Mining Weekly

The richness of South Africa’s copper assets were emphasised on Monday when Northern Cape mine developer and explorer Orion Minerals published a standout intercept that sent its shares rocketing up 58% on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Orion, headed by CEO Errol Smart, is primarily listed on the ASX, where it has 1 300 shareholders, and secondarily listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), where it has 28 000 shareholders.

JSE-listed Merafe has reported that its attributable ferrochrome production from the Glencore Merafe Chrome Venture in the first quarter ended March 31 was 77 000 t. This represents a 26% decrease from the 103 000 t produced in the first quarter of 2023.

The Johannesburg High Court on April 19 granted permission to appeal an earlier ruling denying class action certification for 140 000 women and children in Kabwe, Zambia, who allege they have suffered the effects of lead poisoning as a result of a mine formerly owned by Anglo American in the country. In granting permission, Justice Leonie Wendell found that an appeal against her earlier judgment had “reasonable prospects of success on at least one ground of appeal” and that there were “compelling reasons to grant the appeal, as class action law is still being developed in South Africa”, and that “there are current matters of law of public importance which directly implicate constitutional rights”.

Diversified miner South32 has reported an overall improvement in its operating results for the March quarter and record year-to-date production at Hillside Aluminium, in KwaZulu-Natal, and South Africa Manganese, in the Northern Cape, along with a 60% increase in quarterly volumes at Illawarra Metallurgical Coal, in Australia. The group confirmed that its operating unit cost guidance for the 2024 financial year will remain unchanged, with the exception of the group’s Australia Manganese operations, which were affected by the impacts of tropical cyclone Megan.

ASX- and Aim-listed Base Resources and US-based uranium and critical minerals producer Energy Fuels have reached a binding agreement for Energy Fuels to acquire 100% of the issued shares in Base Resources by way of scheme of arrangement. Base shareholders are to receive 0.0260 Energy Fuels common shares plus an unfranked special dividend of A$0.065 for each Base share held, equating to total consideration of about A$0.302 a share.

London-listed Gem diamonds has recovered a 169.15 ct Type II white diamond from the Letšeng mine, in Lesotho. The find marks the fourth diamond greater than 100 ct that Gem has recovered in the year-to-date.

Aim-listed Goldplat reports that diesel generators have arrived at its operations in South Africa, and that their commissioning will be finalised by the end of April. The company points out that, during the third quarter of the current financial year, its operations have lost 6% of total operating hours available owing to electricity supply cuts and infrastructure related issues, lower than the time lost in the previous calendar year of more than 20%.

Independent commodity research group CPM Group managing partner Jeffrey Christian has dispelled some of the common myths in the platinum market, which can lead to bad investment decisions on the part of producers, investors, governments and other financing sources. “There are high costs to making financial decisions based on a desired future rather than a realistically probable future based on an erroneous understanding of present market conditions and probable outcomes,” he explains in a market alert issued on April 19.

With the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) currently scheduled to be operationalised in July and efforts under way to ensure that the Electricity Regulation Act (ERA) Amendment Bill is passed by the current Parliament, work is now advancing on the market code for the future multimarket architecture that will progressively replace the vertically integrated structure that has prevailed for over a century. Eskom transmission MD  Segomoco Scheppers will lead the NTCSA once it begins trade after addressing the remaining Companies Act requirements, having already met the key conditions of board independence, licensing and lender consent.

The mining industry makes a significant difference in the lives and livelihoods of employees and society in South Africa through economic and socioeconomic contributions, but more can be done on the governmental administrative front to enable increased benefits, says Minerals Council South Africa chief economist Hugo Pienaar. He told Mining Weekly that the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy had expressed commitment to reducing red tape and processing applications, such as mineral right exploration applications quicker.

Khomotso Mosehla, a long-standing nonexecutive director of MC Mining, has resigned as a director of the company, effective April 19. He has been a member of MC Mining's board of directors since late 2010 and contributed to the company being positioned to become South Africa's pre-eminent steelmaking hard coking coal producer, the company says.

With ASX- and TSX-listed Perseus Mining now holding a relevant interest of 94.99% of ASX-listed OreCorp’s shares, the company is moving to a compulsory acquisition of the remaining shares it does not own. Perseus’ offer is closing on April 19, affording remaining shareholders the opportunity to sell their shares at Perseus’ offer price of A$0.575 apiece.

A new process being pioneered by energy companies such as Israel-based Helios and Netherlands-based Alkalium proposes the use of sodium metal rather than coal or hydrogen to refine iron-ore into direct reduced iron (DRI). Traditionally, iron is beneficiated by mixing iron-ore fines with coal. The iron oxide (Fe2O3), when heated in a furnace, undergoes a chemical transformation whereby the oxygen molecules from the Fe2O3 bind with the carbon molecules in the coal, creating carbon dioxide (CO2) as a by-product and leaving pure iron behind.

UK-based battery metals miner Marula Mining has announced that it will undertake a secondary listing of its shares on South Africa’s A2X Markets exchange, with shares due to become available for trade from April 25. The company’s primary listing on the Acquis Stock Exchange remains unaffected by the listing on A2X.

Gold surged past $2 400 an ounce as concerns over rising tensions between Israel and Iran stoked haven demand. Bullion rose as much as 1.3% and headed for a fifth weekly gain after unverified media reports of explosions in Iran, Syria and Iraq.

The emerging use of electrofuel (eFuel) as an interchangeable substitute for petrol, diesel and aviation fuel has the potential to create important new demand for Southern Africa’s platinum group metals (PGMs). This is because eFuel is a combination of green hydrogen and waste carbon dioxide (CO2) and demand for PGMs will arise when proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers are used to generate the green hydrogen. PGMs and PEMs go hand-in-glove.

Multinational mining and metals processing company Sibanye-Stillwater says the Siphumelele shaft at its Rustenburg operation is on schedule to resume production during May, as planned. A surface ore conveyor belt system at the shaft suffered damage in February when an ore collector bin attached to the shaft headgear sheared off and fell to the ground.

London-listed mining services company Capital has recorded a 3.1% year-on-year increase in revenue to $80.2-million for the quarter ended March 31, marking a good start to its financial year. Mining revenue for the first quarter of $18.2-million, which was up 41% year-on-year, offset an 8.9% decrease year-on-year in drilling and associated revenue, which amounted to $52-million.

South Africa will use future drawdowns of its Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account to curb its debt burden, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said, adding he was pondering tax hikes and expenditure cuts in the next post-election budget. Africa's most industrialised nation is grappling with an ailing economy and high debt ahead of a general election on May 29 that could see the governing African National Congress party lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid 30 years ago.

Aim- and ASX-listed Jubilee Metals has achieved record production levels at its South African chrome operations, both on monthly output for March and for the quarter ended March 31 – which is the third quarter of the company’s 2024 financial year. Chrome output of 408 710 t in the quarter compares with the 381 114 t of chrome produced in the second quarter of the year.