Mining Weekly

Coal miner MC Mining’s share price on the JSE rose by more than 6% on March 8, after announced that it had received a letter from fellow coal miner Vulcan Resources outlining a non-binding proposal to make an off-market cash takeover offer for all the shares in MC Mining at an indicative price of between A$0.17 and A$0.20 a share. The proposed offer values JSE-, Aim- and ASX-listed MC Mining at between A$69.34-million and A$81.58-million.

Global miner AngloGold Ashanti has appointed Jochen Tilk chairperson effective May 28, subject to his re-election at an annual general meeting on the same day. This follows after the incumbent Maria Ramos opted not to stand for re-election. She has served as AngloGold’s chairperson since December 2020.

ASX- and London-listed Resolute Mining has published its Annual Ore Reserve and Resource Statement as at December 31, 2023, which indicates that total mineral resources have been maintained at 11.2-million ounces of gold. This comes as exploration success at Syama North, in Mali, and Tomboronkoto, in Senegal, had offset mining depletion.

ASX-listed Perseus Mining has released a second supplementary bidder’s statement in relation to its off-market takeover bid for all issued ordinary shares of fellow-listed OreCorp, which extends the closing date for the company’s offer to April 19. Perseus’ A$0.55 all-cash bid equates to a consideration of A$258-million.

London-listed Petra Diamonds has started with a recruitment process to appoint a successor to CFO Jacques Breytenbach, who has resigned owing to personal reasons. Breytenbach will remain in his role until the delivery of the company’s full-year results at the end of September and to ensure a smooth transition of his responsibilities.

Diversified mining company African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) on Friday declared an interim dividend for the six months ended December 31, when ARM had net cash of R7.9-billion. The interim dividend of R6 a share is well down on the R14 a share declared in the corresponding period of last year.

With the United Nations having designated the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day as ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress’, Minerals Council South Africa president and chair of the Women in Mining leadership forum Nolitha Fakude highlighted that the mining industry has played a crucial role in the fight against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) in South Africa. During a media breakfast on March 7, Fakude noted that, through partnerships with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the GBVF Response Fund, mining companies have pledged financial support to build, refurbish and support the NPA’s Thuthuzela Care Centres that provide support for GBV survivors.

When Engineering News & Mining Weekly covered last month’s local launch of BMW’s first hydrogen car fleet on South Africa's roads, we discovered that BMW’s hydrogen refilling station in Midrand is powered by Elemental Energy’s off-grid hydrogen power system, which has a crucial Toyota fuelcell underpin.  Interestingly, we now learn that Elemental Energy is on a major mission to build hydrogen power systems in developing countries in particular.

Canadian miner Dundee Precious Metals (DPM) will sell its Tsumeb smelter, in Namibia, to Sinomine Resources for $49-million in cash. Tsumeb is one of the few smelters globally that can treat complex polymetallic concentrates, including those with higher arsenic content. It produces blister copper (98.5% copper), which is refined in Europe and Asia, and sulphuric acid as a by-product.

JSE-listed Murray & Roberts (M&R) says it still intends to regain a foothold in the Australian mining market, which it lost when RUC’s Australian holding company entered voluntary administration in late 2022. However, CEO Henry Laas indicates that it will adopt a capital-light approach to the building of its new Cementation APAC business, the development of which will be pursued more assertively only once the massively downscaled group has a “sustainable capital structure” in place.

ASX-listed Ionic Rare Earths has completed construction and commissioning of Phase 1 of the technical facility and demonstration plant at its Makuutu rare earths project, in Uganda. Makuutu is being developed by Ionic’s local Ugandan operating entity Rwenzori Rare Metals (RRM).

Engineering consultancy DRA Global has appointed nonexecutive director Val Coetzee as director of process and technology – an executive position – effective immediately. He will oversee the company’s process technical excellence, particularly front-end project solutions and support process teams across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

As gold mining company Tietto Minerals nears full production rates at its Abujar gold mine, in Côte d’Ivoire, it is also focusing on organic growth opportunities, while Hong Kong-based Zhaojin Capital’s unsolicited takeover offer for the company awaits further action. Zhaojin in November last year announced a proposed off-market takeover offer of A$0.58 a share for all shares in Tietto and not already owned by it. The offer has since been extended several times.

Diversified resources company Exxaro Resources has warned shareholders that it is likely to report a 16% to 30% year-on-year decrease in headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the year ended December 31. HEPS are likely to be between R42.11 and R50.63, compared with the HEPS of R60.16 reported for the 2022 financial year.

Following its recent success in securing new public and private power purchase agreements, Pele Green Energy (PGE) is already having to consider additional funding options beyond the pioneering R2.5-billion Sithala facility concluded in November with Nedbank, Norfund and the Industrial Development Corporation. The facility has, for the first time, provided the black-owned independent power producer (IPP) with a consolidated funding platform designed to enable a competitive expansion in its operating portfolio from about 1 GW to 5 GW by 2027, as well as the capital needed to develop a project pipeline. It has also enabled PGE to refinance its existing group funding with a platform facility at the holding company level.

The initial phase of the Zandfontein underground operations at TSX-V- and JSE-listed Eastern Platinum's (Eastplats') flagship Crocodile River mine, in South Africa's Bushveld Complex, is now fully operational. "It is my pleasure to announce that the soft restart of the Zandfontein underground operations is complete and fully operational.

Government and business have set a goal of increasing South Africa’s electricity generation capacity by 10.6 GW by the end of 2025 as part of ongoing collaborative efforts to tackle growth-sapping power disruptions and reduce the intensity and almost daily frequency of loadshedding by year-end. In a briefing held following the latest meeting between President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Cabinet and those senior business leaders who have committed to supporting government in overcoming its loadshedding, logistics and crime crises, the Presidency’s Rudi Dicks said the capacity could arise from multiple sources, including by recovering capacity from Eskom’s unreliable coal fleet.

This year could potentially turn out to be quite an interesting year for platinum as a commodity and also as an investment, with the 2023 platinum market deficit of 878  000 oz forecast to be followed by a 2024 deficit of 418 000 oz. In addition to automotive demand being poised to reach the seven-year-high figure of 3 297 000 oz, demand for platinum from stationary fuel cells and electrolysers is set to rise by more than 120%, amid green hydrogen projects getting under way in Europe, following oversubscribed auctions, and also in North America, where the Inflation Reduction Act is stimulating widespread development.

Canadian mineral resources exploration and development company Tsodilo Resources has withdrawn its contempt motion, which sought to hold Botswana Minerals and Energy Minister Lefoko Moagi to account for his failure to comply with an earlier High Court judgment, handed down on December 15, in relation to prospecting licences 020/2018 to 024/2018 held by Tsolido’s Botswana-based wholly owned subsidiary Gcwihaba Resources. Tsolido on March 5 said the matter had been resolved, with the five licences in question having been renewed for their first two-year renewal, which will start on April 1.

Gold steadied after surging to a record high in the previous session, boosted by expectations for US rate cuts, geopolitical tensions and the risk of a pullback for equity markets. Bullion rose to a peak of $2 141.79 an ounce on Tuesday, surpassing the previous high set in early December. The precious metal has climbed almost 5% over the last five sessions.