliers, innovators and ICMM members, the roadmap offers strategic direction to the mining industry on how to accelerate the development and adoption of technologies to reduce tailings. It addresses technological challenges, such as testing new technology on a different range of ore characteristics, as well as enabling factors, including business case and regulatory requirements, in parallel. ICMM members are already piloting technologies mentioned in the roadmap that match their commodities and site characteristics, so that learnings can be applied to solutions that can be scaled up to benefit the whole industry. “Catastrophic tailings failures in recent years including at South Africa’s Jagersfontein mine just last week have brought into sharp focus the need for urgent action to produce less tailings as we supply the metals and minerals that are critical for the energy transition and sustainable development. “If we continue to use traditional production processes, we run the risk of multiplying tailings waste many times over. There is no easy solution, and we will continue to need tailings storage facilities into the future. “However, this initiative signals our clear intent to act with urgency and purpose to find ways of minimising or potentially eliminating waste at every stage of the mining cycle,” says ICMM CEO Rohitesh Dhawan. “Work has already begun, but if we are to match our ambition, we need to work collaboratively in accelerating the types of breakthroughs that can be adopted widely in any existing or future operations around the world. “Our ambition is that ICMM’s Tailings Reduction Roadmap and wider Tailings Innovation Initiative will help to identify and accelerate opportunities for wider collaboration and serve as a catalyst for advancing more partnerships between industry and technology innovators on piloting these technologies,” Dhawan adds.
The Boegoebaai green hydrogen hub in the Northern Cape can be a strategic project to open Southern Africa’s full green energy potential. A 24-month study of the strategic potential of the hub is within a hair’s breadth of reaching the halfway mark. Part of the planning being done is for 9 GW of renewable sun and wind energy to be generated, 400 000 t of green hydrogen a year to be produced, and 6 000 jobs to be created. The initial concession for 5 GW electrolyser to be deployed. Boegoebaai, situated 60 km north of Port Nolloth, has large tracts of land and globally competitive renewable energy factors. Integrated energy and chemicals company Sasol, a seasoned grey hydrogen campaigner, is evaluating Boegoebaai for green hydrogen derivative exports, together with the Northern Cape Economic Development Agency. “We’re working extremely well, especially with government and the State-owned entities,” Sasol hydrogen programme management head Rilet Davison told this month’s Hydrogen Economy Discussion, covered by Mining Weekly. The associated deep-water port envisaged would be an important greenfield development. The State-owned Transnet National Ports Authority last month invited a request for qualification for the financing, development, and operation of the port and linked rail line infrastructure. Also to be developed will be a special economic zone and other supporting infrastructure. In line with South Africa’s Hydrogen Society Roadmap, Sasol signed a memorandum of agreement with the Northern Cape government in October last year to determine the hub’s economic feasibility. If selected in the spirit of the roadmap, the 5 GW electrolyser will be a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser, which will highlight South Africa’s platinum group metals endowment and serve as a yet another acknowledgement of the superior performance of platinum-using PEM technology. The agile modular project approach being investigated for Boegoebaai envisages first production in 2030, within an ecosystem of partnerships. At last year’s Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium, President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted Boegoebaai as strategic to South Africa, as was done in his State of the Nation addresses. Sasol is drawing up an overall master plan, in parallel to determining what its investment will be. The Boegoebaai project will provide access to export markets and highlight potential regional integration with Namibia, which has major green hydrogen development plans of its own. Already registered as a strategic integrated project (SIP), the green hydrogen hub is awaiting gazetting as a SIP, linked to the renewable economic development zone eight or REDZ8. As lead project integrator, Sasol will need significant partnerships and ecosystem development. “We have done a prefeasibility in which all the potential configurations were assessed, given that we have the optionality of doing either green ammonia or methanol or sustainable aviation fuels, or a combination thereof,” said Davison during her presentation. “We’re currently determining the scale at which we want to invest, what that ramp-up profile will look like, and then the actual masterplan,” she added. Hydrogen is not transported as hydrogen over long distances and a possible carrier of the hydrogen will be green ammonia. “We’re working very closely with ports in Europe and Japan to look at what that green ammonia chain will look like and the infrastructure required, based on the applications at the import location. “Currently it’s not economically feasible to crack the ammonia back to hydrogen use, so we’re doing quite a lot of studies, especially with the Port of Rotterdam, to see how that can be done more cost effectively and on a larger scale,” said Davison. The green transitioning of Sasol’s existing energy and chemicals complex at Secunda, in Mpumalanga, will take place simultaneously, involving a renewable energy programme with many tranches. The feasibility of building a green ...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses Minerals Council South Africa urging more rapid private sector energy participation; Southern Africa needing a collaborative energy approach, much like that of the EU's; and the World Platinum Investment Council’s new CEO seeing much opportunity for global platinum investment as the world looks to decarbonization.
New World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) CEO Trevor Raymond – working closely with WPIC leadership and a wider team – describes as great the opportunity to boost efforts to increase the number of investors globally who are considering allocating to platinum, amid the forceful worldwide build-up of decarbonisation momentum. “Our success will strongly support platinum’s role in global decarbonisation, as investment demand helps bridge any mismatch between demand growth and supply growth,” said Raymond, who has been a core member of the WPIC leadership team since 2014, most recently leading the organisation's global research and investor development functions. Effective from October 1, his appointment follows the decision by CEO Paul Wilson to retire, after founding the council and leading it for eight years. WPIC chairperson Roger Baxter spoke of Raymond and his colleagues David Badham and Weibin Deng being instrumental in WPIC’s success to date, under Wilson’s leadership. Raymond brings 30 years of experience in equity and metals markets. “He’s passionate about WPIC’s mission to embed platinum investment as a key global demand segment,” Baxter stated in a release to Mining Weekly. The mission of WPIC – whose members are Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum, Northam Platinum, Royal Bafokeng Platinum, Sedibelo Platinum and Tharisa – is to stimulate global investor demand for physical platinum through actionable insights and targeted product development. WPIC’s 'Platinum Perspectives' in August highlighted platinum’s role in enabling the achievement of global decarbonisation targets through its use in proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers, which, when powered with renewable energy, generate green hydrogen, a zero-emissions energy carrier that can be used in a range of applications to replace fossil fuels. If solely used to displace the burning of natural gas, green hydrogen generated by platinum-based PEM electrolysers could deliver more than 10% of the global carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction target by 2030, as set out in the Paris Agreement, which lays down that emissions must reduce by an average of 7.6% a year between 2020 and 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 ºC above preindustrial levels, or at least reduce by 2.7% a year to limit global warming to 2 ºC. In 2020, global CO2 totalled 43.2 Gt, which means that, by 2030, CO2 reduction would have to range between 8.2 Gt and 18.7 Gt to mitigate against the warming scenario. With the volume of electrolyser projects currently planned, and assuming the PEM market share of these ranges from 31% to 96%, between 9-million and 29-million tonnes of platinum-enabled green hydrogen could be produced by 2030. Every megawatt of PEM electrolyser capacity – when powered by renewables – can displace 10 000 t of CO2 emissions, assuming a 48.8% load factor and an operating life of 20 years for the electrolyser. In terms of yearly platinum demand, this equates to between 400 000 oz and 1.3-million ounces in 2030, depending on PEM electrolyser market share. CHINA’S PLATINUM CENTRE WPIC, Anglo American and Honeywell are among close to 70 organisations that have signed strategic cooperation agreements with the Lin-Gang Group in support of the Platinum and Precious Metals Centre, which is being established in the Lin-Gang Special Area of Shanghai. The Lin-Gang Group is a State-owned developer of industrial parks. As part of its commitment, WPIC is relocating its Asia Pacific headquarters to the Lin-Gang Special Area, where, from 2023, the annual Shanghai Platinum Week, which it co-sponsors, will take place.
The world’s largest battery-electric truck for underground mining is on its way to becoming commercially available in 2024. Sandvik’s 65 t TH665B machine removes between 1 t and 2 t of carbon dioxide (CO2) a day, along with heat and noise. “When we talk about sustainability and electrifying mining, we focus a lot on what we can reduce, such as CO2 emissions, heat and noise. That's one side of the coin, and that's great. “But what's important to emphasise, too, is that you can also increase a lot of things. Battery-electric machines have more power, which provides the potential to improve performance, speed and tons moved,” Sandvik VP strategy and commercial for the battery and hybrid/electric-vehicles business unit of Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions Jakob Rutqvist highlighted to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) By the end of this year, Sandvik will have three proven battery-electric production units to help satisfy the rapidly increasing demand for decarbonisation – a 4 t loader, 18 t loader and 50 t truck. The 65 t truck will be the next big product launch, amid the company’s overall commitment to provide – by the end of 2025 – an offering covering all the major size classes, with the exception of low-profile machines. “Low profile is one of the potential next steps beyond 2025,” said Rutqvist. The official unveiling of the 65 t battery-electric truck was one of the attractions of this month’s Electra Mining Africa exhibition in Johannesburg, which was attended by more than 30 000 people at a time when major mining companies the world over are going all out to meet their net-zero decarbonisation commitments. The deployment of a full renewables-powered Sandvik loader and truck fleet underground is calculated to cut total mine emissions by around 35%. When engaged in heavy load work on a steep ramp, the 65 t battery-electric truck has a runtime of roughly one-and-a-half hours to two hours. When on level terrain, that runtime can extend to three hours before requiring the battery to be swopped, which takes about five minutes. While one battery is in operation, the other is charging. The low-noise TH665B, which also has collision avoidance and digital prompt systems, is to undergo site acceptance testing at Western Australia’s Sunrise Dam gold mine, beginning early next year. “We're going to put it to very hard use with Barminco and AngloGold Ashanti for the first half of next year. I'm sure we’ll learn a lot, and then we’ll implement some improvements, and maybe some product upgrades, based on what we learn,” said Rutqvist. Sandvik’s first battery-electric entry into Africa will be with the 18 t battery-electric LH518B underground loader at South Africa’s South Deep gold mine, a mechanised operation 50 km southwest of Johannesburg, where a 60 MW solar power development is under way. On the development of the solar farm, Rutqvist said: “I was very impressed when I saw that last week.” The commissioning of the battery-electric loader, already a commercial product, will begin early next year. “We're well prepared, both on the customer side and on Sandvik's side, for a successful introduction of this technology in South Africa,” said Rutqvist. Canada is currently the leading battery-electric market, with Australia, northern Europe and Africa rapidly picking up pace. Mining Weekly: What milestones has Sandvik already achieved when it comes to electrification? Rutqvist: We started a very long time ago. The first electric loader came out the same year I was born, so that's 1982, and the first electric truck came in the late 80s. These were cable electric, connected to the mine grid with a cable. We launched our first automated electric loader in 2009 and then acquired Artisan Vehicle Systems in 2019, which is where I sit right now. This is our R&D hub, battery- and prototype factory for battery-electric vehicles, the big new thing. This year is a milestone because we've secured some very ...
Botswana-listed coal miner Minergy has reported “remarkable growth” in revenue from P193-million in the 2021 financial year, to P425-million in the 2022 financial year. The company achieved the one-million-tonne mark for ore extracted and processed at its Masama coal mine, which is located 60 km northeast of Gaborone, in Botswana, in the year under review. The company started turning a profit in the fourth quarter of the 2022 financial year ended June 30, which sets it on a path for a profitable 2023 financial year. Minergy’s operating loss has narrowed to P74-million, against an operating loss of P85-million posted in the prior financial year, mostly owing to the company breaking even in the last quarter. CEO Morné du Plessis describes the reporting year as “historic” in having a challenging first three quarters, followed by an exceptional turnaround in the fourth quarter. He attributes the company’s pure coal sales growth, which amounted to P297-million, against pure coal sales of P167-million posted in the prior year, to the many European and Eastern countries looking for alternative sources of supply. As a result, Minergy’s high-quality coal became a sought-after commodity. Du Plessis tells Mining Weekly that the cycle of a shortage of energy supplies is poised to continue, particularly if the war in Ukraine persists beyond this year. He believes governments are realising that switching off coal completely is not the way to go if economies are to remain electrified. Du Plessis adds that because many coal mining companies have ceased operations or diversified away from the commodity, it leaves a shortage of coal supply in the market, to which Minergy is well positioned to cater to. Du Plessis explains that the war in Ukraine has led to high coal prices as of end-March, as energy markets have come under severe security of supply pressure. However, he adds that hyperinflationary-like price increases of explosives and diesel had diminished some of the revenue gains made in the year. The regional market, in contrast with the international market, was constrained for most of the year under review, owing to an oversupply of coal. Du Plessis explains that because South Africa’s State-owned freight utility Transnet Freight Rail failed to support many coal dispatches into the export market through its Richards Bay port, many coal suppliers dumped coal into the regional market instead of exporting to the international market. Moreover, the year was also marked by some key events for the company, including a debt restructuring exercise to stabilise the business and the successful commissioning of Stage 4 of Masama’s processing plant, which involves screening and stock handling. The now fully functional plant contributed greatly to a steady production environment. The mine is currently producing at a run-of-mine rate of 125 000 t a month, or 1.5-million tonnes a year, which Minergy aims to sustain in the 2023 financial year. Responding to whether Minergy plans on expanding Masama or venturing into more projects, Du Plessis says the mine’s 390-million-tonne resource will keep it in production for well over 100 years, even at aggressive production rates. Instead, the company will focus on its markets and maximising sales, particularly the seaborne market, which Du Plessis says is now a viable pursuit owing to high prices. Minergy continues to capitalise on viable export opportunities through the ports of Walvis Bay, in Namibia, and Maputo, in Mozambique. “Historically, plant and market factors limited us from operating at optimal capacities, but fortunes have now changed. This turnaround supports the expansion of mining operations to produce additional coal, and the mining fleet has been increased to capitalise on this. “Opportunities to exceed production capacity and the resultant additional saleable production are being pursued,” Du Plessis states. He is positive about the outlook for the coming year and expects the company to becom...
Industry body the Minerals Council South Africa says the industry’s safety performance in August, during which eight fatalities were recorded, making it the worst month of the year, is a red flag that it cannot ignore and demands an immediate, proactive response. In the year to date, the total number of deaths is 36 compared with 36 in the same period in 2021, which is deeply disappointing after the industry’s safety interventions delivered an encouraging performance in the first seven months of the year. During the early months of this year, record safety achievements in fall-of-ground (FoG) and trackless mobile machinery-related fatalities were achieved, it says. "We are fully cognisant of the heartbreak and tragedy that is visited on the families, friends and colleagues of every single person who has died. We affirm our ongoing commitment to the achievement of zero harm in the industry and that our members are proactively addressing the deterioration in safety with all the seriousness and urgency that it deserves," the council emphasises. The Minerals Council convened a special board meeting on September 9 to urgently address an unacceptable regression in the mining industry’s safety performance in August and to implement a range of interventions to ensure safer working environments. "The board meeting was to agree revitalised safety interventions in the sector, as it heads into the final three months of the year, which are historically the period associated with an increasing number of fatalities." While the board members agreed on the need for increased and impactful, visible, felt leadership safety campaigns and mass meetings in the last months of the year, the board emphasises that it was equally important to address the potential impact of Covid-19, mental health and external environmental factors, which include economic pressures, crime in communities and gender-based violence, on the safety of employees in mining operations. "The board members agreed on various actions for the prevention of fatalities in the last months of the year, including ensuring proper planning, supervisory oversight and adequate team resourcing in people, materials and equipment. The Minerals Council will also establish a multi-disciplinary team to explore alternative ways of cleaning broken ore from working areas, as part of the winches proposal." Further, in terms of trackless mobile machinery, the aim is to ensure controls, such as proximity detection systems and/or collision prevention systems, are effective. "While the industry has seen reductions in FoG and transport-related causes of accidents in recent years, a worrying trend has been observed regarding winch-related fatalities in the mining industry," the Minerals Council highlights. On September 15, the Minerals Council hosted the Scraper Winches Day of Learning to share learnings, leading practices and technologies to address the challenges associated with using underground winches that are used to scrape broken ore out of working areas to haul to the surface for processing. "One of the outcomes of the session was the endorsement of the recommendation made by the Minerals Council special board meeting on the establishment of a multi-disciplinary team to explore alternative ways of collecting the broken ore in conventional mines besides scrapers and winches," it notes. Additionally, the actions agreed on by the board also include a recommitment to eight interventions agreed in December 2021, which include increased visible-felt leadership presence at mining operations, and stopping unauthorised and uncontrolled access to old mining areas that are not routinely mined; and to effectively and rigorously conduct risk assessments and implement controls where work in previously mined areas is routinely undertaken. The December commitments also include quality and scheduled maintenance programmes instead of opportunistic and ad hoc maintenance arising from production pressures, and deplo...
A collaborative energy approach, like that of the European Union (EU), is needed in Southern Africa, says Namibia presidential economic adviser James Mnyupe. At least South Africa and Namibia should put together a case that shows seriousness about decarbonising sub Saharan Africa, says Mnyupe, with the two countries looking to share with the world the burden of building the required pipeline and transmission line infrastructure. Mnyupe, who was a panel member at the Hydrogen Economy Discussion, says EU-like collaborative regional and continental approaches are needed in the renewable energy and green hydrogen space. Moderated by Allen & Overy counsel Gillian Niven, the other panel members were EU-South Africa trade policy officer Darryn Allan, International Renewable Energy Agency programme officer policy Emanuele Bianco, and RebelGroup Southern Africa senior consultant Laurens Cloete. Mnyupe says African policy makers need to be aware of the different policy toolbox needed for African countries playing different roles. For example, Namibia is poised to be an exporter of green hydrogen, South Africa perhaps a net importer and others playing a self-sufficient roles. “If you look at Morocco, it may export but it has really large industries that it may need to decarbonise, and South Africa might very well be a good example of that as well. “Depending on what type of country you are, you will need to think strategically about the different pieces of legislation and policy that you would want to be championing. “For example, if you are an exporter like Namibia, you will be thinking very hard about securing offtake agreements with clientele countries,” he highlights. For others, the focus will be on regulating pricing for the use of specific infrastructure, such as pipelines and ports, and the need for some of that infrastructure needing to be common-user infrastructure so that the original builder of the pipeline does not necessarily restrict access to others down the line. From an upstream perspective, there will be a need for collocating assets in a way that makes sense. Namibia, with both good wind and solar in one jurisdiction, will need to ensure that it puts legislation for special economic zones around the generating assets to facilitate industrialisation clusters or a hydrogen valley around the generation assets. Thought needs to be given to the prospect of assembling wind blades close to where the wind turbines will be located to negate the need to transport these large pieces of infrastructure over long distances. “Figure out whether you are a net importer or a net exporter - something that I think is very important from an African perspective as well as beginning to think about inter-regional trade,” he adds. He foresees not only green molecules in the form of green hydrogen and its derivatives being transported around Southern Africa but also green electrons in the form of renewable energy. It could be that South Africa will be importing some of the molecules from Namibia to decarbonise its hard-to-abate sectors. “The one thing I would like to remind all African States to bear in mind is that hydrogen is not purely a molecule play. When you deploy very large renewable energy assets at scale, you will be getting electron connectivity. You could capture some of that, use that to become self-sufficient but possibly to trade electrons as well into the Southern African Power Pool. President Cyril Ramaphosa on 25 July spoke about South Africa possibly needing to consider importing electricity from neighbouring countries that have excess electricity. “If that electricity happens to be good, clean renewable energy that is cheap and affordable, I think that presents a really great opportunity for South Africa and its neighbours, such as Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. That’s what Africans need to start thinking about when looking at the hydrogen opportunity. Both Namibia and South Africa are looking at green hydro...
The Minerals Council South Africa supports President Cyril Ramaphosa’s electricity recovery plan and urges more rapid private sector participation in resolving the country’s deepening electricity crisis. Minerals Council members have 6 500 MW of embedded energy projects in the pipeline which will ease demand pressures on Eskom, giving it the space to conduct much-needed maintenance programmes. The 89 projects by 29 mining companies are worth more than R100-billion. The mining industry’s projects are part of the more than 8 000 MW of energy projects the private sector has planned, taking advantage of the removal of the 100 MW cap on licence-free embedded energy projects by President Ramaphosa in July. The plans outlined to stabilise South Africa’s electricity supplies included, as a primary focus, the stabilisation and normalisation of Eskom, which declared Stage 6 load-shedding on Sunday after multiple plant failures. “It’s critical we get stabilisation in the existing network while we in the private sector do what is necessary to get investment into the next stage of South Africa’s energy chapter by developing alternative additional sources of electricity in the form of renewable energy,” Minerals Council CEO Roger Baxter stated in a release to Mining Weekly. “We know load-shedding will be a risk for the next two years, but we must continue to bring supplemental supply from the private sector on stream as quickly as possible,” Baxter added. There has been progress around the time it takes to register private renewable energy projects and access Eskom’s grid, and in relaxing environmental permitting, but there are still unnecessary bottlenecks that are delaying investments. The Minerals Council and fellow business groups and energy users have raised these with the Presidency and relevant Ministers. Eskom CEO André de Ruyter has said the utility needs up to 6 000 MW of additional electricity supply so its teams can conduct effective maintenance programmes on its fleet of aged power plants. The energy projects in the mining industry are largely for self-use as the sector strives to be a net-zero carbon emitter in line with commitments by its global peers by 2050. The industry has noted Eskom is willing to buy third-party generated electricity as outlined in the President’s energy recovery plans, but at the moment mines are focused on supplying their own needs to take pressure off the national grid. As reported by Mining Weekly, Eskom aims to approach the market imminently with an offer to buy up to 1 000 MW of surplus electricity that it believes could be immediately available from existing independent power producers and large companies with their own generation capacity Mining companies that have opted to self-generate have found the business case to be exceedingly strong. Gold Fields’ South Deep gold mine west of Johannesburg in Gauteng will be generating its own solar power at a mere 8.5% of the cost of power from the national grid. The JSE- and New York-listed company is also optimistic that it will be successful in augmenting the solar power generated with wind power. Gold mining company Pan African Resources, which began with 10 MW, is now targeting another 30 MW. From its pioneering 10 MW endeavour it saved R4-million in its first month of generation. Moreover, the energy transition under way globally presents a fresh opportunity for South Africa to build a clean and inclusive energy ecosystem that can create new and significant economic opportunities for the African continent. This continent, with its vast natural reserves of abundant sun and wind, provides an unmissable opportunity to both decarbonise and create significant new economic sectors – and many in mining have been committed for a long time now to play their role in making that opportunity a reality.
The global forecast for battery electric vehicle (BEV) production has risen by 120% over the past two years, according to research carried out by research and consulting firm SFA (Oxford). SFA (Oxford) senior battery markets analyst Lakshya Gupta, who presented the research findings during a webcast hosted by diversified miner Sibanye-Stillwater on September 14, noted that some of the BEV production appears to be weathering global component supply disruptions better than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle production. “It's a combination of strong consumer demand, with original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs) prioritising electric vehicles (EVs) over ICE cars throughout the recent semiconductor chip shortage,” he said. Globally, the top 15 EV markets experienced about 80% growth in the first half of this year, against a backdrop of a 10% decline in overall car sales. “Basically, the EV market has just become more competitive. OEMs are allocating more and more capital resources to make this trend happen and expanding and bringing forward the timelines. Consumers have more attractive models and more and more models to choose from every year, which is generating demand,” Gupta explained. Another key driving factor behind the EV market success is the “carrot and stick” approach from governments, where subsidies or tax rebates make EVs more competitive than ICE cars in terms of price, he said. LITHIUM One of the most critical metals for the ongoing success of EV production is lithium, Gupta noted. Lithium-ion batteries have the highest potential performance relative to other commercial rechargeable batteries. They also have the highest power density which, for an EV, translates to acceleration and they have the highest energy density, which translates to the range of the car. Lithium is required in BEVs to have acceptable performance, based on consumer expectations from ICE cars. This performance is determined by the composition of cell components. Ions move through the separator during normal operation, between the two electrodes of the cell. Cathode materials are the main driving factor behind the price of EVs. If the cost of the cathodes can be reduced, the cost of EVs will come down, Gupta explained. Although lithium prices may have peaked, they remain at extremely high levels for both lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, he noted. “The lithium market is forecast to move to mounting deficits from next year onwards, but supply from ‘probable’ and ‘low-risk possible’ projects could potentially keep the market balanced through to 2025. Prices are likely to reach a floor in 2024, before starting to rise to incentivise higher-risk projects,” he explained. So far this year, Gupta said, EV sales appeared inelastic to battery metal prices. This could be owing to several factors, including strong demand pull, OEMs not passing on rising production costs, a boost in EV demand as a result of pent-up savings since Covid-19 and the probability that OEMs prioritised EV production during the semiconductor chip shortage. “Nonetheless, our analysis and research in the last few years has shown that lithium is likely to be the bottleneck in meeting aggressive EV projections,” Gupta stated. SIBANYE’S INVOLVEMENT Sibanye has made moves to involve itself in the battery metals market by concluding a series of transactions in 2021. Key among these was the company’s investment in the advanced Keliber lithium hydroxide project, in Finland, aiming to be the first fully integrated European lithium producer with direct access to the European BEV market. Sibanye spokesperson James Wellsted said that, to date, the company had committed €176-million for its 50%+1 shareholding in the Keliber project. The maximum amount to buy out minorities to increase shareholding from 50%+1 to about 80% is estimated at €196-million, which the company aims to complete by October. The Finnish Minerals Group is considering retaining about 20% of the project, while Sib...
From next year, platinum group metals (PGMs) demand in the hydrogen sector will eclipse 100 000 oz for the first time, according to Metal Focus’ Hydrogen Economy Quarterly Service. Catalysed by the global shift to clean energy, the metals will see year-on-year double-digit growth over the next decade, overtaking more established demand sectors, it was stated in a note to Mining Weekly. With hydrogen becoming a key component in the quest for global decarbonisation and a focal point of the automotive industry, the Hydrogen Economy Quarterly Service report assesses the implications for PGMs demand of current market trends, policies and technology. With PGMs and hydrogen joined at the hip, the metals received an additional boost this week when the creation of a new hydrogen bank was announced by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen during the yearly State of the Union speech. In cooperation with the European Investment Bank and using €3-billion as a starting capital, it is calculated that the overall budget for hydrogen can be leveraged up to €20-billion. The new hydrogen bank will purchase ten-million tons of hydrogen that need to be produced to cover the targets of the renewable energy directive that was approved simultaneously by the European Parliament. Moreover, the European Parliament has voted through a key renewable energy directive amendment that eliminates the former restrictive “additionality” requirements, and approved binding targets for renewable hydrogen and its derivatives in industry and transport. Failure of the European Parliament to do so was perceived as risking a “mass exodus” of green hydrogen investors to the US amid the new US hydrogen tax credits that offer subsidies of up to $3/kg for green hydrogen, which requires platinum and iridium PGMs as catalyst electrolyser metals. In welcoming the European Commission’s €3-billion hydrogen facility to spur investment into green hydrogen, Clean Hydrogen Partnership executive director Bart Biebuyck said on LinkedIn: “We need to move from niche market to mass market for hydrogen.” According to a study from Indian/US firm Transparency Market Research, the global green hydrogen market will expand from $2.14-billion last year to $135.73-billion by 2031 – a colossal compound annual growth rate of 51.6%. The study adds that solar energy will be the leading source of power for green hydrogen over the forecast period, with PGMs-using proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology dominating the electrolyser market. “Policymakers are considering green hydrogen as an option in a number of industries as a result of the lofty net-zero objectives set by governments throughout the world,” Ballard Power Systems commented in LinkedIn. Meanwhile, South Africa’s State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) was particularly bullish this week on prospects for green-economy investments, including in renewable energy, battery storage, new energy vehicles, green hydrogen and renewables and battery component manufacturing. About a third of the IDC’s overall 40-project pipeline are green economy projects. The IDC already had renewable-energy generation assets worth R14-billion, mostly developed under government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) and will continue to participate in REIPPPP projects but is also experiencing strong deal flow as a result of recent reforms allowing distributed generation projects below 1 00 MW to proceed without a licence. Government is in the process of lifting that cap entirely. Following the regulatory change to raise the licensing limit for distributed generation projects from 1 MW to 100 MW, SOLA, African Rainbow Energy this week reached financial close on two 100 MW solar projects. “African Rainbow Energy is the largest shareholder in the SOLA Group and the funder of the two projects. “This is a clear demonstration of African Rainbow Energy’s and partners, Absa, DBSA, Nedbank and Standard Bank...
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses Pan African Resources effectively building an underground gold mine at Evander; Menar seeing good prospects for anthracite; and the upcoming Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy conference, which will have a large focus on platinum group metals and its importance in achieving a greener world.
Diversified miner Anglo American has issued its first sustainability-linked bond valued at €745-million. The bond includes performance targets to reduce Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse-gas emissions by 30% by 2030, compared with the 2016 baseline, and freshwater abstraction in scarce areas by 50% by 2030, compared with the 2015 baseline. Anglo has also set a target to support five jobs off site for every job on site by 2030. The bond matures in September 2032. The issuing of the instrument follows Anglo publishing a Sustainability Financing Framework (SFF). Should the group not meet these targets, a higher final coupon payment will be due to the bond investors. The investors will be owed a coupon increase of 40 basis points accruing from September 2031 for each of the selected key performance indicators that did not achieve its target, or if the verification of the target had not been published. Anglo’s SFF has been established in alignment with the Sustainability-linked Bond Principles 2020, which is administered by the Loan Market Association. These are voluntary guidelines that outline best practice for financial instruments to incorporate forward-looking sustainability performance outcomes and promote the development of sustainability-linked bond markets. The SFF of the company covers bonds, loans and other financing instruments, linking the company’s funding requirements to goals set out in its mine plan.
The prospects for anthracite are looking very good, especially in terms of market value and having demand coming from different parts of the world, says Menar MD Vuslat Bayoglu, who was speaking to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Bayoglu reports that many European countries are seeking alternatives to anthracite from Russia, a major anthracite producer, and opportunities are opening up for non-Russian anthracite producers to establish long-term relationships with new markets. South Africa, which produces about three-million tons of anthracite a year, is one of the countries benefiting from access to new lucrative markets. Sixty per cent of South African anthracite is exported from Richards Bay and Durban and 40% is used domestically for sintering, ferroalloys, and electrode paste. Menar, which bought Zululand Anthracite Colliery (ZAC) from mining major Rio Tinto in 2016, is now investing in the development of ZAC’s new Mngeni shaft. ZAC operates an underground narrow-seam operation located in Emakhalathini, about 100 km from Richards Bay in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. ZAC has continued to supply anthracite to Rio Tinto’s Richards Bay Minerals. “For us it’s a good operation, it makes money and we have a very good relationship with the community in the area, so we are very happy to have invested in Zululand Anthracite,” says Bayoglu. ZAC is currently mining from three shafts in five different sections. “The main challenge with ZAC is that the geology is very difficult, it might be the most difficult underground coal mine in South Africa. We have several issues, be it gas or dykes, so production has got lots of challenges. “Hence, we have find ways of increasing production. We decided to put in a new shaft. We called it Mngeni and after a long timeline we got all the approvals. We’ve started clearing the site and we’re hoping to get the first coal out of Mngeni in March/April next year,” says Bayoglu, who adds the company is continuing to explore the area. This will aid in extending the life-of-mine of ZAC still further and, with that, the extension of jobs and social labour plan benefits in an otherwise poor region of the country, where a large community is dependent on ZAC for water. Water from underground is purified and supplied to about 80 000 people. Mining Weekly: What’s your assessment of the global anthracite market? Bayoglu: I think four inter-connected factors will drive the market in the foreseeable future. The first is the race for post-Covid global economic recovery. Major economies – for example, Europe, Asia, China and the United States – are trying hard to avoid a slump and to put their economies at levels better than the pandemic phase. The second is the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine which has triggered Western sanctions against Russia. European anthracite importers that have previously depended on Russia have searched and discovered replacements elsewhere including in South Africa. The third factor is the intrinsic value of anthracite. As a high-premium coal with high carbon content, anthracite is suitable for a variety of industrial applications – from steel to electrode paste manufacturing. According to the World Steel Association, about 89% of a blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace’s energy input comes from anthracite, 7% from electricity, 3% from natural gas, and 1% from other gases and sources. In the case of the electric arc furnace route, the energy input from anthracite accounts for 11%, from electricity 50%, from natural gas 38%, and 1% from other sources. The fourth is possible shortage of coking coal. According to a recently released report by market research company Fortune Business Insights entitled ‘Anthracite Coal Mining Market, 2022-2029’, the global anthracite coal mining market size is set to expand significantly in part due to expectation of global coke shortage. In addition, Macquarie researchers recently projected a deficit for metallurgical coal ...
Midtier Africa-focused gold producer Pan African Resources is effectively building a new internally-funded underground gold mine on two levels of the Evander underground gold mine in Mpumalanga, CEO Cobus Loots said on Wednesday when the company reported record production for the 12 months to June 30 and distributed more than R400-million in dividends. A video flighted at the results presentation described Evander as possibly one of the world’s largest unexploited gold orebodies. The addition of 24 level, and now 25 level and 26 level, has given Evander Mines a life-of-mine of 14 years, with increased expected gold production. The 25/26 level project will be funded by internal cash flows assuming a reasonable gold price environment. “The Evander underground has been a real success story for Pan African in recent years and we look forward to ramping up this operation further in the years ahead,” Loots told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) The underground team, which also delivered an excellent safety performance, produced almost 50 000 oz at the low all-in sustaining cost of $1 100/oz. The 25 and 26 levels project will require two years of fairly elevated capital to execute and then have the benefit of the expenditure for more than ten years. The current low-cost Evander 8 Shaft operation is focused on the mining of the shaft pillar, from which high-grade ounces are extracted. Pan African’s use of underground support packs allows for extraction of the shaft pillar while providing permanent support for the shaft. This allows mining to continue at the lower 24, 25 and 26 levels. This provides access to more than 500 000 oz of gold using infrastructure that is already in place, which allows the company to reap the benefits of sunk capital spent over a decade of mining. Experience gained and the many upgrades already completed at Evander underground have laid the groundwork for further quick-payback life extensions, which is good news for its investors, the surrounding communities and supply-chain companies dependent on the mine. The 24/25 levels project is not only on track to deliver its first production on schedule in 2023 but is paving the way for the provision of 65 000 oz of gold a year for more than eight years – and significantly extends the life of the operation. “What we're doing at Evander underground is very exciting. Evander underground is certainly not without a checkered past. In 2018, we had to press the reset button and basically put the underground on care and maintenance, and we looked at the options and we then commenced with pillar mining on a shaft pillar at 8 Shaft, and that’s been a fantastic success for Pan African. “It’s safe, it's generated great cash flows, and it also has allowed us the opportunity of relooking at the design for 24 to 26 level, and [to] come up with development and execution plans, so that’s what we’re busy with now,” Loots told Mining Weekly. “Two weeks ago, I visited the new fridge plant on 24 level. The F line is ready to be mined on 24 level, and there are a number of improvements. We've changed the layout to an on-reef development layout for 25/26, which means that there'll be very limited waste. “We’re equipping a ventilation shaft that runs up to 17 level to do hoisting, which means you cut out a massive number of conveyors, so that improves your mine call factor and your ability to produce. “You have a new fridge plant and new infrastructure close to the face and then a number of other improvements also in terms of ore storage etc. This will be a great operation for us in the years to come. It’s a world class reserve that we have there. “To top it all off, we obviously have our first solar plant up and running at Elikhulu. It's been a great success for us and we'll expand that solar footprint to also take care of a lot of the underground energy requirements and that's going to also bring down the cost of production,” said Loots. In...
Several organised business formations have outlined six recommendations in a joint position statement on carbon tax, which they argue will improve the carbon tax proposals in the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill and “avert unintended consequences”. Released by the Energy Council of South Africa, Minerals Council South Africa, Business Leadership South Africa, Business Unity South Africa, the South African Petroleum Industry Association and the Energy Intensive Users Group, the joint statement stresses that organised business is supportive of carbon pricing, including the carbon tax, to help decarbonise the economy and facilitate a just transition. However, the statement argues that the “carbon tax should be implemented at a pace and rate aligned to a developing economy that takes into account the challenges in South Africa including low economic growth, energy security and high unemployment”. The organisations recommend that yearly carbon tax increases be based on the prevailing consumer price index plus two per cent structure until at least 2030, rather than implementing the National Treasury’s proposal of increasing the carbon tax rate for the 2023 to 2025 tax periods by a minimum of $1/t carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) and increasing thereafter to $20/tCO2e in 2026 and at least to $30/tCO2e in 2030. During Phase 1 of the implementation period, South Africa’s headline carbon tax base rate was set at R120/tCO2e and, in February, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that the first phase would be extended for three years. He also announced that the carbon tax rate had been increased from R134/t to R144/t, and that the carbon tax rate would be progressively increased every year to reach $20/t by 2026 and $30/t in 2030. “We welcome the extension of Phase 1 and recognise the need to increase the rate of the standalone carbon tax to ensure that South Africa remains protected against border tax adjustments and can attract financing to enable the just transition,” the organised business grouping assert. However, they add that the South African economy cannot accommodate the steepness of the carbon tax rate increase in the proposed timeframe currently envisaged. The organised business formations acknowledge that carbon prices are high in other regions, including the European Union and Canada, but stress that these are ameliorated by various allowances, such as free allocations, indirect compensation, subsidies, ringfencing of carbon tax revenues, and funding support for innovation, technology, research and development. “For South Africa, such support measures/incentives are currently lacking, and we propose that these be explored and introduced in support of decarbonisation.” The organisations have, thus, called for the enacted allowances to be retained to 2030 and for other supporting policies and measures to be introduced to encourage decarbonisation and growth of low-carbon sectors. “We are concerned that the 2022 draft Bill does not retain the allowances to mitigate the impact of the rapidly increasing carbon tax proposals. “To date, these allowances have been instrumental in assisting business sectors requiring support, such as the mining, petrochemical, steel, cement, and other hard-to-abate sectors, from detrimental financial impacts. “There is therefore a need for greater policy certainty around the retention of allowances,” the joint statement reads. During the first phase, several tax-free allowances and offsets have been included, which have resulted in a materially lower effective tax rate. In a recent opinion article published on Daily Maverick, Just Share director Robyn Hugo warned that with such extensive allowances, even a much higher tax rate would be ineffective in driving the change required to ensure urgent decarbonisation. The third recommendation contained in the statement is for the implementation timelines to be revised on the basis that “business cannot afford the proposed tax rates and simultaneously m...
Platinum group metals (PGMs) as global decarbonisation and environmental, social and governance (ESG) enablers have arguably never been a hotter topic globally, which will be highlighted at the upcoming conference of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) at Sun City on November 2 and 3. Southern Africa’s PGMs endowment plays hugely into the current global insistence on creating a greener world, which will not be possible without the deployment of the catalytic metals that come out of the PGMs basket. In addition, the SAIMM will be striving for maximum collaboration during the event, given the far-reaching value chain of PGMs. “They all play a critical role – in hydrogen, in fuel cells, in all of the future generation metals,” SAIMM mining technical programme chairperson Gary Lane emphasised from London during a Zoom interview with Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Ahead of a greener-world-themed eighth International PGMs event, ESG and sustainability (ESGS) have assumed sky-high importance to business and society in the wake of climate change destruction, ever-widening inequality, global uncertainty and increasing economic risk. A key speaker at the event is past SAIMM president and current chairperson of the ESGS interest group, Gordon Smith, who is of the view that ESGS needs to achieve the same status as safety. “Ultimately, ESGS, or responsible mining, needs to achieve the same status as safety and become a fundamental part of our mining DNA, and the way we behave as professionals,” is a point Smith drives home forcefully. Other key speakers include Anglo American Platinum’s Fahmida Smith, who will talk on the role that PGMs will play in our future world, along with the social requirements of the future world. Dr Tsakani Mthombeni, executive: sustainable development at Implats, will be talking about ESG and beyond, Anglo American’s Stephen Bullock will focus on how PGMs play into the circular economy, and SFA Oxford CEO Henk de Hoop will show how the different players rank against each other in the ESG world. A function at Sun City’s Valley of the Waves is designed to provide maximum opportunity for people to interact and converse, which is viewed as crucial at this time of global green momentum. Mining Weekly: What does the conference aim to achieve in relation to the current state of the PGMs industry? The SAIMM is 125 years old and we've looked at reinventing what the SAIMM stands for, and one of the key things is around collaboration. Key is bringing parties together, because there's the integration of the mining value chain from the suppliers through to fuel cells downstream and research, so the conference aims to bring people together to collaborate and talk to also open people's eyes to what the potential is. Historically, the conference has been very focused on the mining side but the value stream of PGMs is long, right from the mining of underground or opencast PGMs, all the way to the downstream beneficiation uses of the different metals, the research being done. It's bringing all those parties together to focus on the whole value stream and the benefits to South Africa in the PGMs industry, because if we’ve got more than 80% of the known PGM reserves in the world, and the PGMs are really the only true 100% green decarbonisation avenue, imagine the opportunity if we were very much more strategic around the positioning of the country on the fuel cells, on the generation of hydrogen, so very much about collaboration. What sort of green flags will you be flying at the eighth International PGMs conference to emphasise your green theme? We’ve got quite a number of really good speakers in the first session and which runs for most of the first day, all around ESG, the circular economy, the impact of ESG, talking about how PGMs fit into the future world. You'll find all the speakers are all focused on the greener world, the role only PGMs play in hydrogen generation, i...
A Proudly South African green hydrogen mobile solution, which is scheduled to be launched at the African Aerospace and Defence Exhibition (AAD) next month, ticks all the local boxes by making use of a platinum-catalysed hydrogen proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and also being able to accommodate PEM electrolyser technology if need be. Built in response to local and international demand to meet the need for alternative energy solutions, GESS can provide 230 kWh of electrical power to remote and isolated locations, delivered by solar photovoltaic panels, lithium-ion batteries and the PEMFC. “We decided to channel our expertise, dedication and attention to developing green hydrogen solutions, which resulted in the development of South Africa’s first green hydrogen mobile solution and becoming the green powerhouse in South Africa,” Rheinmetall Denel Munition stated in its invitation to Engineering News & Mining Weekly to attend the launch at AAD on September 21. The company, which is jointly owned by Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH (51%) of Germany and Denel South Africa, is best known in munition and plant engineering circles, having been established in 2008 when Denel’s Somchem, Swartklip and Naschem became part of the group. The complete modular, self-sustaining, renewable decentralised energy solution is specifically designed to be adaptable to client-specific requirements. It is easily transported between locations, does not rely on external infrastructure, and is sufficiently robust to be operated in several geographical locations. The units can be optimised for maximum hydrogen production in the event of a preference for green chemical production rather than decentralised energy. “We will target both the commercial and defence market. We are also designing a similar system for field hospitals and clinics in remote lactations, which will be able to provide medical grade oxygen as an additional product,” the company stated. The different decentralised energy and green chemical production units will be designed in Somerset West, Cape Town, whereas the various different system integration functions and over-all system manufacturing will be executed in Boskop, Potchefstroom. Although the green hydrogen is predominately produced through electrolysis by an alkaline electrolyser, a platinum-group-metals-using PEM electrolyser can also be used. The unit is designed in such a manner that one can modify each component to accommodate more efficient technology becoming available. Hence, this system can accommodate renewable electricity produced from wind and/or hydropower if available at a particular site.
Multinational mining and mineral processing equipment manufacturer Sandvik launched its new high-tech head office facility, workshop and manufacturing complex today in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg, on September 9. The facility was officially opened by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The launch of Sandvik’s Khomanani facility is a fulfillment of the industrial giant’s investment pledge of R350-million, made at the fourth South African Investment Conference six months ago. “Government is hard at work to create the conditions that will enable businesses – both big and small – to emerge, to grow, to access new markets, to create new products and to hire more employees. The establishment of this facility is testament to that commitment,” Ramaphosa said. The Khomanani manufacturing site is one of Sandvik’s biggest and most advanced facilities globally, consolidating operations previously undertaken at five separate sites and accommodating 550 employees. For the first time ever, the company now has its soft rock, hard rock and surface businesses all under one roof. Khomanani, which occupies a 62 000 m2 site, can produce underground loaders with over 60% local content, allowing them to be designated as ‘Proudly South African’. Acting VP of Sandvik Southern Africa’s sales area Reinhard Reinartz said Sandvik's mining divisions supply the industry’s needs with equipment, parts and services, with the aim to fuel growth in a sustainable way. “Our role is not only as an original-equipment manufacturer (OEM) to our customers, but also to be good corporate citizens. Hence, we are investing in localisation, and this new assembly facility relocates activities from China and Finland to South Africa,” he stated. Localisation is a cornerstone of Sandvik’s operations, which supports government’s aim to build domestic production capacity to supply local and foreign markets, to support broader economic development and to create more jobs. The investment by Sandvik in local manufacturing capacity is an important vote of confidence in South Africa and its mining sector, the President noted. “With industrialisation and manufacturing being essential pillars of South Africa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, it is gratifying to see this commitment turned into reality here in Gauteng,” he said. Reinartz said the decision to invest in South Africa was a simple one. “South Africa is still one of the biggest mining markets in the world, with resources including coal, platinum group metals, gold and iron-ore. With both surface and underground mining, there is no question about investing here,” he enthused. The expansion of local production will make South Africa’s economy more inclusive and create more opportunities for new entrants into the industrial sector. Greater investment in mining, localisation and beneficiation all contribute to extending mine life, to increasing mining exports, to skills development and to the creation of employment. The President pointed out that the mining machinery and equipment sector also has significant linkages into other parts of the economy. The companies supplying equipment to the mining industry have important backward linkages to major assembly suppliers, sub-assembly and parts suppliers, specialist component suppliers and raw material suppliers. “Increasing local production will contribute significantly to the revival of South Africa’s manufacturing industry,” he said. The machines being assembled at Khomanani are the 12 t LS312 flameproof loader for underground coal operations, as well as the LH115 and LH208 loaders, respectively of 5.5 t and 7.7 t capacity, for underground hard rock mining. Not only are these machines being supplied to the Southern African market but Sandvik can also export them. They are produced to the exact same quality standards as Sandvik machines manufactured at its overseas factories. Moreover, the company is able to produce them at a cost which is very competitive by global standa...
The future quantum of global demand for platinum group metals (PGMs) significantly outweighs global supply from 2023 onwards, the latest review carried out by independent precious metals consultant Dr David Davis indicates. Compiled for Auctus Metal Portfolios of Singapore, the review illustrates a comprehensive picture of platinum supply/demand estimates between 2022 and 2050, which in some respects “puts the cat among the pigeons”, says Davis, who has been associated with the South African mining industry and mining investment industry for the past 45 years. (Also see attached supply/demand graphic.) The review points to a decline in global PGMs supply from particularly South Africa and Russia and highlights the mismatch that is developing between the future quantum of platinum supply and demand amid the pursuit of decarbonisation on a global scale. South African platinum mine supply is calculated to be declining at a compound annual growth rate of about -1.4% over the long term and Davis’s view is that the projected decline in global platinum mine supply is not being given the attention it deserves. MAJOR IRIDIUM THRIFTING NEEDED Davis concurs with the International Energy Agency that the content of the PGMs metal iridium will need to be slashed by 80% to 90% to support proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysers used to produce green hydrogen, which is in growing demand. In addition, technology will need to be advanced to achieve an anode catalyst loading of 0.05 gIr/kW or lower. PEM water electrolyser recycling and iridium recovery infrastructure will also need to achieve end-of-life recycling rates of 90%. To meet the needs of the transition from internal combustion engines, platinum loading in fuel cells (FCs) will also have to be drastically reduced for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), let alone trains, ships, stationary applications, PEM electrolysers and other uses. Additional thrifting of FC platinum loading to 2gPt/kW and below is required. GREEN HYDROGEN PILLAR Davis notes in the release to Mining Weekly that green hydrogen has become a key pillar of decarbonisation for industry in the same way as platinum is inextricably linked to vehicle emission standards, which have been progressively tightened through regulation worldwide since 1970. Europe is boosting its green hydrogen ambitions as it looks to secure energy independence and has increased targets for production and imports of green hydrogen by 15-million tonnes a year. A Siemens illustration displayed shows 20 collective applications for green hydrogen in the chemical and electrical industries ranging from steel, food, green fertilisers to heat pumps, planes and ships. “It becomes obvious that global PGM mine supply, particularly platinum mine and secondary recycling supply, will not be able to support both substitution and additional platinum loadings, notwithstanding the additional platinum required for FC, FCEV, PEM electrolysers, green hydrogen and other transport and industry sectors,” says Davis, who adds that China’s continuous platinum buying will further contribute to upward price pressure as platinum supply dwindles. PGMS CENTRE LAUNCHED IN SHANGHAI As reported this week by Mining Weekly, a new trade and technology centre dedicated to the growth of the PGMs market is being established in China, already the single largest consumer of PGMs, accounting for more than 25% of total demand. Anglo American, Honeywell and the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) were among close to 70 organisations that signed strategic cooperation agreements with the Lin-Gang Group and other related parties in support of the Platinum and Precious Metals Centre, or PPMC, which is being established in the Lin-Gang Special Area of Shanghai. The Lin-Gang Group is a State-owned developer of industrial parks. PPMC is made up of a PGMs research institute, venture capital fund, industrial park and offshore trading market, which will be developed in sequence to su...
As a platinum group metals (PGM) producer, Impala Platinum is excited about the opportunity of hydrogen as a potential new demand source, says Impala Platinum executive new commodities Seten Naidoo. “The exciting component for us is actually the green hydrogen,” says Naidoo, who was speaking as a panel member at this week’s Hydrogen Economy Discussion. “We’re looking at around 2.5-million ounces of PGMs by 2040 and breaking that down, you can allocate about one million ounces to fuel cells, 500 000 oz to 700 000 oz to electrolysers and another 700 000 oz to a million ounces that could potentially find its way into the storage market,” he estimates. Implats is committed to a five-year, R50-billion capital investment programme to extend life-of-mine development at several of its operations, increase beneficiation capacity, strengthen energy security and ensure the group meets its decarbonisation targets. “It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg scenario. If we want the hydrogen economy to become a new PGM demand source and grow, we can’t make the industry nervous about supply. “So, Impala Platinum as well as our peers, are all on the path of not cutting back production. We’re wanting to keep it at the same level or in time increase it in certain metals,” says Naidoo. “There is significant potential for platinum group metals (PGMs) as a result of green hydrogen gaining momentum as a key element in the successful energy transition,” says Deloitte senior manager energy Jandre Bezuidenhout, who served as chair of the panel that included Isondo Precious Metals CEO Vinay Somera, Mitsubishi Corporation business development head Dr Jonathan Butler, and Hystar sales and applications engineering head Tina Andersen. London-based Butler, who specialises in the sales and marketing of PGMs, is closely involved with Mitsubishi’s new hydrogen industry thrust. “The first thing to remember, when we talk about PGMs and the hydrogen economy, is that we’re not just talking about fuel cells and electrolysis, but we’re talking about PGMs touching pretty much the entire hydrogen value chain, that is from upstream electrolysis to hydrogen, distribution, and storage, and to electrical downstream use. “On the upstream side, PEM electrolysis is a big user of platinum and iridium, but also alkaline technology which utilises ruthenium. There’s seawater electrolysis, which uses platinum and iridium. “Then there’s liquid organic hydrogen carriers and then to extract the hydrogen at the other end. The we get to fuel cells and that is where the volume is right now, but there is also hydrogen peroxide and utilizing the building blocks of the entire chemical value chain using PGMs, whether that be from electrolysis. “Suppliers of PGMs need to give those in the market confidence that PGM prices are not going to fly away from them,” says Butler. Somera, as the founder and CEO of Isondo, a South African PGM technology company focused on the producing membrane electrode assemblies and PGM catalysts for fuel cells and electrolysers, as well as the recycling of these parts back into their core PGM constituents, reports that his company is also working to deploy three hydrogen refueling stations for hydrogen fuel cell buses and trucks, based on access to seven tons of hydrogen a day in the Johannesburg area. Isondo has a state-of-the-art facility being developed at OR Tambo special economic zone and has positioned itself to be at the same level of technological expertise as the world’s best. “Our facility will be similar in size to what they’re doing in China and at the same level of quality as well. It is designed holistically around the processes utilising the latest development in the field so we can be the most modern in the natural skills sense,” Somera reveals. “Great things are coming. I’ve got 100% confidence in that,” says Bezuidenhout. Andersen is part of an organisation that ultimately aims to develop the world’s most efficient PEM electrolysers, which are key enab...
Aim-listed Sylvania’s Dump Operations (SDO) achieved a solid production performance of 67 053 oz of platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold (4E) platinum group metals (PGMs) for the financial year ended June 30. This was in line with its production targets and notable given that it was a turbulent year with macroeconomic challenges, CEO Jaco Prinsloo says. “A key contributor to achieving this result was the stellar performance of the Tweefontein plant, which achieved monthly, quarterly, six-monthly and annual production records during the period. “Furthermore, and no less stellar, our Doornbosch plant achieved ten-years lost-time-injury-free in June and was awarded the 'Best-in-class Safety Performance' commendation by the Mine Metallurgical Managers Association of South Africa,” Prinsloo acclaims. “Strong effort was put in by all production teams and the newly commissioned [milling and flotation (MF2)] circuit at Lesedi, as well as the improvement in run-of-mine (RoM) PGMs grade received from the host mine in the last half of the year, assisted the group to deliver ounces in the mid-range of its stated production target,” Prinsloo adds. The new Lesedi tailings storage facility was successfully commissioned during March, with optimisation of the Lesedi MF2 plant continuing. The MF2 expansion at Tweefontein is on track to start commissioning and to start contributing PGM ounces during December. Following the successful roll-out of MF2 and ultra-fine screening circuits at various operations since 2017, this technology is now also being implemented at Lannex, with commissioning scheduled towards the end of the 2023 calendar year. For the period, Sylvania achieved net revenue of $151.9-million, group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of $82.8-million and a net profit of $56.2-million. It had a positive group cash balance of $121.3-million with no debt and no pipeline financing. Sylvania bought back 6.6-million shares in the market, equating to $7.1-million and cancelled six-million shares. The lower PGM feed grades and recovery potential associated with the considerable increase in opencast RoM sources during the period impacted on both PGMs production and operating costs for most of the year. The effect of high global inflation and economic uncertainty continues to impact the cost of reagents, fuel and transport. “Clearly, commodity pricing has been more volatile than we have seen for some time, with a 23% decrease in the average basket price received, which impacted our overall financial results for the year. However, looking forward I am optimistic about the uptick displayed in the chrome market. “The impact of higher global cost inflation is inevitable, and we continue to maintain prudent cash management with disciplined capital allocation and control, as well as production cost control. “This ensures that the company remains in a position with sufficient cash reserves to cover working capital for the pipeline period, finance capital projects, fund growth and exploration and mitigate any potential future adverse impacts it may face,” Prinsloo outlines. Sylvania has declared a yearly cash dividend of 8p an ordinary share for the full year. A windfall dividend of 2.25p an ordinary share was declared and paid in April. “Looking ahead, I am confident that our operations will continue to deliver a strong production performance and, as a consequence, [we] have set an annual production target of 68 000 oz to 70 000 oz [of 4E PGMs] for the year ahead,” informs Prinsloo. Back-up power supply systems will be implemented at the three most affected operations during the next year to mitigate any potential power supply disruptions associated with either vandalism of power supply infrastructure or potential load-shedding by national power utility Eskom. Post-period end, all of the conditions precedent for the sale of 100% of the shares in, and claims against Grasvally Chrome Mine, to Forward Africa Mining, have...
Platinum group metals (PGMs) miner Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) has revised its full-year refined production guidance lower, as its quality assurance processes have detected the delivery of substandard materials for the Polokwane smelter rebuild. Delivery of replacement materials will result in a two-month delay to the completion of the project. As a result, there will be a build-up in work-in-progress inventory this year and a short-term timing impact to refined PGMs production. The company has, therefore, lowered its full-year refined production guidance to between 3.7-million and 3.9-million ounces of PGMs, from the previous guidance of 4-million to 4.4-million ounces of PGMs. Sales guidance will be revised in line with refined production. There is no impact to metal-in-concentrate guidance which remains at between 3.9-million and 4.3-million ounces of PGMs and unit cost guidance remains at between R14 000 and R15 000 a PGM ounce. “As we undergo our first full rebuild of the Polokwane smelter in 12 years, our quality assurance processes identified a defective consignment of materials required to complete the rebuild. “We remain committed to ensuring the structural integrity of our Polokwane smelter, with high standards embedded into the rebuild to ensure asset integrity and the longevity of this operation. “We will not compromise on safety or quality and, therefore, the defective materials will not be used, and a new consignment of materials is expected to be delivered by the end of October,” says Amplats CEO Natascha Viljoen. “Work has commenced to find solutions to mitigate the impact on refined production this year,” she adds.
The Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) has struck a deal with copper developer Orion Minerals to fund 43.75% of the pre-development costs and facilitate black economic enterprise (BEE) ownership at the Okiep project, in South Africa. Under the terms of the agreement, the IDC will become a major shareholder in the New Okiep Mining Company (NOM), alongside Orion, which will hold 56.25% of NOM’s ordinary shares. On becoming a shareholder, the IDC will advance its share of the R79.03-million total budgeted pre-development operating costs of the NOM. Orion MD and CEO Errol Smart said with Orion already having contributed R44.58-million, representing 56.25% of the pro-rata total pre-development budget, the IDC has now agreed on the key commercial terms on which it will fund the balance of the budget to complete feasibility studies by June 2023. “Following hard on the heels of last week’s announcement regarding the grant of the South African Tantalum Mining (SAFTA) Mining Right for the Flat Mines area at Okiep, we are delighted to have reached agreement on the key principles for both the inclusion of Mining Charter 2018 historically disadvantaged South African (HDSA) structures and for the IDC to contribute 43.75% of the total budgeted pre-development costs for NOM, marking a significant step towards the broader commercial development of the Okiep copper project,” said Smart. “Having also received the long-awaited grant of the mining right to the core area, we are finally able to complete the required drilling and metallurgical sampling to finalise the optimisation of the feasibility studies which are already well advanced. “The future ownership of NOM with high quality development partners, such as the IDC, Lulamile Xate and our employees and host community, puts the Okiep project on a very solid footing for the near-term development of what we expect to be a very exciting, brownfields copper mining project.” Orion and the IDC anticipate finalising and executing the definitive agreements for the IDC share acquisition and pre-development funding arrangements by the end of September 2022, with the IDC funding to flow during October 2022, subject to fulfilment of conditions precedent standard for such arrangements. The IDC funding of pre-development costs in the amount of R34.5-million will be advanced to NOM on the same terms as the pre-development funding amount of R44.4-million already advanced by Orion to NOM. A 2021 scoping study into the project estimated that the 780 000 t/y operation could have a mine life of nearly 12 years, producing 386 000 t/y of copper concentrate. The study estimated that the project would require a capital investment of A$53-million, and would have a post-tax net present value of A$114-million and an internal rate of return of 37%. Feasibility studies to upgrade the scoping study economics are well advanced, and targeted for completion in the third quarter of next year.
South Africa is drafting a green hydrogen position statement for the upcoming twenty-seventh United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), which is scheduled to take place in Egypt from November 7 to 18. Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) divisional executive for mining, metals, energy and infrastructure Reginald Demana revealed this in response to EY Parthenon Africa executive director Paul O’Flaherty during the Hydrogen Economy Discussion. The other participating panelists were European Investment Bank regional representation deputy head Nadege Hopman, Norfund investment manager Rivatshiny Mandavha, and International Finance Corporation (IFC) Climate Business market research officer Elizabeth Minchew. Demana described the IDC as the leading government agency developing South Africa’s hydrogen commercialisation strategy and drew attention to the IDC’s Mahandra Rooplall, who was in the audience and who is presently developing the national hydrogen commercialisation strategy, key objectives of which are to secure global export market access, develop the domestic market to help to decarbonise the South African economy, and to secure long-term energy security. With the macro strategy accepted by Cabinet, developing regulations and publishing projects as well as infrastructure requirements are seen as the next steps that need to be urgently taken. “There are already a number of projects covering the entire country. We need to mobilise enough funding to fund the development of these projects and hopefully in a month or two, we should be coming up with a package. “That will then allow people to openly start applying for funding but if you look at the pipeline of projects already there, it covers the full spectrum across the entire country,” said Demana. “These are massive projects – the multi-billion-dollar Boegoebaai project, for the port, rail and renewable energy production plant and the Sasol project. “If you look at the Hydrogen Valley, spearheaded by Anglo American from Mogalakwena platinum group metals (PGMs) mine, and then the logistics and mobility involving buses and long-distance trucks all the way to Durban, these are massive projects. “What we’ve decided to do is pick some of the top 20 catalytic projects that cover different products, be it ammonia, aviation fuel, hydrogen itself, so that we can see what’s doable, what’s bankable,” Demana added. Under way is a review of the policy and regulatory environment to ensure that the appropriate legal framework is adopted. Existing frameworks are being reviewed to see whether they can be realigned to fit in hydrogen and under scrutiny are green ammonia, methanol, aviation fuel, green steel – in Saldanha Steel, for example – and mobility, particularly relating to trucking, busing, railing and shipping. It is estimated that South Africa’s share of the export market could be in the region of six-million tonnes to ten-million tons of green hydrogen in 2050. Meanwhile, the German government is talking about possible offtake two to three times the market size originally contemplated to counter gas reduction. “We see a lot of opportunities for South Africa. We have ports. Most of the projects that we are sponsoring are located around the coast. We can access that infrastructure and export to Germany, alongside the Namibians. “Domestic demand is very interesting. Although it’s small and the development of the domestic market will lag export, it’s an important aspect for decarbonisation.” said Demana. The likes of Sasol, Eskom and many other high emitters will not be able to decarbonise without the help of green hydrogen and projects, such as Anglo American’s nuGen truck, require that green hydrogen production is co-located on site. “Those projects will run ahead of most others, maybe even ahead of export, so we’re supporting that,” said Demana during the discussion covered by Mining Weekly. "The way we look at funding opportunities is across the value chain, from PGMs min...
Platinum group metals mining and marketing company Implats is planning to introduce 520 MW of renewable power as part of an ambition to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by 2030 and become carbon neutral in 2050. The current carbon generation of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company is about 3.3-million tons of carbon a year, which it aims to reduce to 2.2-million tons, a saving of 1.1-million tons. Of that, its aspiration is to reduce its carbon footprint in South Africa by 780 000 t and its carbon footprint in Zimbabwe by 280 000 t. “The carbon is primarily generated through carbon-fueled energy consumption. When we project our total energy demand in 2030, it amounts to around 710 MW of power. To effect the saving, we have to install around 520 MW of renewable energy,” Implats CEO Nico Muller said in response to Mining Weekly. That has been divided into different projects. In Zimbabwe, the group is aiming to produce 185 MW of renewable energy and Zimplats CEO Alex Mhembere is already executing Phase 1, which is 35 MW of solar photovoltaic power. In Rustenburg, the aspiration is to generate 290 MW of renewable energy, 170 MW of it solar and 120 MW the subject of a wheeling arrangement. “This also then provides us with an opportunity to collaborate with the local communities in order to get localisation off the ground in the North West province,” said Muller. The 290 MW would, Muller said, be made up of several individual projects, typically aimed at supporting mine shafts that have lives sufficient to support a renewable energy project – or shafts close to smelters, so that power supply can be rerouted to smelters with the least effort in the event of shaft closure. At the Marula mine, the generation of 30 MW of renewable energy is envisaged, also in the form of solar power. At Springs, the aim is to receive 15 MW of renewable energy as part of a wheeling arrangement as Implats has insufficient property in Springs to erect a solar or wind project. “All of these projects have been scheduled to culminate in 520 MW by 2030 but I do not have a conclusive answer in terms of the capital cost or the potential that will be generated by these projects, which are mostly in the study phase. “As soon as we conclude the studies, we will start reporting back on expected financial returns and benefits. “The only areas where we’ll probably be an owner-operator of the installations is probably in Zimbabwe. Generally, I think we’ll probably enter into an offtake agreement with an independent provider. Again, the outcome of the studies will determine the most efficient outcome, but that’s generally how I see it working,” Muller added.
Original-equipment manufacturer Sandvik on September 5 officially unveiled its 65-t-capacity zero-emission battery-electric truck, the Sandvik TH665B, at Electra Mining Africa in Johannesburg. The group notes that this is the world’s largest-capacity battery-electric truck for underground mining. It will enable miners to have a fleet of vehicles with zero emissions, enable a greater workload per tonne and engender better power on an incline. Testing on the machine is under way and almost complete in Australia. Speaking at the launch, Sandvik VP Jakob Rutqvist said Australia and Africa were likely to be the biggest markets for this machine. He added that Africa was especially suited towards electrification, because diesel was relatively expensive in many countries on the continent and Africa was host to many hot, deep, ventilation-constrained mines, which made the battery electric vehicle (BEV) business case stronger. Rutqvist explained that the truck, when in operation, generated about 85% less heat than a diesel truck, which helped considerably if the mine was ventilation-constrained. He said Sandvik was at the forefront of electrification in the underground mining industry, poised to meet the needs of many companies’ commitments to net zero over the next several years. He pointed out that in an average underground mine, 50% to 60% of emissions came from the mobile fleet, with considerable amounts from the primary haulage equipment; therefore, electrifying this made a big difference. “Sandvik is very proud to be introducing the world’s largest underground truck and very happy to be doing that in Africa,” Rutqvist said. He outlined that the truck would remove between 1 t and 2 t a day of carbon dioxide (CO2) when in operation; therefore, the impact would be “quite significant”. In terms of the design principles for the truck, Rutqvist said Sandvik adhered to three main ones when developing the truck. Firstly, it was aligned to its mandate of “rethinking the machine, not the mine”. The group did not want to introduce technology that requires customers to redesign their operation and undertake considerable infrastructure investments. In this vein, Rutqvist said the truck could be very easily implemented at an existing operation and maintained with existing infrastructure. Moreover, the machine boasts battery swapping technology. It does not require any big fixed infrastructure to turn on, nor would the operator need to exit the cabin to handle the battery. Rather, the battery swap is fully automated. There is also a charging setup for this machine, which is 100% mobile and does not require extra ventilation on the mine, with existing capacity generally enough, Rutqvist explained. In terms of the battery swapping technology, one battery is on the machine while it is in operation, while the other is charging, which Rutqvist said reduced the peak stress on the grid. He outlined that, when the machine was doing very heavy work, on a steep ramp, it had about an hour and a half to two hours of runtime. Work on a level that does not require as much energy, would enable about two and half to three hours before requiring the battery to be swapped, which takes about five minutes. The second design principle is that the truck needs to be fit for mining. The battery is rugged with safe chemistry, Rutqvist said, adding that the machine and battery had been designed to handle the terrain of mining operations. The battery had also been specifically designed for mining and mining needs, Rutqvist said, rather than repurposing other battery technology. Moreover, both the machine and battery were designed with serviceability in mind, with easy accessibility, to allow these to be serviced on the mine. The last design principle was to “expect more”, highlighted Rutqvist. “We haven't compromised anything, we're not expecting customers to accept lower performance, just because you want to lower emissions,” he averred. Therefore, he outlined that it...
Platinum remains significantly undervalued. That is the key takeaway from the 30-page Platinum Quarterly published by the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC). “Why I say that platinum remains undervalued is that we've got a situation where the opportunities for platinum look good. "Supply is expected to be down by 8% this year. We've had jewellery and industrial very strong, very robust under the circumstances, and automotive particularly strong,” WPIC research director Trevor Raymond told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) “If you look at the automotive demand, despite all the headwinds that we've seen in the global market regarding economic growth and inflation, we've got automotive demand higher than it was in 2019. “That’s largely to do with loadings and some substitution for palladium, so you've got this very interesting supply-demand balance, yet we have a price that remains almost range-bound, and it looks pretty weak”, which Raymond attributed largely to metal that has flowed out of both exchange traded fund (ETF) holdings and exchange stocks, for different reasons. Factors favouring platinum include: platinum lease rates remaining at almost record highs, pointing to a tight physical market; total supply forecast being down 8% in 2022; recycled supply being 20% down year-on-year; a second-quarter surge pointing to China repeating last year’s importation of an extra 1.2-million ounces above identified demand; Europe’s replacing 20-billion cubic meters of natural gas with green hydrogen; new US legislation lifting demand for green hydrogen; both European and US decisions being ideal for platinum-based electrolysers, which adapt better to solar and wind change; and automakers still unlikely to meet demand, despite it being lower on rising inflation and declining economic growth. Mining Weekly: High platinum lease rates have persisted throughout 2022. What does that indicate? Raymond: That's the rub. You’ve got this unusual situation. When we spoke in May, we were forecasting a surplus for 2022 of about 627 000 oz. In today's report, we're forecasting a surplus of nearly a million ounces, 974 000 oz. Yet we've got a lease rate in the market that is ridiculously high. We know that when there's unavailability of platinum in the spot market, more people are forced to lease metal and that puts pressure on the lease rates and in May this year, we saw the lease rate higher than it was even at the peak of the pandemic, when understandably, it was very difficult to get metal. So, we've got this very high lease rate and then a sustained rate, which is still about 4%. That might not sound like a lot, but for the ten, 12 years before Covid, that rate sat at about 0.1% to 0.5% in the market. Obviously, financing costs would be added to that between counterparties but you've got a rate that is four or five times what the historic norm is. The real reason for that is that there's been huge imports of platinum into China. Last year, we saw that China imported an extra 1.2-million ounces above their identified demand. If we project the quarter-two surge, it looks like the same thing will happen, and that will almost entirely absorb the surplus that we're publishing, so it is a bit of a paradox in that you've got an indication that there's tightness in the market, extreme tightness, yet we’re publishing a surplus and I think what it is, is part of that metal going into China certainly is of a speculative nature. People that understand this market, see the point I raised in your first question, the fact that platinum is undervalued. They’re prepare to increase the stock holdings, but we also do believe a lot of that metal is being used either in industrial applications, or certainly in higher loadings on heavy duty trucks, so I think that lease rate does tell a lot about what's currently going on in the market. To what extent are constrained mine and recycled supply adding to platinum suppl...
In what is a major boost for platinum group metals (PGMs), a new trade and technology centre dedicated to the growth of the PGMs market is being established in China, already the single largest consumer of PGMs, accounting for more than 25% of total demand. Anglo American, Honeywell and the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) were among close to 70 organisations that signed strategic cooperation agreements with the Lin-Gang Group and other related parties in support of the Platinum and Precious Metals Centre or PPMC, which is being established in the Lin-Gang Special Area of Shanghai. The Lin-Gang Group is a state-owned developer of industrial parks. PPMC is made up of a PGM research institute, venture capital fund, industrial park and offshore trading market, which will be developed in sequence to support new PGM applications and to grow an industrial cluster. As part of its commitment to PPMC, WPIC will move its Asia Pacific headquarters to the Lin-Gang Special Area, where, from 2023, the annual Shanghai Platinum Week which it co-sponsors, will take place in the Lin-Gang Special Area. WPIC will also join the proposed PGMs research institute as a founding member and participate in a joint venture to oversee the development of the industrial park. Commenting on WPIC’s involvement, WPIC CEO Paul Wilson described PGMs as remarkable metals with exceptional physical and chemical properties which are used in applications that improve the world on a daily basis. “In particular, PGMs are at the forefront of technologies that are helping humankind to tackle climate change, and their use benefits us all,” Wilson stated. Platinum, along with other PGMs, plays a critical role in proton-exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers, which generate green hydrogen from water, and PEM fuel cells, which power fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), that are emission-free, Mining Weekly can report. Green hydrogen and FCEVs have received strong support from the government of China, amid its commitment to carbon neutrality by 2060. Several enterprises from the fields of law, logistics, financing and insurance among others have agreed to set up the Lin-Gang Trade Cross-border Communication group to provide support services to international traders, including those involved in the PGMs supply chain. Looking forward, more PGMs are expected to be imported and traded for use in technological applications as a result the establishment of the PPMC in the Lin-Gang Special Area. These include green hydrogen production, fuel cell electric vehicles, bio-pharmaceutical end-uses and environmental protection - all sectors that are critical to achieving China's economic and net-zero goals.
Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer unpacks African Rainbow Minerals's pledge to combat climate change; Implats's committent of R4.3-billion for the next five years towards energy security and decarbonisation; and DRDGold’s broad-based livelihoods initiative, which has had more than 8 000 participants.
Diversified mining company African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) on Thursday paid higher dividends, reiterated its full commitment to climate change mitigation, and outlined the start of its intended shift towards the implementation of renewable energy. In affirming the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company’s alignment to climate change mitigation and meeting the challenges confronting the environment and humankind, ARM executive chairperson Dr Patrice Motsepe told the presentation covered by Mining Weekly: “As a company, we’re committed to combating climate change.” (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) ARM is a member of the International Council of Metals and Minerals (ICMM), which Motsepe highlighted as an outstanding association of the world’s largest mining companies with world-class commitments to environmental protection and climate change mitigation – “and we’re very happy with the progress that’s being made there”, Motsepe added after declaring a final dividend of R20 a share to bring the total financial year (FY) 2022 dividend to R32 a share, up on the R30 share of FY2021. The amount to be paid is R4 493-million. “We’re committed to paying dividends while pursuing quality growth and maintaining a robust financial position,” Motsepe added. Following a significant increase in operating profits at the ARM Coal operations amid cash generated from operations rising by R706-million to R8 508-million, ARM Coal loans owing to Glencore Operations South Africa have been fully settled, with Motsepe describing ARM’s transitioning out of coal as being “part of the responsible and really focused transition to clean energy . to make the world a better place”. Significantly higher export coal prices drove a R1 178-million increase in ARM Coal headline earnings to R928-million, compared with a R250-million headline loss in FY2021. ARM CEO Mike Schmidt told the presentation that ARM’s commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters were aligned with the principles as set out by ICMM. “In terms of climate change, ARM aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. We are currently busy with a number of initiatives and introducing various pathways to deliver on these commitments,” Schmidt added. In response to Mining Weekly’s question relating to ARM Platinum signing an agreement for the supply of 100 MW of solar energy, ARM Platinum CE Thando Mkatshana said the 100 MW would address 33% of the division’s total electricity consumption in the next three years. “We are also considering further upgrades in terms of other options to look at reducing our power supply from Eskom to renewables,” said Mkatshana. ARM Ferrous CE André Joubert added: “In our operations in the Northern Cape, we’re well advanced with a feasibility study in terms of also supplying our mines with solar power and collectively we’re looking at just over 80 MW.” Environmental impact assessments are underway to open the way for the building of the solar plant. “Ours will be slightly different. They will be what we call ‘behind the meter’ installations because currently the Eskom distribution network in the Northern Cape doesn’t have capacity to yield power at the moment, but we’re making very good progress in that regard,” said Joubert. Schmidt said a big component was reducing ARM’s dependency on diesel. “Over the next five or seven years, we will look at alternative trucking methods, because of the prohibitive cost of diesel and also from a carcinogenic point of view.” In that regard, battery electric frontend loaders and battery electric haul trucks had already been deployed at the group’s Black Rock mine in the Northern Cape’s Kalahari manganese field. “We’ve got three of each of those already deployed underground and we’re testing them to see how efficient they are, and they are going to save diesel and also the heat that diesel trucks generate underground, which ultimately then would require less ventilation and through that more energy savings as...
South Africa’s energy conundrum will require a concerted effort by both industry and government, Minerals Council South Africa said. Speaking to Mining Weekly Online on the sidelines of Paydirt’s Africa Downunder conference, in Perth, Minerals Council CEO Roger Baxter said that the solution to solving South Africa's energy crisis is unlocking "massive" private sector investment. “In the mining sector we have 6.5 GW of [energy] projects that we're going to bring on stream over the next three to four years. Some 300 MW of that has already been registered as special industrial projects. “We are forming real partnerships to drive the changes. Sitting and whinging, telling the government that it is not doing its job is not helping. We are getting our hands dirty, rolling up our sleeves and really starting to drive the agenda,” Baxter said. The energy investment by mining companies is worth an estimated R1-billion, Baxter told delegates at the conference. For its part, government-owned Eskom is estimated to have 47 GW of installed capacity, accounting for about 60% of the installed capacity in the entire sub-Saharan Africa, however, Baxter noted that energy availability from Eskom was currently less than 60%. However, Baxter noted that there was positive movement from the government of South Africa’s side to address the energy issues, with major reforms under way, including the removal of a licence cap, the decline in registration time from four months to just 18 days at the National Energy Regulator, the establishment of a national electricity committee, and proposed amendment to the Electricity Regulation Act. South African Mineral Resources and Energy Deputy Minister, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane told delegates at the conference that that the government was paying "particular attention" to South Africa’s energy infrastructure, noting that the national energy fleet was coming to the end of its life. “This has posed a risk to the mining sector, given the fact that it is an intensive energy user. To this end, we have implemented some reforms in the energy policy and regulation. This includes the introduction of power producers that are known as IPPs and the removal of the cap on embedded generation, which will allow the mining companies to generate power for their own use without a licence when making strides in South Africa. “This has enabled a pipeline of over 80 renewable energy projects with a total capacity of 6.5 GW initiated by the mining sector.” Nkabane said that as part of these reforms, the government was also progressing the unbundling of Eskom, with the process at an advanced stage. “We're making strides again, in terms of transforming the sector to ensure that there is energy security in the country and there is no energy poverty. This will see Eskom being unbundled into three independent business units, which is the generation, the transmission as well as distribution. All these reforms are geared towards ensuring that we are reclaimed South Africa's position as the mining investment and development destination.”
Platinum group metals (PGM) company Implats, which generated free cash flow of R28.8-billion in the 12 months to June 30, said on Thursday that it had allocated R4.3-billion over the next five years to energy security and decarbonisation. Gross profit totalled R41.3-billion at a gross margin of 35% with earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of R53.4bn at an Ebitda margin of 45%. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company, headed by CEO Nico Muller, declared a final dividend of 1 050 c a share, bringing the total dividend for the 2022 financial year to 1 575c a share. The company closed the period debt free and with net cash of R26.5-billion excluding leases. A suite of organic growth projects have been advanced and value-accretive acquisitive growth pursued amid rising input costs, constrained supply chains and labour market tightness particularly in Canada, the impacts of which were compounded by extended safety stoppages, intermittent power supply and periods of community unrest. Implats is committed to a five-year, R50-billion capital investment programme to extend life-of-mine development at several of its operations, increase beneficiation capacity, strengthen energy security and ensure the group meets its decarbonisation targets. Of this capital investment, R9-billion is earmarked to expand its South African and Zimbabwean smelting and refining facilities. In addition, around R8-billion will be invested across managed and joint venture South African mining operations over the next few years to extend life-of-mine at producing mines, secure meaningful employment and entrench South Africa’s status as a stable and sustainable global PGM producer, to support enduring benefits for all stakeholders. Added to several other life-of-mine extension projects at the Impala Rustenburg operation, Implats is confident of sustaining and growing total refined six element (6E) PGM supply from its southern African assets over the next decade. Projects under study and in implementation at integrated processing assets will benefit the Southern African region’s production, reduce the group’s processing environmental footprint, and directly increase local beneficiation, positioning the region more competitively as a global mine-to-market PGM producer. Regarding the R4.3-billion allocated to ensure each operation has renewable energy in the mix to meet decarbonisation targets and strengthen energy security, Impala Canada is already 95% powered by renewable hydropower (5% natural gas), and Zimplats’ energy mix is 50:50 thermal to renewable hydropower. Zimplats has obtained a 185 MW power generation license, with the first phase of a solar photovoltaic (PV) project (35 MW, $37-million in progress. This is the first large-scale project towards meeting the short-term (2030) decarbonisation target of a 30% reduction against the 2019 baseline, and it supports Implats’ stated ambition of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. In addition, several studies are underway — 33 MW of solar PV generation is at feasibility stage at Marula, and pre-feasibility studies were completed at Impala Rustenburg and Impala Refineries — to establish additional renewable energy capacity of around 300 MW by 2030, with additional capacity possible. These studies are conducted in parallel to Implats’ programme to purchase electricity from independent power producers. PROPOSED RBPLAT ACQUISITION In November 2021, the proposed acquisition of Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) was launched, a transaction with the potential to transform the outlook of its key Western Limb assets at Impala Rustenburg, while ensuring long-term sustainable PGM production and continued economic benefits for the greater Rustenburg area and its communities. Implats is pursuing the conclusion of the offer process associated with its proposed acquisition of RBPlat, with a key focus on securing outstanding regulatory approval from the Competition Tribunal. Near-term oper...
–The livelihoods initiative introduced by surface gold mining company DRDGold has to date attracted more than 8 000 direct participants at a time when boosting jobs and livelihoods in South Africa has never been more important The broad-based livelihoods (BBL) programme of the Johannesburg- and New York-listed company headed by CEO Niël Pretorius has been directed at communities on the East Rand and Far West Rand where DRDGold recovers gold from mine waste dumps. More than 780 households are already able to earn a minimum of R10 000 a year from growing food. “The answer to South Africa's poverty issues lies in developing the informal economy, and that's where 100% of our focus lies,” Pretorius told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Younger people are scripting their own lives, with more than 180 MyFuture learning sessions delivered in the 12 months to June 30. The focus of the BBL urban farming programme is to be able to grow food for a family of four on a piece of land the size of the door, and to do it sustainably going forward. The next step from there is a slightly bigger tunnel, or shade cloth shaped in the form of a tunnel – a hydroponic tunnel. Eventually, it can also become a business, which has happened in quite a number of cases. The slightly different MyFuture programme that goes beyond agriculture in outlining economic opportunities within the communities themselves and attracts younger people. MyFuture participants also then go into agriculture, or pursue MyBusiness, which is more micro-business focused and teaches budgeting, money management and market analysis. Then there is MyLivestock, which has two components, one being rural, which mine employees from rural areas can take back home, and the other being urban and involving yard chickens and eggs and other livestock aspects. Mining Weekly: Why is it important to integrate the environmental, social and governance aspects of in the ESG thrust? Pretorius: It's essential. If you don't do that, your ESG is going to be an ESG parade. It's like marching through town and then afterwards, when people start losing interest, they move on to the next big thing. It will just disappear. We knew that sustainability and sustainable development was core to business success because we were doing business in close contact with communities and the environmental impacts would be felt by those communities, and unless they were dealt with properly, it was going to bring a premature end to our business. But because of where we are from – and remember not many years ago our market cap was less than the transfer fee of a good soccer player in the European league – we had to develop sustainability on a shoestring. We didn't have the funds to go and build independent silo initiatives. We simply had to do it on an integrated basis also because of the size of our footprint, and this is maybe more where the social development aspect came in, we were convinced, and we still are, that unless you improve the quality of life, or assist in improving the quality of life, of people in your areas of influence, then you're going to have a disgruntled and unhappy community, within which you need to operate the business – and remember, we're right in the middle of Johannesburg. But we couldn't build schools and infrastructure, hospitals and so forth. The only thing that we could do really was bring knowledge. So here's the knowledge, here's a bit of incentive, maybe a little bit of seed capital, but ultimately success depends on yourself. On the environmental side, we knew that because of the size and the scale, if we didn't include the environment into our business plan, if it didn't become integrated as part of the business, it was going to become unaffordable. On the water side, for example, our grey water is more abundant, so better security of supply, but it's also cheaper. The same is now also going to apply in terms of the solar power that we inten...
Gold mining company Harmony Gold on Tuesday announced a programme to improve the human dimension of safety and productivity by combining cultural transformation with technological advancements. The target of the Safety 300, or S300, programme is to safely lift the output per mining crew from the current average of 260 m2 per crew per month to 300 m2 per crew per month. (Also watch attached Cramer Media video.) Investing in grade is also poised to drive down costs over time, with Harmony’s experience in operating in higher inflation environments allowing an 8% cost inflation level for planning amid experiencing a below-inflation 6% rise in fixed wages in its 2022 financial year. As a percentage of South African cash costs, the labour cost has fallen 2%, from 60% to 58% in the 12 months to June 30. To manage higher Eskom electricity tariffs, Harmony has an initial 30 MW solar project under construction in the Free State and a far larger 130 MW renewable energy plant on the way. Mines affected by the higher diesel prices are very much in the minority – Hidden Valley in Papua New Guinea (PNG), and in South Africa, the opencast Kalgold mine and mechanised Target 1 mine. The margins from the large underground Moab and Mponeng mines as well as the surface operations provided a production profit of R9.5-billion. The once-troubled underground Kusasalethu mine returned more than R800-million in free cash, and additional controls at Hidden Valley have reduced the risk of another conveyor belt failure. “In addition to investing in our grade, investing in our people is delivering meaningful returns,” said Harmony CEO Peter Steenkamp during the company’s dividend-yielding presentation of results for the 12 months to June 30. A final dividend of 22c a share on top of the interim dividend of 40c a share took the total for the financial year to 62c a share. “There is a clear link between execution excellence and productivity. Some of our crews are already mining at 700 m2 per crew per month, so there's a significant opportunity to improve overall productivity. “S300 is humanity at work. It's about developing the human part of our business to achieve the art of the possible,” said Steenkamp. During question time, Nedbank market research head Arnold van Graan requested that the S300 programme be outlined in practical mining terms and asked how the 10% to 15% increase in productivity would be achieved. In response, Harmony COO South Africa Operations Beyers Nel elaborated on the company’s detailed plans to optimise output at the rockface, fine-tune shift cycle, and implement appropriate technologies in narrow-reef underground mining environments. “Productivity improvement is identified as a clear aspect of our business that we are looking to improve. In a growth environment, productivity is a fairly cheap improvement if you can realise it,” said Nel. “At the moment, our run rate is about 260 m2 per crew per month and we're looking to improve that to S 300, or 300 m2 per crew monthly. “We’ve got a well-resourced business improvement platform now going in Harmony in the South Africa exco office,” added Nel, referring to the slide displayed showing facetime optimisation, shift cycle optimisation and the responsible use of technologies. Faster drilling rates are being targeted to increase safe, quality blasts per day. “So it's not rocket science. It's real practical mining stuff, and if you look at our output per crew, although their average is around 260, you've got crews doing 200 and crews doing 700, so it's basically moving that mean to the 300 through well-resourced, well-equipped and safe work. “A crew in good environmental conditions is a productive crew and we're working really hard on the South African operations to grow the business in the South Africa context around productivity improvement and driving the costs down with some higher grades that we’re also targeting,” said Nel. DEVELOPMENT GRADES ‘DRAMATICALLY HIGHER’ In view of grades ...
Time will be spent this year on doing feasibility studies relating to the deepening of the Mponeng gold mine on the West Rand, Harmony Gold CEO Peter Steenkamp said on Tuesday. In response to Afrifocus Securities analyst Des Moines on how important Mponeng woud be in the years to come, Steenkamp said in his view it would be very important. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) “We haven't made that final decision yet. This year we're going to spend time on doing the feasibility studies,” said Steenkamp. The studies would go beyond the deepening part of the Ventersdorp contact reef (VCR). The VCR is an Archaean conglomeratic gold placer, mined in the Carletonville, West Rand and Klerksdorp goldfields. Steenkamp said that with deepening, much of the carbon leader reef (CLR) would also be included. The CLR, a metre-thick conglomeratic unit with a thin bituminous base, is one of the major gold-bearing conglomerate horizons in the central rand group of the Witwatersrand basin. “But then we’re also looking at the extraction of gold from the Tau Tona and Savuka shaft pillars,” added Steenkamp during question time covered by Mining Weekly. Harmony is working very closely with the University of Pretoria as the sponsor of the university’s rock engineering chair. With Bambanani, much work was done to match the extraction rate of Bambanani shaft pillars to the the mining itself to manage seismicity and much intellectual property (IP) was gathered on shaft pillar extraction in general. “We think that the IP that we created by doing all of that will probably help us to mine the Tau Tona and Savuka pillars”, projects that have still to be approved. Regarding Mponeng, Steenkamp expressed confidence in the grades that are available at Mponeng going forward and expressed the view that the deepening of Mponeng was likely to be given the go-ahead. “We’ll most likely give it a go, but again, we still have to take it through the proper approval process. It is certainly a fantastic orebody and will add about 30 years of life to the current Mponeng mine. On the potential shaft pillar projects, he said: “The Tau Tona and Savuka shelf pillars are about the same size as the Bambanani shaft pillar, and we have four shelf pillars in Tau Tona and Savuka, on the carbon leader and the VCR. “There has been some mining in the past and so not all available, but it is potentially three or four Bambanani’s that are out there. “Bambanani is now closed but we mined about 84% of the gold and it was a massively profitable project for us over time and done very safely, so we’re confident that we've got the IP to do that mining,” he added.
Shirley Hayes, the founder and CEO of SHiP Copper, into which Big Tree Copper will be reversed when Copper 360 lists on the AltX of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) next month, on Monday shed more light on the way forward for what will be South Africa’s only pure copper play on the JSE. “It makes sense to combine the two companies through a reverse takeover, where SHiP takes over Big Tree Copper through reversing SHiP’s assets into Big Tree,” Hayes told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) SHiP is a majority women-owned copper company that was founded in 2008. Big Tree Copper, headed by seasoned campaigner Jan Nelson, is already in low-cost surface production of copper through a solvent extraction electrowinning (SX-EW) plant, which the company designed and built innovatively. “Between the companies, we’ve got scalability, which SHiP brings to the table,” said Hayes. Production, technologically advanced process capability, synergies, cash flow, dividend policy and offtake are ready-made in the mix. Big Tree exports one-metre by one-metre copper plate that is 6 cm thick. Each plate weighs about 38 kg and contains 99.89% copper in an area where the copper is said to be exceedingly pure. SHiP’s orebodies are shallow, and Big Tree has a 15- to 20-year life on the surface material currently being processed. In addition, it is looking at developing the Carolusberg tailings dam, which has about 40 000 t of recoverable copper in it that was mined by Newmont in the old days. Initial capital required to turn Rietberg mine and plant to account and to develop another concentrate plant on the slag on Big Trees’ operations at the Cape Copper Oxide, Nababeep, would be of the order of R350-million, Hayes calculated. Openpit pre-development to orebody is already taking place at Rietberg, where a moderately sized 50 000 t a month plant is focused on value rather than on volume. Once Rietberg has been fully developed, which is expected to take about eight months, SHiP will begin development of its Jubilee Wheal Julia openpit complexes, with the additional future funding for the development of more of SHiP’s openpits and other operations coming largely from debt and the balance sheet. Copper 360 will also hold the Cape Copper Oxide Company and the Okiep Copper Company, and it will hold SHiP. The combined company will own most of the copper district. Hayes described the offtake agreement with Noble Metals as having very favourable terms as well as considerable flexibility. Mining Weekly: Are you finding an appetite for investment in copper from local investors? Hayes: Absolutely, yes. To date, the capital for Big Tree, in which I'm a personal shareholder as well, has come from private high-net-worth individuals in South Africa. Every day, we’re getting phoned by people wanting to know when we’ll list because they want to invest, so there's no shortage of appetite because we will be offering the only pure copper play in South Africa. Our orebodies are on surface or shallow. In the case of Big Tree, it requires no mining so we are on the lowest cash quartile of producers in the world. We have a high margin and we already have, as a result of Coronation’s investment in the company and a commitment to Coronation that we will be paying 30% pre-tax dividend from our profits, a dividend arrangement. We have a fantastic growth profile and we don't have to go anywhere else. It's all in one area. We own a whole copper district. We have copper, we have got scalability, we have got cash flow, and that's why we're getting interest from people that want to invest in the pure copper play like ourselves because there is no other. Will the copper from SHiP mines be locally beneficiated into copper plate by Big Tree Copper? There are two processes that we need to differentiate. When we mine the shallow ore, the oxide ore, we produce copper plate through the SX-EW solvent extraction plant. The plant, however, cannot t...
Batteries are fast becoming the core of modern energy systems and more sustainable economies, underpinning the implementation of smart grids and minigrids, while fostering the rollout of renewable energy and e-mobility, and yet, South Africa’s involvement in the battery value chain remains limited. Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies chief economist Gaylor Montmasson-Clair questions whether South Africa will be an importer of batteries only, or if it will manage to become a part of the value chain. He explains that lithium-ion battery (LIB) cells consist largely of four components: a cathode that determines capacity and average voltage of a battery; the anode that comprises the negative electrode; an electrolyte solution; and a separator, which determines the safety of a battery, preventing short circuiting and overheating. In turn, there are six types of LIBs – lithium/nickel/cobalt/aluminium, lithium/manganese oxide, lithium iron phosphate and lithium/nickel/manganese/cobalt. Montmasson-Clair says South African stakeholders need to understand where niche markets lie in this regard. China currently dominates LIB production, while there are also some production facilities in the US and European markets. The market has, therefore, already been captured by a few key players, including Panasonic, CATL and LG Chem; however, South Africa can still get involved in the battery value chain, he says. He believes South Africa has the relevant skills and expertise in mineral beneficiation, with entities such as minerals specialist Mintek and with battery-related manufacturing companies, as well as an endowment of some of the minerals used in LIBS, such as manganese. Montmasson-Clair mentions that neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe have lithium, which South Africa can leverage. If South Africa gets serious about cell manufacturing, it can access copper from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or Zambia, cobalt from the DRC and Madagascar, graphite from Mozambique, Tanzania or Madagascar, nickel from Zimbabwe and Botswana and phosphate rock from Morocco, Algeria or Egypt. As it stands, South Africa only beneficiates manganese and aluminium to battery grade, while nickel and lithium beneficiation is in the pipeline. Montmasson-Clair points out that Manganese Metal Company, in Nelspruit, is the only company in the world, outside of China, that refines manganese to battery grade. The company produces about 28 000 t/y of electrolytic manganese metal for use in high-purity manganese sulphate, and in cathode. While Montmasson-Clair is confident that South Africa has the industrial capacity and know-how to manufacture LIB cells, but says there is but one pilot plant for this in the Western Cape. South African company Metair produces battery cells, but does so in Turkey and Romania, owing to it being more economically viable than producing these in South Africa. Some companies such as AutoX and MegaMillion aim to develop cell manufacturing capability in the country, but it remains to be seen if these plans will proceed. Moreover, Montmasson-Clair explains that battery manufacturing based on imported cells, since cell manufacturing is more costly to start up, is a more vibrant prospect in the country. He confirms that numerous firms have developed intellectual property and expertise in the manufacturing of specific component parts of batteries, such as casing, and in the assembly of battery packs. In some cases, companies have used this expertise to develop additional offerings, such as specialised vehicles. “Perhaps these companies can tap into cell manufacturing,” he suggests. Looking at battery recycling, Montmasson-Clair says South Africa has companies involved in marketing second-life batteries on the local market and that only a few facilities globally are in a position to effectively recycle LIBs. Montmasson-Clair explains that South Africa may not be able to compete with leading firms in terms of cell manufacturing and may als...