Mining Weekly

Gold miner Harmony Gold Mining Company has appointed Beyers Nel to succeed Peter Steenkamp as CEO, with effect from January 1. Floyd Masemula has also been appointed deputy CEO from January 1, owing to the importance and the focus that is required for the South African mines. Steenkamp, who was appointed CEO nine years ago, will retire at the end of December.

Resolute Mining suspended trading after Mali demanded the Australian gold miner pay about $160-million to resolve a tax dispute that’s seen its chief executive officer detained. The company’s shares in Sydney were suspended pending an announcement, it said in an exchange filing Thursday. The stock fell 8.1% during the trading session and has tumbled 40% in total since news of the detention of CEO Terry Holohan, along with two colleagues, became public at the weekend.

Law firm ENS on November 14 presented a webinar unpacking amendments to the Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA), which will soon be presented for approval in the National Assembly. The webinar was hosted by ENS mine and occupational health and safety head Pieter Colyn, with key issues discussed by executive consultant Willem le Roux.  

National Treasury has published a carbon tax discussion paper for public comment, outlining Phase 2 of the carbon tax. Government announced its intention to do this in the 2024 Budget presented in February.

Aim- and ASX-listed Sovereign Metals has successfully completed the mining trials stage of its pilot mining and land rehabilitation programme (pilot phase) at the Kasiya rutile/graphite project, in Malawi. Hydraulic mining trials at Kasiya were successfully concluded as part of the Kasiya optimisation study.

How South Africa can grow its participation in the global battery supply chain was spelt out this week at the Mintek@90 event to mark nine decades of mineral and metallurgical research, development and technology transfer by South Africa’s Council for Mineral Technology, which derives its mandate from the Minerals Technology Act. Telling it as it is in practical, proven and put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is detail was mining luminary Bernard Swanepoel, who addressed the audience in his capacity as chairperson of Manganese Metal Company (MMC) of Mpumalanga, where a self-funded R150-million project execution of the initial smaller manganese metal-to-sulphate plant began in September, with orders already placed for the long-lead crystalliser plant.

The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), in partnership with diversified mining company Anglo American, have relaunched the old Johannesburg Planetarium as the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome, after major refurbishments. Wits has noted that the new Digital Dome is the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere, made possible through an investment of R90-million from Anglo American and Wits.

The Australian company owning and operating the Lindi Jumbo graphite mine in Tanzania has gone into voluntary administration.  Jeremy Nipps and Tom Birch of Cor Cordis were appointed joint and several voluntary administrators for Walkabout Resources, Walkabout Australia and Reveal Resources.

Specialist graphite producer Tirupati Graphite, which is listed on the LSE and has assets in Mozambique and Madagascar, has secured about $225 000 in trade finance from the Middle Eastern Sovereign Fund and is in talks with the fund regarding a further $2.4-million in trade finance. The initial funding has been provided to Tirupati in return for 280 t of certain grades of flake graphite. The first 100 t shipment is now at port, in Madagascar, and ready to ship later this week.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should sell 4% of its gold to help offer debt relief to low-income countries devastated by climate-related catastrophes, a study said as climate financing dominates early talks at the COP29 summit. From the Caribbean to Africa, low-income countries have turned to the IMF in recent years for support in the face of shocks like the Covid-19 pandemic, driving up repayments to the lender of last resort in subsequent years.

The final bidders for Anglo American's Australian coal assets are down to Yancoal Australia, Stanmore Resources and Peabody Energy Corp, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The final bid submissions are due on Wednesday, said one of the sources, who asked to remain unidentified.

Why is it that gold equities are continuing to underperform the gold price? That is a question Mining Weekly put to Barrick president and CEO Dr Mark Bristow after he noted the lag of gold equities during the presentation of the third-quarter results of his New York- and Toronto-listed gold and copper mining company. The gold equity underperformance comes amid demand for physical gold putting upward pressure on the gold price as de-dollarisation within the central bank reserve balances takes place.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has published timelines for the processing Eskom’s retail tariff plan (RTP) application, in which potentially far-reaching changes to the tariff structure are requested. The timeline deviates slightly from the timelines included in Nersa’s consultation paper release to guide those stakeholders intending to comment on the RTP, which scheduled a public hearing for Christmas eve.

Multidisciplinary professional firm WSP has completed a comprehensive upgrade of diversified miner South32’s manganese rail infrastructure in the Northern Cape. The project was carried out by WPS’s Project Raptor team, which forms part of the company’s Transport and Infrastructure (T&I) division.

JSE-listed Mantengu Mining has reported a R102.8-million year-on-year increase in revenue from R13.1-million for the six months ended August 2023 to R115.9-million for the equivalent period this year. Half-year gross profits also increased significantly year-on-year to R53-million for the six months under review, from R1.5-million for the same period in 2023, while operating profit increased to R24.3-million from a R15.4-million loss in the prior comparable period.

ASX- and OTCQX-listed Lotus Resources has completed its infill and exploration drilling programmes at the Letlhakane uranium project, in Botswana. The company reported on November 12 that it had drilled 21 holes at Letlhakane.

Aim-listed Goldplat’s two recovery operations in Ghana and South Africa achieved a combined operating profit of £1.84-million excluding listing and head office costs, finance cost and foreign exchange losses – for the quarter ended September 30, the first quarter of the group’s 2025 financial year. The finance cost and foreign exchange losses incurred in the quarter mainly related to trading activities and resulted in a combined profit before tax, excluding listing and head office costs, of £1.45-million.

Uranium producer Paladin Energy’s share price plunged nearly 30% on Tuesday after the Australian miner revised down its production forecast for the Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia. The company cited weaker-than-expected performance in October and ongoing challenges in ramping up operations as key factors behind the revised guidance.

Gold miner Resolute Mining finds itself at the center of a broad shakeup of regulatory regimes across West Africa following the detention of the company’s chief executive in Mali, as cash-strapped governments seek to generate more revenue from their natural resources. Mali’s military junta — crippled by sanctions and cut off from Western aid — is at the forefront of the push, aggressively pursuing both Resolute and Canadian giant Barrick Gold, which has also had its employees detained and a key license threatened in recent months. But neighboring Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Ivory Coast are also updating mining codes, stripping permits or launching sector-wide audits.

South Africa’s current process of dissolving the world’s purest manganese metal to make battery grade manganese has got the lowest incentive price of any of the new, non-Chinese high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate suppliers, or future suppliers, the Mintek@90 conference heard on Monday. South Africa makes money at $2 500/t on the high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate it produces in this way, whereas the feasibility studies of the other new, non-Chinese suppliers, or future hopefuls, are calling for far higher $3 500/t to $5 000/t price viability levels. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)