Mining Weekly

While the operating environment remains challenging, with macro-economic and geo-political uncertainty persisting, the medium- to long-term view of Sibanye-Stillwater remains largely unchanged on the fundamental outlook for the metals it produces, with the exception of nickel. The Johannesburg- and New York-listed green metals and gold mining company said it was confident that the price weakness of platinum group metals (PGMs) during 2023 did not signal a structural change in PGM fundamentals, such as that of the nickel market, but was more temporary in nature, Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman said during the company’s results presentation covered by Mining Weekly.

Gold miner Gold Fields has concluded the sale of its 45% effective interest in the Asanko mine, in Ghana, to Galiano Gold for $170-million plus a 1% net smelter royalty (NSR) on future production from the Nkran deposit. Gold Fields has received $65-million in cash and 28.5-million shares in Galiano as upfront proceeds for the divestment.

South Africa’s consistently advancing mining investment company Menar has signed a memorandum of agreement with the government of Gabon. “We think that Gabon is one of the promising countries when it comes to investments in mining, especially manganese and iron-ore,” Menar MD Vuslat Bayoglu highlighted during a Zoom interview with Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

South Africa’s economy escaped a technical recession in the fourth quarter as fewer rotational power cuts helped energy-intensive industries including mining and manufacturing rebound. Gross domestic product expanded 0.1% in the three months through December, compared with a contraction of 0.2% in the prior quarter, Statistics South Africa said in a report released in the capital, Pretoria, on Tuesday. That undershot the 0.2% median estimate of 12 economists in a Bloomberg survey.

Eskom insists it is on track to complete the repairs to the ducts in the west stack at the Kusile power station by December 2024, ahead of the March 31, 2025, deadline set by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) when it last year authorised the use of temporary stacks that bypass the key pollution control system. The west stack was rendered inoperable when Kusile’s Unit 1 flue duct collapsed because of an uncontrolled build-up of slurry on October 23, 2022. The failure eliminated 2 100 MW of Kusile’s capacity from an already stretched system, as units 2 and 3’s flues, which share a stack or chimney with that of Unit 1, were also damaged by the collapse.

The latest assay results from uranium exploration and development company Madison Metals’ recent surface trench sampling programme at its Khan project, in Namibia, have returned an average grade of 2.78% uranium oxide (U3O8) over 4 m at Trench 6. The first ten assay results from the project were released on February 7, showing 8.47% U3O8 over 1 m in in the same trench.

Aim-listed Kefi Gold and Copper, which owns projects in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, announces that a retail offer through PrimaryBid has been successfully completed, raising gross proceeds of about £495 916, before expenses, through the issue of 82.7-million ordinary shares. This follows an announcement on March 4 of a fundraising package to facilitate full project launch at the Tulu Kapi gold project, in Ethiopia, with project launch expected to occur by mid-year.

ASX-listed Lucapa Diamond Company and its partners Endiama and Rosas and Petalas, have recovered two diamonds of over 100 ct each from the terraces of Mining Block 46 at the Lulo mine, in Angola. Both diamonds were recovered in February, with a 162 ct diamond recovered first, and a 116 ct diamond recovered the following day.

Gold is within striking distance of a new record high as the market bets the first US interest-rate cut since early 2020 is near. The precious metal briefly rose above $2 100/oz Monday, the highest price since the all-time record of $2 135.39/oz recorded in early December.

In this article, World Gold Council (WGC) CFO Terry Heymann argues that the disclosure of a miner’s refining partners will support recognition of a trusted eco-system that will grow over time and make it harder for bad actors to access the formal gold market.

After four months of diligence, Singapore-based PEY Capital has entered into an exclusivity period with Magnis Energy Technologies to source $320-million in funding for the Nachu graphite project, in Tanzania. As part of the financing process, PEY has recently engaged its related Tanzanian entity, Tantel, to provide local financial and operational support services.

Preparatory works are forging ahead smoothly at rare earths mining company Pensana’s Longonjo project in Angola, with main construction expected to start in May and cold commissioning to follow in August 2025. Longonjo is one of the world's largest undeveloped rare earth mines, being one of only three with a Joint Ore Reserve Committee-compliant reserve greater than 100 000 t of neodymium and praseodymium.

Platinum group metals (PGMs) mining company Northam Platinum has begun construction of an 80 MW solar power farm at its Zondereinde operation in Limpopo – and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company will also begin constructing a large wind farm in the Western Cape at year-end. The mining right of the Zondereinde mine, situated roughly 30 km south of the town of Thabazimbi, covers 9 257 ha, providing ample land for solar.

An expert assessment of the state of Eskom’s 14 coal-fired power stations conducted between March and May 2023 describes the prevailing “fixation” on the coal fleet’s energy availability factor (EAF) as a “dead end” that was leading to poorer plant performance. Conducted for the National Treasury by a Vgbe-led consortium, the report notes that outage and maintenance activities had been deferred over the last months and years to lift – or at least to maintain – the EAF.

TSX- and NYSE-listed Platinum Group Metals (PTM) has announced its board of directors as voted for by shareholders at an annual general meeting on February 29, which had a turnout of shareholders representing 59% of the group’s issued shares eligible to vote. Shareholders strongly supported the appointment of directors Diana Walters, Frank Hallam, Timothy Marlow, John Copelyn, Stuart Harshaw and Mpho Makwana.

Platinum remains in fundamental deficit, Northam CEO Paul Dunne emphasised at the company’s presentation on Friday, which reported a strong performance from all group operations in the six months to December 31. “In mining terms, it’s a slow-burning fuse. Ultimately, we will see a price response to this picture,” said Dunne, as he displayed a visual diagram indicating the downward outlook for platinum supply. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Debswana Diamond Company's sales of rough diamonds fell 25.1% in 2023, data released by Botswana's central bank late on Thursday showed, as an economic slowdown hit demand for luxury items in the US and China and competition from lab-grown gems increased. Debswana, equally owned by Botswana and Anglo American's De Beers, sells 75% of its output to De Beers with the balance taken up by State-owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC).

Following a successful trial of chemical technologies provider Draslovka’s GlyCat glycine leaching technology at global miner Barrick Gold’s Buylanhulu mine, in Tanzania, the gold miner has started commercial use of this technology at the mine, with more sites to follow. The companies in mid-2023 announced a partnership whereby Barrick would trial and use the GlyCat technology at the mine and conduct a broader testing programme spanning multiple mining sites this year.

Junior diamond mining company Diamcor Mining has reported a net loss of about $1-million, or about $0.01 a share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2023. This compares with a net loss of $386 619 in the third quarter of the prior financial year.

Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed mining company Northam Platinum on Friday declared a cash interim dividend after reporting strong performance from all group operations in the six months to the end of December. Northam’s sale last year of its investment in Royal Bafokeng Platinum strengthened the company’s balance sheet and liquidity significantly with cash on hand and available undrawn banking facilities collectively amounting to R22.8-billion at year-end.