Mining Weekly

Australia's Resolute Mining said on Monday that it would pay $160-million to Mali's government to help resolve a tax dispute after the West African country detained its CEO Terence Holohan and two other employees this month. Resolute has made an initial payment of $80 million as part of the settlement from existing cash reserves and will make future payments of about $80-million in the coming months from existing liquidity sources, it said in a statement. Resolute shares were down as much as 14.3% in early trading on Monday to A$0.345, the lowest since March 1.

The rare earths recovery project underway in South Africa’s Limpopo province is regarded as one of the world’s most resilient rare earths projects at a time when these elements are in growing demand for use in permanent magnets to help the world go green. Involved is the first commercial recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from phosphogypsum, which makes project developer Rainbow Rare Earths something of a pioneer.

In this article, policy adviser and former De Beers Botswana CEO Sheila Khama writes De Beers' exploration in Angola and asks whether Botswana should be concerned.

Aim-listed Bezant Resources has commissioned independent consultancy firm Sound Mining International to generate a technical report focusing on the near-term development of the Hope deposit, in Namibia, where mining and processing are expected to start soon. The report does not include a detailed assessment of other deposits and targets comprising the wider mineral resource estimate within the Hope and Gorob copper and gold project area.

 Desperate family members of illegal miners believed to number in the hundreds waited outside a disused mine shaft in South Africa on Friday in the hope of their loved ones emerging from the hole in the ground. The miners are in a standoff with police, who have blocked their supplies of food and water and are trying to force them out to arrest them for illegally entering the abandoned mine in search of leftover gold - a common problem in South Africa.

The JSE has decided to impose a public censure on Thabi Leoka, the former independent nonexecutive director of listed companies Remgro, Netcare and Anglo American Platinum, along with a fine of R500 000, for failing to provide proof of a qualification she had previously claimed to have obtained. The JSE has also banned Leoka from serving as a director or officer of a publicly listed company for five years.

Zimbabwe lithium miners want royalty payments to the government linked to metal prices as the current market downturn threatens the viability of investment projects. That will ensure “the government captures a higher share of revenue when lithium prices are high, while providing relief when prices drop,” the miners said in proposals forwarded by the Chamber of Mines to Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Finance.

Barloworld is in talks with a group of investors that includes a unit of Saudi Arabia’s Zahid Group about the acquisition of the African distributor of Caterpillar Inc. equipment. The Johannesburg-based company, valued at about R16-billion, said the discussions are with a consortium that includes Gulf Falcon Holding — a wholly owned subsidiary of Zahid — and Entsha.

South Africa’s gold and coal sectors were the only sectors to post decreases in production for September and the situation is unlikely to turn around markedly in the near term. Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) this week reported that the South African mining industry’s production had increased by 4.7% year-on-year in September, but that coal production had decreased by 4.4% and gold production by 3.7%.

Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has approved another €400-million policy-based loan to support South Africa’s Just Energy Transition (JET), increasing its approvals to €700-million out of the €1-billion it pledged to South Africa at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021. The loan is described as the largest-ever on the AFD's balance sheet and is said to build on the €300-million public policy loan provided by AFD in 2022.

Railway safety incidents, such as pedestrian and vehicle collisions at level crossings, are not only tragic but are severely undermining South Africa’s rail recovery plans, Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) CEO Russell Baatjies said on November 14. “We’ve had 36 level crossing incidents just this year, and we've lost 41 lives. We all want Transnet to succeed and we all want [the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa] to succeed. We want these new operators to succeed when we open up the network, but it cannot be at the cost of lives,” he said.

South African police were in a standoff on Thursday with hundreds of illegal miners believed to be underground in a disused shaft, a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to "smoke them out". Police have been trying for weeks to empty the abandoned gold mine in the North West province as part of a crackdown on illegal mining, which has plagued South Africa for decades through small-time pilfering and organised criminal networks. More than 1 000 illegal miners resurfaced after police cut off their food and water supplies, but a police spokesperson said hundreds more could still be underground. A decomposed body was brought up on Thursday, with pathologists on the scene, spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said. On Wednesday, asked whether the government would send help to the zama-zamas - a local term for illegal miners from the Zulu expression for "taking a chance" - Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said: "We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out."

People are sitting up and taking notice of South Africa being very much back on the investment radar screen, Southern Palladium executive chairperson Roger Baxter said on Thursday. This follows the return of Baxter and Southern Palladium MD Johan Odendaal from a North American road show where they attended the JSE’s South Africa Tomorrow Investment Conference in New York.

JSE-listed Gold Fields made notable operational improvements in the quarter ended September 30, resulting in a 12% quarter-on-quarter increase in output to 510 000 oz and a 3% quarter-on-quarter decrease in its all-in sustaining costs to $1 694/oz . Gold Fields achieved notable quarter-on-quarter production increases of 10% at the Gruyere mine, 16% at the Granny Smith mine and 20% at the St Ives mine, in Australia, as well as a 23% increase at the South Deep, in South Africa, 11% at the Tarkwa mine, in Ghana, and 14% at the Cerro Corona mine, in Peru.

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.