Mining Weekly

Power utility Eskom plans to downgrade loadshedding to Stage 3 from 05:00 on Tuesday. This will be followed by Stage 4 loadshedding from 16:00 on Tuesday to 05:00 on Wednesday. This pattern will be repeated until further notice.

ASX- and JSE-listed Southern Palladium finds in a scoping study that the Bengwenyama platinum group metals (PGMs) project, in the Bushveld Complex of South Africa, has the potential for a 26-year mine life. The company also finds that the project will have a consistent and uniform grade being fed to the plant, meaning there will be a lower need for grade blending.

Gold miner Harmony Gold has maintained its Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) score of ‘A’ for its water management during the 2023 assessment period. CDP is a global nonprofit organisation that manages the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies and regions. It works with many companies to disclose their environmental impacts, reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) has approved graphite producer and natural graphite anode developer Volt Resources’ concept paper for the ‘Integrated Production of Natural Graphite Anode via Innovative Process’ for much larger nondilutive funding of over $100-million. This is in addition to the DoE’s previous approval of $1-million in nondilutive funding, following review of Volt’s concept paper on ‘Critical Materials’.

Mining multinational Anglo American and Finnish State-owned mining company Finnish Minerals Group have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore opportunities to further support the northern European country's battery strategy. As a Finnish state-owned company with a mandate to foster the Finnish mining and battery industry, Finnish Minerals is a natural potential partner for Anglo American in Finland, the groups say.

Aim-listed Katoro Gold, which holds mining assets in Africa, has secured new financing and is implementing business and development changes, along with board changes, to reinvigorate the company. Financing was by way of a broker-led placing and subscription with new and existing shareholders to support business development, raising £750 000 through the issue of 750-million shares.

US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) deputy CEO Nisha Biswal has announced new financing in support of the Lobito Corridor, which extends across Angola, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), at this year’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment’s (PGI) Lobito Corridor Investor Forum, in Lusaka, Zambia. “Africa is DFC’s largest regional portfolio with over $11-billion in financing for projects across the continent, including along the Lobito Corridor. We are committed to working with our partners on the continent to build high-quality infrastructure and invest in agriculture, healthcare and financial services that will impact lives and livelihoods across the corridor,” Biswal commented in a February 8 statement.

Exxaro Resources CEO Nombasa Tsengwa is sharpening the South African coal producer’s diversification strategy, after failing to acquire new mining and energy assets. The Johannesburg-based company made it onto a shortlist for buying a copper mine in Botswana last year, but was ultimately outbid by China’s MMG, which acquired the Khoemacau project for $1.9-billion.

Minerals Council South Africa is looking at the possibility of promoting permanent aerial mesh support throughout the mining industry as part of its fall-of-ground action plan. The Minerals Council has a robust fall-of-ground action plan that targets several dimensions of the biggest contributor to mining incidents.

Aim-listed Premier African Minerals has published a new South African Mineral Resource Committee- (Samrec-) compliant mineral resource estimate (MRE) for its wholly-owned Zulu lithium and tantalum project. The new MRE is concerned with those areas of the Zulu tenements that are expected to be mined and processed through the present plant, and estimates lithium oxide (Li2O) that is contained in spodumene, specifically Li2O that is attributable to spodumene at 107 366 t and the direct conversion of the contained Li2O to spodumene concentrate 6 (SC6) is 1.7-million tonnes.

Triple-listed Kore Potash’s share price on the JSE surged by more than 30% on February 9 after it confirmed that PowerChina International Group had, on February 6, delivered its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) proposal and draft EPC contract for Kore’s 97%-owned Kola project, in Congo-Brazzaville. In April 2021, ASX-, JSE- and Aim-listed Kore established a memorandum of understanding with the Summit Consortium for optimisation and EPC services, alongside a debt and royalty financing proposal for the Kola project.

NYSE- and TSX-listed Barrick Gold has reported growth in attributable proven and probable gold mineral reserves by five-million ounces before 2023 depletion, while also striving to maintain the quality of the mineral reserve base. As such, the company’s attributable proven and probable mineral reserves now stand at 77-million ounces at 1.65 g/t, compared with 76-million ounces at 1.67g/t in 2022.

The sustainability of the South African mining industry and its ability to play a meaningful and positive role in society and the economy are dependent on urgent and extensive structural reforms in the energy and logistics sectors, mining industry organisation the Minerals Council South Africa has asserted in response to President Cyril Ramaphosa's February 8 State of the Nation Address (SoNA). A stable, aligned and consistent regulatory environment with efficient administration is essential to attract and retain investments in exploration, mine development and mining, the council emphasised.

Zimbabwe’s state sovereign wealth fund has now acquired all of state mining company Kuvimba Mining House Ltd., in a bid to end speculation about its ownership. Kuvimba holds some of Zimbabwe’s best mining assets, which were once owned by a company controlled by US- and UK-sanctioned tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei, an adviser to Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa. The government has never given details of how they came to fall under its control other than to say they were acquired for an undisclosed amount.

President Cyril Ramaphosa used his final State of the Nation Address ahead of upcoming elections to reiterate government’s commitment to reforms in the country’s failing power and logistics sectors, including one that would open the electricity transmission sector to private investors. Speaking against the backdrop of almost daily power disruptions, South Africa’s worst-ever year for loadshedding in 2023, and a precipitous collapse in the freight rail service, which was constraining key commodity exports, Ramaphosa described the power and logistics crises as the “most important constraints on economic growth”.

Metals processing company Jubilee Metals aims to expand its operations in Zambia to produce an initial 25 000 t/y of copper. The strategy includes the expansion of Jubilee’s copper resource base and processing capacity. As part of this strategy, Jubilee is expanding its processing facilities at its Roan concentrator and Sable refinery, both in Zambia, after it secured both significant virgin waste rock licences and overlooked copper reef opportunities.

Diamond producer De Beers reported on February 8 that its 2023 fourth-quarter rough diamond production had decreased by 3% year-on-year to 7.9-million carats, primarily owing to the planned reduction in South Africa as the Venetia mine transitions to underground operations. This was partly offset by a 6% year-on-year increase in production from Botswana to 6.1-million carats, principally driven by increased plant throughput at Orapa owing to planned lower maintenance.

Platinum group metals (PGM) miner Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) has informed shareholders that it expects to report a 67% to 77% year-on-year decrease in headline earnings and headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the 2023 financial year. The company, which will publish its financial results on February 19, noted in a trading statement on February 8, that its headline earnings for the 12 months to December 31 are likely to be between R11.1-billion and R16-billion, compared with the headline earnings of R48.8-billion reported for 2022.

JSE-listed Impala Platinum (Implats) expects to report an up to 83% year-on-year decrease in headline earnings for the six months to December 31, 2023, as a result of lower revenue arising from a 37% lower achieved dollar price per platinum, palladium, rhodium, ridium, ruthenium and gold (6E) ounce sold, partially offset by an 8% weaker rand. Sales volumes for the six-month period were 12% higher year-on-year, benefitting from the maiden interim consolidation of Impala Bafokeng and improved operational momentum.

Anglo American subsidiary Kumba Iron Ore CE Mpumi Zikalala has reiterated that State-owned Transnet’s rail performance challenges have placed so much pressure on Kumba’s value chain that the company has had to moderate its production rates. Following the completion of the yearly logistics maintenance shutdown by Transnet in October last year, Kumba’s iron-ore railed to the Saldanha Bay port decreased by 19% in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter, resulting in on-mine stockpiles increasing to unsustainable levels, Zikalala said at the release of Kumba’s production and sales report for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2023.