Mining Weekly

Despite South African mining ending up tenth in a ten-country global benchmarking exercise, two-thirds of the respondents who participated in a survey appear to be more intent on just doing the same things better rather than modernising meaningfully. Despite the sustainability of South African mining being under pressure, the majority of the coal, gold, uranium, platinum group metals, diamond, iron-ore, manganese, copper, and industrial minerals profile surveyed are not modernising – and even environmental considerations ended up as "a secondary dimension". (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Blended finance private equity fund SA-H2, which focuses on the green hydrogen value chain and the Southern African energy transition, has achieved its first close with R3-billion in commitments from public and private institutions. The milestone was announced by Climate Fund Managers, a climate-focused blended finance investment manager operating in emerging markets across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Congo has banned exports of copper concentrate and cobalt concentrate in a major escalation of its drive to force domestic processing and retain more value from its vast mineral resources, according to a new government order reviewed by Reuters on Thursday. The June 29 order, signed by Mines Minister Louis Kabamba Watum, Foreign Trade Minister Julien Paluku Kahongya and Economy Minister Daniel Mukoko Samba, states that "the export of copper and cobalt concentrates is prohibited."

As mining remains the “backbone of South Africa’s economy”, due care must be exercised when implementing legislative interventions to minimise damage to investor sentiment and avoid curtailing the mining industry's growth, Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane notes in a statement published as part of the mining industry's response to the 'Industrial Development Strategy 2026', published by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) in June. He notes that the strategy creates “huge opportunity”, but there are also concerns with the way the mining sector and the potential impact on mineral exports are presented in the strategy. He cites the proposals for restricted exports of chrome ore and associated tariffs, and the misaligned condition of linking the granting of mining rights to beneficiation, as areas that worry the mining industry.

Mining equipment supplier Epiroc has agreed to acquire the business of Eventspec, a South African mining aftermarket solutions provider that manufactures parts for drill rigs, mine trucks and loaders and provides related rebuilds, repairs and services. Eventspec is based in Johannesburg and its customers are mainly mining companies in South Africa.

All three projects that make up Envusa Energy’s giant 520 MW Koruson 2 renewable-energy cluster are now officially operational, after 130 MW of the 140 MW Hartebeesthoek Wind Farm entered into commercial operation. The residual 10 MW is scheduled to come online in September.

Sasol, the world’s largest producer of fuel from coal, is reaping the benefits of a surge in fuel prices due to the Iran war, while helping shield its home market of South Africa from the resulting supply shock. CEO Simon Baloyi has increased his focus on coal-to-liquids fuel output, along with production from its crude refinery, at an opportune time.

South African chemicals and energy company Sasol has signed an agreement with Chinese green technology and renewable-energy company Envision to undertake the engineering design for an e-methanol project at the Sasolburg operation, in South Africa's Free State province.   The signing took place during a visit to Envision’s Net Zero Industrial Park, in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, on August 5. The visit was a side event to the South Africa-China Electricity & Energy Investment Conference, being held in Beijing, China, this week.

A US government-backed consortium has been picked as the favored candidate to invest in a large nickel project in Tanzania, as the Trump administration looks to fund new supplies of key metals. Lifezone Metals, which has been seeking a partner to help the firm transform the Kabanga nickel deposit into a major underground mine, has chosen Orion CMC from among the interested parties, according to people familiar with the matter. That group was established in October with sovereign backing from the US International Development Finance Corp. and Abu Dhabi’s L’imad Holding.

LSE-listed Rainbow Rare Earths has confirmed the appointments of James Beams as executive director and Brent Holme as the company’s environmental, social and sustainability manager, with both appointments effective immediately. Rainbow CEO George Bennett says these appointments significantly strengthen its leadership team, adding deep commercial, critical minerals and environmental, social and governance (ESG) expertise to the company as it transitions from the feasibility study phases and project development towards execution and production.

South Africa-headquartered Valterra Platinum has, through a Chinese subsidiary, entered into a collaboration agreement with Shanghai Pujing Chemical Technology to support the scale-up and further development of an innovative methyl methacrylate (MMA) production process based on a proprietary palladium-enabled catalyst system. The collaboration is aimed at advancing a technology platform designed to support the evolving needs of China's MMA industry.

Diversified mining and marketing company Glencore has delivered another strong operational and financial performance for the first half of the year. The assets of the London- and Johannesburg Stock Exchange- (JSE-) listed Glencore performed in line with market guidance, which alongside substantially higher period-over-period average prices for its core commodities and a favourable marketing backdrop, underpinned a material increase in earnings.

The results of a study on the modernisation of South African mining indicate that there is considerable room to increase innovation participation and intensity across the firms surveyed. The finding was communicated at South Africa’s Mining Modernisation Showcase, where a strong partnership was visible between Minerals Council South Africa, the Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS), the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators’ specialised research unit within South Africa's Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC-CeSTII), PwC Smart Mining, the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, and the National Advisory Council on Innovation. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Gold is no longer the certain safe haven it once was, researchers at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT’s) Department of Finance and Tax have discovered. The yellow metal lost this status as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, they found. The research team studied how both “hard” commodities, namely gold, silver and platinum, and “soft” commodities – corn, soybeans, wheat and livestock – moved relative to major US industry sectors, such as energy, healthcare, real estate and tech, when the markets were experiencing turmoil. They gave extra focus to the Covid crisis.

TSX- and JSE-listed Eastern Platinum (Eastplats) has secured a new credit facility of up to C$2-million with investment holding company Ka An Development Co and intends to use the proceeds for working capital to support the ramp-up of underground production at its Crocodile River Mine (CRM) platinum group metals (PGM) operation, in South Africa's North West province. Eastplats intends to ramp up run-of-mine ore at CRM's Zandfontein underground section to 70 000 t a month by the end of this year.

ASX-listed mineral exploration and development company Aldoro Resources has confirmed that its Kameeelburg rare earth elements (REEs) project, in Namibia, has increased its resource estimate from a maiden 280-million tonnes reported 12 months ago, to 804.5-million tonnes as at June 30. The update mineral resource estimate for the project also includes the first indicated resource of 162.1-million tonnes.

A freeze on Rio Tinto approaching Glencore for a takeover expires this week, but people who have been briefed by top executives don't expect any fresh tie-up talks for now as CEO Simon Trott focuses on cost cuts and asset sales. Trott launched a simplification strategy to collapse Rio Tinto into three core businesses and concentrate on its most profitable assets after he took the top job at the world's second-biggest listed miner a year ago.

Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is attending the South Africa-China Electricity & Energy Investment Conference, in Beijing, this week, where he has advocated for strategic partnerships and investment to secure South Africa's energy future, with opportunities underpinned by the Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) 2025. He acclaimed that the IRP, approved late last year, articulated in the most comprehensive way, the various energy sources being pursued in South Africa, dealt with issues around emissions and sustainability and outlined the costs associated with each source.

Aim-listed Aterian says an independent interpretation of the recently completed high-resolution ground magnetic data has identified multiple priority copper/silver exploration targets at its 100%-owned Agdz project, in the Eastern Anti-Atlas Copper Belt, in Morocco. In a statement to shareholders, Aterian explains that the independent interpretation has significantly advanced the company's geological understanding of the project by defining the structural architecture controlling potential copper/silver mineralisation.

Can you use AI to find new markets for platinum group metals (PGMs)? “The simple answer is yes,” was the reply of Valterra Platinum CEO Craig Miller to Mining Weekly during the latest media roundtable of this PGMs mining and marketing company. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)