Mining Weekly

Uranium exploration and development company Madison Metals CEO Duane Parnham has said the latest findings from the company’s Khan uranium exploration project at Madison West, in the Erongo uranium province of Namibia, have exceeded expectations. “We are on the cusp of something remarkable,” he said on May 7, following a recent visit to the site.

TSX-V-listed GoviEx Uranium this week hosted a Ministerial delegation at its Madaouela uranium project, in Niger, amid ongoing discussions with government as the project development advances. Niger Mines Minister Ousmane Abarchi visited the site along with the governor of the Agadez region and local community officials.

ASX-listed Sierra Rutile on Tuesday announced the planned to restart of Area 1 mining operations, pending a contract for additional power generation capacity and assuming that a new fiscal regime would be in place. Earlier this week, the government instructed Sierra Rutile to restart operations at Area 1 by the end of May, claiming that the company had violated the Mines and Minerals Development Act by suspending operations early this year.

With first-quarter gold production down 34% at South Deep gold mine, Gold Fields is focusing on setting up the well-endowed long-life Gauteng operation for longevity, quality ounces and sustainable production increases. The challenging quarter of the bulk mechanised mine near Westonaria, west of Johannesburg, which has been built to extract one of the world’s largest gold deposits, is focusing the resolve of the Johannesburg- and New York-listed Gold Fields to increase backfill tipping points, increase long-hole stope drilling and improve ventilation, road conditions and service utilities underground.

South Africa’s biggest labour union federation urged local shareholders, including the powerful Public Investment Corporation (PIC), to oppose BHP Group’s bid to buy Anglo American. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which includes the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) among its members, said a deal wouldn’t be in the national interest. South African shareholders hold about 26% of Anglo, with the PIC owning 8.4%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Aim-listed Bushveld Minerals has secured additional funding to provide immediate working capital relief and ensure continuity of its operations by entering into a binding term sheet with Southern Point Resources Fund (SPR) to conditionally sell the entire Vanchem vanadium processing plant asset for up to $40.6-million. The transaction comprises an initial consideration of $20.6-million and a deferred consideration of between $15-million and $20-million.

Mineral exploration and development company Kore Potash will list its shares on South Africa’s A2X Markets, with its shares to be available for trade on the exchange from May 14. It is already listed on the LSE’s Aim market, the JSE and the ASX and these listings will remain unaffected by its secondary listing on A2X.

BHP's plan to divest the South African assets of its target Anglo American are key to the strategy behind the proposed takeover and is expected to be a part of any revised offer, investors briefed on the miner's thinking said. The "Big Australian" was rebuffed by its smaller rival on April 26 after submitting a $39-billion takeover proposal, in a plan seen as complex because it required Anglo to offload its shares in Kumba Iron Ore and Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) to Anglo American's shareholders before any deal took place.

The secretary-general of the International Seabed Authority is set to run for a third term leading the United Nations-affiliated organization that regulates deep sea mining, as control of mineral resources used to make electric car batteries becomes a focus of US-China rivalry. The ISA’s 168 member nations and the European Union will elect the next secretary-general at what is expected to be a pivotal meeting in July. Secretary-General Michael Lodge, a UK lawyer, will be opposed by Brazilian marine scientist Leticia Carvalho in an election that will shape the future of deep sea mining. It comes as the ISA faces pressure to finish writing regulations that could allow mining to begin within the next two years.

Last month copper mining company Copper 360 surprised on the upside by producing its first copper concentrate from surface material well ahead of schedule. Now, this month, it is doing the same on the underground mining front in that it will be opening its Rietberg underground copper mine three months ahead of schedule.

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa denies that the prevailing reprieve from loadshedding has been “stage managed” to improve the prospects of the governing African National Congress ahead of the May 29 poll, attributing it instead to “orchestrated” engineering efforts undertaken by Eskom over the past 18 months. Speaking during a briefing that coincided with the fortieth consecutive day of no loadshedding and amid growing societal cynicism about the timing of such supply stability, the Minister also strenuously denied that the improved performance was because Eskom was relying more heavily on the diesel-fuelled open cycle gas turbines that it owned as well as those operated by independent power producers (IPPs).

ASX- and JSE-listed Orion Minerals has reached the final stages of its acquisition of a controlling interest in the Okiep copper project, located about 570 km north of Cape Town in the Northern Cape. Strategic funding partner the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) has now obtained internal approvals and counter-signed the addenda to the agreements which will see Orion acquire the controlling interest in Okiep.

About $7-billion of infrastructure investments in the Democratic Republic of Congo by Chinese companies in a revised minerals deal will largely depend on copper prices remaining high, details of the agreement published on Friday show. The government of President Felix Tshisekedi pushed for a review of the 2008 infrastructure for minerals deal with Sinohydro Corp and China Railway Group to bring more benefits for Congo, the world's biggest cobalt producer.

Two of BHP Group’s biggest rivals are sitting on the sidelines for the moment as they watch to see how a takeover offer for Anglo American will play out. Both Rio Tinto Group and Glencore are more focused on waiting for opportunities to snap up specific parts of Anglo’s business as BHP’s bid unfolds, rather than pursuing rival offers for the entire group.

The government of Sierra Leone has instructed ASX-listed Sierra Rutile to recommence mining activities in Area 1 by the end of the month. Government views Sierra Rutile’s suspension of mining at Area 1 as a violation of the Mines and Minerals Development Act and has given the company until May 31 to address the situation.

Green hydrogen, which is generated with the benefit of the catalysis that platinum group metals (PGMs) provide, is being increasingly highlighted as a pillar of the global decarbonisation transition that is poised to save the world from ruinous climate change. News just out is that steps are being taken to locate a green hydrogen production facility in a location where the 2030 Winter Olympics are to be held in the French Alps.

Global coal organisation FutureCoal has suggested that world leaders follow a balanced, pragmatic and responsible approach to energy policy, following an announcement by the Group of Seven (G7) forum that unabated coal will be phased out by 2035. The announcement was made at a G7 Ministerial meeting on climate, energy and environment matters.

As BHP Group considers its next move, there’s one big question facing the mining world’s bankers, analysts and executives at rival producers: What’s Anglo American actually worth? Anglo’s shares are trading about 8% above the price implied by BHP’s initial proposal, which was swiftly and firmly rejected, and Bloomberg reported on the weekend that the larger firm was considering an improved offer.

To strengthen its balance sheet and fund its ongoing operations, ASX-listed West Wits Mining has secured firm commitments from unrelated existing and new sophisticated and professional investors to raise A$1.4-million, before costs, through a share placement. It intends to issue about 107.69-million fully paid ordinary shares at A$0.013 a piece.

Specialist graphite producer Tirupati Graphite says its directors have offered to meet with shareholders who have requested a general meeting be held to allow shareholders to vote on the removal of three directors from the company's board. The company, which has operations in Madagascar and Mozambique and is listed in London, on April 26 reported having received a letter from Walpole St Andrews Nominees, on behalf of a group of underlying shareholders holding, in aggregate, about 5.8% of Tirupati's issued ordinary share capital.