Mining Weekly

African investment company CIG's wholly-owned subsidiary Nioko Resources Corporation has announced a recommended cash offer to acquire debt-ridden Aim-listed Hummingbird Resources, aiming to address the latter's significant financial and operational challenges. The offer, valued at about £13.8-million, proposes paying 2.68p a share for Hummingbird's issued and to-be-issued share capital not already held by Nioko. The deal includes a critical debt-to-equity conversion plan to stabilise Hummingbird's finances.

Blyvoor gold mine, the restarted underground Witwatersrand gold mine west of Johannesburg, is on the way back up. South African mining company Aurous Resources reported on Monday, December 17, that rising gold prices and Blyvoor’s improved operational performance has increased the Carletonville mine’s operating profit by 59%.

The findings of an interim study at miner Rainbow Rare Earths’ Phalaborwa project, in South Africa, has confirmed the project’s viability and “exceptional economics”, despite two years of significant inflationary pressure. The aim of the interim study was to update the economics of the project further to incorporate changes to the primary flowsheet to recover rare earth elements (REE) from the phosphogypsum stacks at Phalaborwa, as well as updating to current market pricing for all key areas of capital and operating costs.

The final assay results from diamond drill holes completed to test strike and down-dip extensions of the high-grade copper mineralisation at the Flat Mine South deposit, part of the Okiep Copper Project in the Northern Cape, South Africa. The latest results add further momentum to mine development company Orion Mineral’s development strategy for the Okiep Copper Project building on the outstanding outcomes of the recently completed confirmation drilling programme, which has confirmed the geology and endowment of the Flat Mines area.

Barrick Gold will suspend operations in Mali if gold shipments continue to be blocked, the company said on Monday as it struggles to reach agreement with authorities on a new mining code in the West African country. Conditions at the miner's Loulo-Gounkoto complex have "deteriorated significantly", Barrick said, adding that employees have been imprisoned without cause and shipments of bullion have been blocked.

From the moment Mpho Putsoenyane's daughter Hlompho was born in Zamdela, a South African township beside the smokestacks and gas flares of Sasol's oldest coal-to-liquid refinery, the baby struggled to breathe. Last year, when she was four months old, she turned purple and started gasping. Her parents rushed the baby to hospital, where medics only just revived her heart with a defibrillator, Putsoenyane recalls.

Coal miner Liberty Coal’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Liberty Coal Terminal, has completed the acquisition of Optimum Coal Terminal’s (OCT’s) entire shareholding interest in the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT). OCT is a subsidiary of Optimum Coal Mine (OCM). Liberty Coal acquired the business, assets and compromised liabilities of OCM, which was in business rescue, in February.

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE’s) review of mining regulations, which started a year ago, provides the chance to relook and unlock the true potential of South Africa’s mineral wealth for the good of all citizens, says Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane. In an opinion piece published on December 13, he points out that the review of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) presents a rare opportunity to create a well-considered and shared vision of a thriving mining industry that can benefit future generations.

ASX-listed Aura Energy has undertaken an assessment of the opportunities for future capacity expansion at the flagship Tiris uranium project, in Mauritania, demonstrating the significant internal growth opportunity at the project through a future expansion of the project from Stage 1 cash flows, improving confidence in the inferred mineral resources and regarding further exploration success, MD and CEO Andrew Grove says. The assessment used inputs from the September production target update and the recently expanded 91.3-million-pound triuranium octoxide (U3O8) mineral resource.

With Mpumalanga having been selected to host the Group of 20 (G20) energy session in September next year, diversified energy company Seriti Green says the event will propel the province onto the global stage, setting the standard for future power supply with international standards and protocols. G20 Ministers will convene in Mpumalanga from September 23 to 26 to discuss the energy mix, lower carbon-emitting technologies and other aspects of the Just Energy Transition (JET).

Aim-listed Kazera Global subsidiary Whale Head Minerals (WHM) has signed a sales and offtake agreement for its heavy mineral sands production with Fujax South Africa – a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujax Group. Kazera says it remains committed to advancing its high-grade heavy mineral sands project in South Africa.

Africa-focused battery metals investment and exploration company Marula Mining has decided to withdraw from its planned exploration and project acquisition activities in Zimbabwe. The company, through its 80%-owned Zimbabwean operating subsidiary Muchai Mining, started a programme of securing near-term and advanced lithium and copper mining and development opportunities in the second half of 2023.

Exxaro Resources has held talks with the owner of one of South Africa’s largest manganese mines about buying the asset, as the coal producer seeks to diversify its business, according to people familiar with the matter. Johannesburg-based Exxaro has discussed the potential acquisition of the Tshipi Borwa mine, said the people who asked not to be named as the information is private. The operation belongs to Tshipi e Ntle Manganese Mining, a joint venture between Australia-listed Jupiter Mines Ltd. and closely held Ntsimbintle Mining.

ASX- and LSE-listed Resolute Mining has announced that CEO Terry Holohan will take a leave of absence from December 13, 2024, until January 31, 2025, following his recent detention in Mali alongside two colleagues. The trio, detained on November 8 during discussions with Malian mining and tax authorities, were released on November 21 after the company agreed to a $247-million settlement with the Malian junta.

Globally diversified mining and metals company South32 expects to obtain approval for its Worsley Alumina mine development project – a mine life extension project – from the Western Australia state later this month and federal approval early in 2025. This follows the positive outcome of an appeal of an earlier decision by the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), which recommended that the project be approved, but subject to conditions that South32 said went beyond reasonable measures for managing environmental risks and would create significant operating challenges.

The gold price has increased by more than 28% year-to-date in dollars, trading 22% higher on average this year than during 2023, the World Gold Council reported on Thursday, December 12. Gold’s performance across currencies was equally strong and reached 40 new record highs and total third-quarter gold demand surpassed $100-billion for the first time.

A feasibility study on the Soweto Cluster gold recovery project, which like the highly successful Mogale Tailings Retreatment (MTR) is also on Gauteng’s West Rand, will be completed by September, midtier gold mining company Pan African reported on Thursday, December 12. "The performance of our MTR operation has exceeded expectations,” Pan African CEO Cobus Loots stated in the stock exchange news service announcement, in which he also expressed excitement at the prospect of further expanding the Johannesburg- and London-listed company’s surface business in the short term for the benefit of all stakeholders.

Gemstone miner Gemfields recorded revenues of $46.2-million from its latest auction of mixed-quality rough ruby recovered at the Montepuez ruby mine, in Mozambique. Of the 102 lots on offer, 97 were sold.

Aim-listed Botswana Diamonds has analysed and evaluated nearly 400 000 km of airborne geophysical and other exploration data using AI techniques and powerful computing, which would otherwise have been too big for timely analysis by humans. In particular, the company has identified seven significant kimberlite targets on existing licences that have not been reported before.

The selection of Pele Green Energy (PGE) to supply renewable energy to the South African ferrochrome smelters operated by the Glencore Merafe Venture represents an important milestone in the steady yet uneven evolution of South Africa’s electricity industry. Its significance is not immediately apparent, largely because the novelty of such multidecade power purchase agreements (PPAs) between electricity-intensive private firms and independent power producers (IPPs) has worn off somewhat three-and-a-half years after President Cyril Ramaphosa successfully twisted a reluctant Gwede Mantashe’s arm to enable such deals at scale.