Mining Weekly

Exploration and development company Moab Minerals on Tuesday announced the “transformational” acquisition of a portfolio of advanced uranium assets in Tanzania. The company entered into a binding share sale agreement for the acquisition of 81.85% of the shares in Australian proprietary company Linx Resources, 80% owner of licences comprising the Manyoni and Octavo uranium projects.

London-listed Tirupati Graphite has completed a 5 000 m diamond core programme and a 26 000 m auger drilling programme on its two flake graphite projects in Madagascar. Consultancy SRK Consulting is in the process of drafting an updated competent persons report (CPR) on the Vatomina and Sahamamy projects.

South African gold producer Aurous, which owns and operates the Blyvoor gold mine and the Gauta tailings retreatment project on Gauteng's West Rand, has announced plans to go public through a business combination with US-based Rigel Resource Acquisition Corp.  The transaction, which puts Aurous at a pre-money equity value of some R6.76-billion ($362-million), is expected to enable Blyvoor to expand its underground infrastructure, enhance surface infrastructure, and optimise operations through economies of scale.

Full ownership and execution of factors that are within management’s control are being elevated to the highest possible level by African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) CEO Phillip Tobias. ARM has sharpened its pencil in as far as things that are within its control are concerned and success is being achieved tackling costs, increasing volumes, and managing grades.

Aim-listed Mkango Resources and partner TSX-V-listed CoTec have appointed two US-based engineering solutions companies to engineer and design a rare earth elements magnet recycling plant and production facility in the US, as part of a bankable feasibility study (BFS) for the HyProMag US project. HyProMag, of which HyProMag US forms part, aims to develop a sustainable and long-term supply of neodymium/iron/boron permanent magnets in the US, which should enable the creation of low-carbon and traceable rare earth supply chains, while building rare earth magnet recycling capacity in the UK and Germany.

JSE- and NYSE-listed Gold Fields’ board has approved a A$296-million, or $195-million, renewable energy project to be built at the St Ives mine, in Western Australia. The plant, comprising 42 MW of wind and 35 MW of solar capacity, will be the largest in the Gold Fields portfolio, to date, and will provide 73% of the electricity required by the operation.

ASX-listed uranium developer Deep Yellow plans to raise A$220-million through a two-tranche placement and an additional $30-million through a share purchase plan for eligible shareholders. The company says the placement is strongly supported by new and existing domestic and international institutional investors, with demand so far exceeding the funds the company has sought to raise.

Iron-ore slumped almost 5% — heading toward the $110 a ton mark — as disappointing demand in China left the market lumbered with bulging inventories. The steelmaking material has tumbled by almost a quarter from a peak in early January as China’s real estate and manufacturing activity remained under pressure. The annual National People’s Congress in Beijing, which concludes Monday, offered few prospects of a demand boost, and iron ore stockpiles at ports have ballooned to their highest in a year.

Process and optimisation technology company Metso has launched the first of its Concorde Cell high-intensity pneumatic flotation units in Africa through local manufacturing partner Betterect, which fabricated Metso’s design in South Africa for the first time. Metso’s Concorde Cell flotation technology is designed to improve the recovery of fine and ultra-fine particles when processing finely disseminated and complex ore grades, as well as declining ore grades.

African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) executive chairperson Dr Patrice Motsepe said during Friday’s presentation of dividend-yielding results that his diversified mining company is committed to confronting climate change. “Our policies are part of what we call a just and a fair transition,” said Motsepe of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company, which is engaged in iron-ore, manganese, platinum group metals and coal mining.

Coal miner MC Mining’s share price on the JSE rose by more than 6% on March 8, after announced that it had received a letter from fellow coal miner Vulcan Resources outlining a non-binding proposal to make an off-market cash takeover offer for all the shares in MC Mining at an indicative price of between A$0.17 and A$0.20 a share. The proposed offer values JSE-, Aim- and ASX-listed MC Mining at between A$69.34-million and A$81.58-million.

Global miner AngloGold Ashanti has appointed Jochen Tilk chairperson effective May 28, subject to his re-election at an annual general meeting on the same day. This follows after the incumbent Maria Ramos opted not to stand for re-election. She has served as AngloGold’s chairperson since December 2020.

ASX- and London-listed Resolute Mining has published its Annual Ore Reserve and Resource Statement as at December 31, 2023, which indicates that total mineral resources have been maintained at 11.2-million ounces of gold. This comes as exploration success at Syama North, in Mali, and Tomboronkoto, in Senegal, had offset mining depletion.

ASX-listed Perseus Mining has released a second supplementary bidder’s statement in relation to its off-market takeover bid for all issued ordinary shares of fellow-listed OreCorp, which extends the closing date for the company’s offer to April 19. Perseus’ A$0.55 all-cash bid equates to a consideration of A$258-million.

London-listed Petra Diamonds has started with a recruitment process to appoint a successor to CFO Jacques Breytenbach, who has resigned owing to personal reasons. Breytenbach will remain in his role until the delivery of the company’s full-year results at the end of September and to ensure a smooth transition of his responsibilities.

Diversified mining company African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) on Friday declared an interim dividend for the six months ended December 31, when ARM had net cash of R7.9-billion. The interim dividend of R6 a share is well down on the R14 a share declared in the corresponding period of last year.

With the United Nations having designated the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day as ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress’, Minerals Council South Africa president and chair of the Women in Mining leadership forum Nolitha Fakude highlighted that the mining industry has played a crucial role in the fight against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) in South Africa. During a media breakfast on March 7, Fakude noted that, through partnerships with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the GBVF Response Fund, mining companies have pledged financial support to build, refurbish and support the NPA’s Thuthuzela Care Centres that provide support for GBV survivors.

When Engineering News & Mining Weekly covered last month’s local launch of BMW’s first hydrogen car fleet on South Africa's roads, we discovered that BMW’s hydrogen refilling station in Midrand is powered by Elemental Energy’s off-grid hydrogen power system, which has a crucial Toyota fuelcell underpin.  Interestingly, we now learn that Elemental Energy is on a major mission to build hydrogen power systems in developing countries in particular.

Canadian miner Dundee Precious Metals (DPM) will sell its Tsumeb smelter, in Namibia, to Sinomine Resources for $49-million in cash. Tsumeb is one of the few smelters globally that can treat complex polymetallic concentrates, including those with higher arsenic content. It produces blister copper (98.5% copper), which is refined in Europe and Asia, and sulphuric acid as a by-product.

JSE-listed Murray & Roberts (M&R) says it still intends to regain a foothold in the Australian mining market, which it lost when RUC’s Australian holding company entered voluntary administration in late 2022. However, CEO Henry Laas indicates that it will adopt a capital-light approach to the building of its new Cementation APAC business, the development of which will be pursued more assertively only once the massively downscaled group has a “sustainable capital structure” in place.