Mining Weekly

Effectively dealing with the problem of illegal mining operations really needs the recreation of specialised units by the South African Police Service (SAPS). So highlighted Harmony Gold executive director stakeholder relations and corporate affairs Dr Mashego Mashego, on the first day of the Investing in African Mining Indaba 2024 conference, in Cape Town. He was participating in a media briefing organised by Minerals Council South Africa. He stressed that illegal mining was not the same thing as artisanal mining, and the two should not be coupled together. Illegal mining was a form of organised crime, with different “tiers” of criminals, from Tier 1 (the low-level illegal miners), up through criminal hierarchies, to the top bosses (which Mashego referred to as “Tier 5”).

One of London-listed Pensana’s major potential customers has approved the product qualification specifications for Longonjo’s proposed mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) product. Longonjo, in Angola, is expected to produce 20 000 t of MREC starting in 2026 and 40 000 t of MREC from 2029 onwards following the planned expansion.

The domestic mining industry is looking at 2024 as a year of stabilisation, rather than growth, says Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane. The industry continues to face persistent challenges such as loadshedding, an ailing logistics sector, and a declining commodity market.

London-listed Rainbow Rare Earths has made progress with the ongoing rare earth oxide separation work under way at the back-end pilot plant, which is located at the facilities of Rainbow’s technical partner K-Technologies (K-Tech) in Florida, in the US, with group separation of the rare earth elements (REEs) achieved in the initial ion exchange testwork. The back-end plant process uses continuous ion exchange (CIX) and continuous ion chromatography (CIC) to produce separated rare earth oxides.

Aim-listed Bushveld Minerals met its 2023 production guidance and was able to achieve a level of operational performance in the first half of the financial year, despite facing cash flow challenges, CEO Craig Coltman says in an operational update for the three and 12 months ending December 31.  Production for the fourth quarter of 2023 decreased to 925 t of vanadium, compared with 1 000 t in the previous quarter.

Business organisation Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to show a clear commitment to the hard work of reform implementation during his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on Thursday evening. South Africa's electricity crisis remains a significant constraint, despite some progress having been made, and its logistics system has rapidly become a disaster for the economy, requiring urgent intervention, Mavuso said in her latest weekly newsletter on February 5.

The criminal syndicates that regularly bring South Africa’s coal export line to a halt have been identified through the intelligence operations that are conducted by Transnet Freight Rail (TFR). What is lacking is the ability of law-enforcement agencies to then work on information, see to convictions and ensure that the members of the syndicates are sentenced appropriately and are not released so that they are able to repeatedly resume their criminal behavior.

Aim-listed ZCCM-Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH) has confirmed that it has entered into an agreement with International Resources Holding (IRH), which will, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Delta Mining, acquire a 51% interest in Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) for $1.1-billion. ZCCM-IH and IRH will form a strategic partnership at MCM.

The JSE share price of South Africa-focused coal miner MC Mining rose by 26% on the afternoon of February 2, following its confirmation that it had received a bidder's statement from entities that, in December, made a nonbinding and indicative offer to acquire MC Mining. The JSE-, ASX- and Aim-listed coal miner in December announced that it had received a proposed offer from a consortium of its biggest shareholders – Senosi Group Investment Holdings and Dendocept, which already hold 64.3% of MC Mining's shares – to acquire all the shares it does not already own at a cash price of A$0.16 a share.

Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) says it experienced an improvement in rail volumes in the last quarter of the 2023 calendar year, as the implementation of Transnet’s recovery plan got under way. The quarterly rate of delivery to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) increased from 47.10-million tonnes in the third quarter to 48.74-million tonnes in the fourth quarter.

State entity the South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator (SADPMR) will hold its South Africa Platinum Centenary Commemoration event in Cape Town, on February 4,  a day before the thirtieth Investing in African Mining Indaba gets under way. The commemoration will be held in partnership with precious metals refiner Metal Concentrators, as part of its MineShift event.

Mozambique plans to end half a century of hydropower supply to South Africa’s State-owned electricity utility, raising risks for the continent’s most industrialized economy and threatening the viability of Africa’s second-biggest aluminum smelter. In the country’s yet-to-be published energy transition strategy, a copy of which Bloomberg has seen, Mozambique details the plan to secure the 1,150 megawatts of power it sells to South Africa from its Cahora Bassa plant for its own use.

ASX- and JSE-listed Orion Minerals has in place a company-making strategy of developing multiple metal producing hubs within South Africa’s Northern Cape, a richly endowed mineral province and a well-established mining jurisdiction, and it is making strong progress in terms of its production ambitions via its fast-track strategy. Moreover, the company is well funded in its endeavours, with cash reserves of $11-million as at the end of the December quarter, together with funding arrangements that allow it to progress the development of its Prieska copper/zinc mine, including trial mining and processing of ore, mine dewatering and the completion of feasibility studies for its early production plan.

Gold miner Pan African Resources has advised shareholders that it expects its headline earnings per share (HEPS) and earnings per share (EPS) for the six months ended December 31 to be between 41% and 51% higher year-on-year. The company’s HEPS and EPS will be between $0.0214 and $0.0023, compared with $0.0152 in the six months ended December 31, 2022.

Aim-listed potash development company Emmerson has said the results of an in-depth scoping study on a new and innovative processing route at its wholly-owned Khemisset potash project, in Morocco, will significantly reduce its environmental impact and enhance its economic returns. The scoping study sets out a novel proprietary processing method named the Khemisset Multi-Mineral Process (KMP), which involves the treatment of brine to remove magnesium and iron chlorides through the addition of phosphate and ammonia, allowing the residual brine to be recycled in the plant.

Aim-listed vanadium producer Bushveld Minerals has completed the refinancing of its unsecured convertible loan notes issued to Orion Mine Finance, which it secured in 2020. The company has refinanced its convertible debt obligations of $47.1-million partly through $4.7-million worth of shares issued to Orion, a new convertible loan note of $14-million due June 2028, a term loan of $28-million due June 2026 and a supplemental royalty at no more than 0.26% of Bushveld’s gross revenues.

Diversified miner Glencore has reported lower volumes across its key commodities for the 2023 financial year, but notes that these were all nonetheless still within the guided ranges. The company’s own-mined production for the year totalled 1.01-million tonnes of copper, reflecting a 5% year-on-year decline; 41 300 t of cobalt, marking a 6% year-on-year decrease; 918 500 t of zinc, which was 2% lower year-on-year; and 182 700 t of lead, reflecting a 5% year-on-year decrease.

A scoping study of JSE- and ASX-listed Southern Palladium’s 70%-owned Bengwenyama platinum group metals (PGMs) project on the eastern limp of the Bushveld Complex in South Africa shows “very attractive economics”, with results justifying the prefeasibility study which has already started, the company reports. The life-of-mine (LoM) on the Upper Group Two (UG2) reef only is estimated at 36 years with a total of about 52-million tonnes mined for an average yearly production rate of 330 000 oz of platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium and gold (6E) PGMs, with cash costs firmly at the low end of the global cost curve, the company points out.

London-listed Gem Diamonds recovered 109 656 ct of diamonds from its Letšeng mine, in Lesotho, for 2023 – an increase on the 106 704 ct recovered in 2022. In a trading update on the company's performance for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2023, Gem says all operational and financial metrics achieved for the year were within or better than revised guidance.

The lithium market is entering a period of transition, with the once-unstoppable demand growth for the key battery material now decelerating as the market matures and electric vehicle (EV) sales are subdued. “Lower government incentives and inadequate infrastructure are expected to curtail EV sales in 2024,” says Wood Mackenzie (Wood Mac) principal analyst for lithium, Allan Pedersen.