Mining Weekly

Metal markets analyst Dr David Davis, who passed away this week at the age of 77, was closely associated with the platinum, gold and uranium mining and investment for more than four decades.  Known for his relentless pursuit of data pertaining to global supply and demand specifics, Davis earlier this year calculated, in a 25-page review for Auctus Metal Portfolios of Singapore, that overwhelming demand and declining South African mining supply were on the horizon for platinum in particular. 

South Africa’s green hydrogen economy faces complexities and challenges, both upstream and downstream, and this requires technological disruption and commitment beyond the current value chain. This was how EPCM Global Engineering CEO Tumi Kgomo summarised the 'Overcoming challenges of developing a robust infrastructure for hydrogen production, transportation and storage' session, during the 2024 Hydrogen Economy Discussion event, held in Johannesburg this week.

Platinum group metals (PGMs) miner Zimplats CEO Alexander Mhembere is confident about the company’s ability to become cash-generative in the next financial year, which starts in July, despite the tough political and economic landscape of Zimbabwe and general PGM market challenges brought on by low prices. Addressing attendees at the PGMs Industry Day, in Johannesburg, this week, he noted that, even amid the current downturn in PGM prices, the company would be striving to maintain the bulk of its workforce and would not be hasty in “pulling the lever” on downsizing initiatives.

In this article, EY Africa strategy and transactions leader Quintin Hobbs writes about the growth in green hydrogen demand and the related growth in electrolyser demand. It is now clear that green hydrogen will play a pivotal role in the global energy transition, especially in hard-to-decarbonise heavy industry sectors that include chemical manufacturing, steelmaking, cement and transport. 

Platinum group metals (PGM) miner Northam Platinum CEO Paul Dunne firmly believes internal combustion engines (ICEs) are here to stay for the foreseeable future, which, in his view, will mean salvation for PGM miners that are struggling to remain profitable amid sustained low commodity prices. “The world is getting over the love affair with electric vehicles. There's no question about that. It certainly will not be a replacement for the ICE. However, it's capturing some market share, but ICEs will have a longer life and the lower metal requirement will be balanced by natural depletion,” he said at the PGMs Industry Day, in Johannesburg, earlier this week.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between the University of South Africa’s (Unisa’s) College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET) and copper mining company Palabora Copper, a subsidiary of the Palabora Mining Company, based in Phalaborwa, Limpopo. The signing of the MoU, which took place in Johannesburg on April 12, marks the start of a strategic partnership between the two entities aimed at achieving mutual goals in the fields of science, engineering and technology and seeking to enhance efficiency, productivity and overall success through various initiatives.

Africa-focused mining and development company Marula Mining is now progressing sales agreements with Fujax UK and a number of other parties in South Africa for the sale of the by-product minerals produced at its Blesberg lithium and tantalum mine in South Africa’s Northern Cape. These will be extracted through the company’s existing processing and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) sorting equipment.

Green hydrogen has a massive potential future and South Africa is very well positioned to produce it, attendees of the Hydrogen Economy Discussion heard on Thursday. Most of the 90-million tonnes of hydrogen produced currently through the likes of South Africa’s Sasol and others is grey.

South Africa's Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), through the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has launched the first of three new government-led collaborative circular economy initiatives focusing on priority economic sectors that were identified by government in the science, technology and innovation (STI) 2022 to 2032 decadal plan. The first of the three initiatives, the South African Circular Minerals and Metals Initiative (SACMMI), was launched in Pretoria, on April 11. The other two, the South African Circular Agricultural Initiative (SACAI) and the South African Circular Manufacturing Initiative (SACMI), will follow.

New research, developments in technology and advancements in equipment are unlocking significant growth opportunities in the extraction and treatment of tailings in South Africa. However, while there are many benefits in the development of the tailings sector, various risks remain, including the safety of communities surrounding tailings dams, ensuring efficient and cost-effective extraction, environmental factors and infrastructure management, besides others.

Industry experts have agreed that the future of the platinum group metals (PGMs) market appears to hinge on collaborative efforts to make strategic investments in market development to ensure sustained growth and innovation. Speaking on a panel at the PGMs Industry Day, in Johannesburg, on April 10, PGMs producer Impala Platinum (Implats) refining and marketing group executive Sifiso Sibiya emphasised the importance of market development for PGM producers.

TSX-listed NextSource Materials has made progress with the development of a battery anode facility in the Freeport Zone of Port Louis, Mauritius. Following a comprehensive process, the company signed a long-term lease agreement for the site and has completed engineering improvements to the plant design.

Mining and metals processing multinational Sibanye-Stillwater says it will enter into consultations with organised labour and other stakeholders in terms of Section 189A of the Labour Relations Act regarding the proposed restructuring at its South African gold operations and its Southern Africa region services functions. Further to previous restructuring concluded during 2023 and in the first quarter of this year, the ongoing group business review has identified a need to address losses at the Beatrix 1 shaft, which has been unable to deliver planned production, as well as at the Kloof 2 plant, which, after the closure of the Kloof 4 shaft during 2023, has had insufficient processing material available to cover overheads.

Aim-listed Botswana Diamonds (BOD) has discovered a second 6 ha anomaly close to a prior 12 ha anomaly announced in January, with the drilling of five holes to start once an environmental-impact assessment has been completed. The new kimberlite targets have the potential to upgrade the existing resources in the area, including at the Gaghoo mine, which is currently under care and maintenance.

As new energy vehicle (NEV) sales grow more moderately in reality than what was expected two years ago, demand for platinum group metals (PGMs) in the automotive sector is not trailing off as drastically as may have been expected, a panel of speakers noted during a PGMs Industry Day event hosted, in Johannesburg, on April 10. Circular materials technology company Umicore precious metals management senior VP Bernhard Fuchs said many people believed internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles would be on the way out by now, but it turned out that the growth of NEVs had been more gradual, with the majority of vehicles on the road remaining ICE-propelled.

South African platinum group metal (PGM) miners are overcoming challenges and building new mines locally, albeit in phases, to derisk some of these promising tier-one projects. PGM mining industry leaders, participating in a panel discussion as part of the PGMs Industry Day conference on April 10, highlighted that costs per ounce were a significant focus, and that these were in addition to challenges, namely electricity shortages and logistics bottlenecks, facing all South African real economy companies.

Vanadium Resources (VR8), a South Africa-focused, ASX-listed junior, on Thursday announced an offtake memorandum of understanding (MoU) with one of China’s leading vanadium nitride producers, Panjin Hexiang New Materials Technology. Under the terms of the MoU, VR8 will supply of 4 000 t/y of vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) from its Steelpoortdrift and Tweefontein vanadium operations to Hexiang. The agreement spans a period of five years, with the potential for Hexiang to extend for an additional five years.

London-listed Blencowe Resources has confirmed receipt of a third tranche of funding of $1-million from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). DFC in September last year granted financing of $5-million to Blencowe to cover definitive feasibility study costs for the Orom-Cross project, in Uganda.

Further to Goldway Capital Investment extending the offer period to take over all the shares of coal miner MC Mining that it does not already own for A$0.16 apiece, Goldway has declared its offer as unconditional after increasing its interest in MC Mining to 83.67%. In rand and pound terms, the offer consideration amounts to R1.96 and 8.3p a share, respectively.

Africa-focused mining and development company Marula Mining has unveiled significant assay results confirming high-grade and broad graphite mineralisation at surface at the Nyorinyori and NyoriGreen graphite projects, in Tanzania. This follows a previous update by the company on the Phase 1 programme of exploration activities at Nyorinyori and NyoriGreen, subsequent to the receipt and analysis of assay results from a major sampling programme completed in December 2023.