Mining Weekly

Member organisation the World Gold Council’s latest ‘Gold Demand Trends’ report, released on January 31, indicates that yearly gold demand – excluding over the counter (OTC) market demand – fell to 4 448 t in 2023, down just 5% from what the council says was a notably strong 2022. When factoring in demand from the OTC markets and other sources, total demand climbed to a new yearly record at 4 899 t.

Run-of-mine (RoM) production at coal miner MC Mining’s Uitkomst Colliery steelmaking and thermal coal mine , in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, increased by 31% year-on-year to 129 272 t for the quarter ended December 31 – the second quarter of the company’s 2024 financial year. The JSE-, ASX- and Aim-listed company attributes the higher output to the successful implementation of the Operation Penduka turnaround plan at the mine in June 2023. The turnaround plan included a revised underground operating shift system.

Platinum group metals (PGMs) miner Impala Platinum (Implats) says infrastructure repairs to Impala Rustenburg’s 11 Shaft are expected to be completed by the end of February, with the build-up to full production targeted for April. This follows a November 2023 accident associated with a personnel conveyance, or lift, at 11 Shaft, in which 11 employees were killed and 75 injured. A further two employees subsequently also lost their lives.

Coal mining company Ndalamo Resources is actively exploring opportunities in renewable energy and other minerals, paving the way for a diversified and resilient future. Ndalamo CEO Shammy Luvhengo states this in an Op-Ed in relation to the overarching theme of next week's 2024 Investing in African Mining Indaba theme of 'Embracing the power of positive disruption: A bold new future for African mining'.

African mineral sands producer Base Resources has confirmed that its Kwale titanium mining operation in Kenya will come to an end at the end of the year. In an operational, development and corporate update for the quarter ended December 31, 2023, the company said that, upon completion of an evaluation of the two remaining near mine prospective areas, being the Kwale North Dune mineral resource, which is not currently in the mine plan, and the Kwale East exploration area, it was concluded that both lack sufficient grade or scale to support an extension of mining operations beyond December.

Business organisation Business Unity South Africa (Busa) has appointed Mxolisi Mgojo as its new president, after Bonang Mohale stepped down in August 2023, one year before the end of his term of office. “Mxolisi has played, and continues to play, a critical role in organised business and his experience, insights, and integrity will help Busa continue to be a credible and respected representative of business,” said Busa CEO Cas Coovadia.

NYSE- and Aim-listed Caledonia Mining Corporation has reported more encouraging results from deep level drilling at the Blanket gold mine, in Zimbabwe, which it says validates the continuity of mineralised zones on the Blanket and Eroica orebodies. Caledonia aims to delineate an increased overall resource on the project, with more than 7 600 m of drilling having been conducted from June to December last year.

The world's largest steelmaker China Baowu Steel Group has raised ten-billion yuan ($1.4-billion) from a bond issue, in part for the giant Simandou iron-ore project in Guinea, it said on Monday. The capital, raised by issuing three-year fixed rate bonds with an annual coupon rate of 2.45%, will be used for operating expenditure, including debt repayments, working capital and project construction, the company said in a document filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange last week.

Aim-listed Lexington Gold has successfully completed percussion drilling at the Bothaville project, in South Africa’s Witwatersrand Gold Basin. The drilling, which started early in December last year, is crucial for cost-effective penetration of the overlying Karoo sediments.

Kibali, the largest gold mine in Africa, is now also one of Africa's greenest and most impressively automated operations, which continues to stimulate local economic development and even provides ongoing funding for the reintroduction of white rhinos into a Unesco world heritage site in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). On the clean energy front, most of the electricity that drives Kibali is already supplied by its three hydropower stations and once Kibali’s new 16 MW solar power plant and additional battery energy storage infrastructure are commissioned, its overall renewable electricity supply is set to increase from 81% to 85%.

Global copper miner Sandfire Resources has maintained its production, cost and capital expenditure guidance for the 2024 financial year, after a solid December quarter at its MATSA and Motheo copper operations in Spain and Botswana, respectively. The ASX-listed company reported that it was on track on track to increase copper-equivalent production by more than 50% over the two years to the end of the 2025 financial year as it expands Motheo and continues to bed down MATSA, which it acquired in February 2022.

Miners Vale, BHP and their joint venture, Samarco, should strike a deal to compensate for a deadly dam disaster in 2015 or risk paying a lot more in court, the Minas Gerais state prosecutor general told Reuters. Last week a federal judge ruled that the firms must pay up to 47.6-billion reais ($9.67-billion) in damages, in a decision still subject to appeal.

Security incidents that disrupt trains transporting coal to South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) for export to the world are in definite decline and that has certainly helped to improve performance, acting Transnet Freight Rail CE Russell Baatjies emphasised to Mining Weekly during question time at RBCT’s latest media briefing. In addition, a gradual changeout of overhead catenary copper cable that supplies electricity to locomotives using the coal line with the aluminium conductor steel reinforced (ACSR) cable alternative is being advanced.

UK-headquartered graphite developer Blencowe Resources has received a formal Letter of Interest (LoI) from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), in which the DFC has indicated its willingness to participate in debt funding for the Orom-Cross graphite project, in Uganda, subject to all necessary due diligence. This follows recent discussions with the DFC’s project funding division and follows the 2023 agreement with the DFC's technical assistance division, which already entered into a $5-million technical assistance grant (TAG).

JSE- and TSX-V-listed Alphamin Resources has announced record tin production of 12 568 t for the year ended December 31. This exceeded market guidance of 12 000 t and marked a 1% improvement on the production posted for the prior year .

State-owned rail and port operator Transnet could, potentially, show significant improvement this year compared with last year’s dismal performance, says transport economist and macrologistics researcher at Stellenbosch University Dr Jan Havenga.  However, it is imperative that Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan appoints new leadership at Transnet as soon as possible, he adds.

Gemstone miner Gemfields reports that auction revenues and pricing for both emeralds and rubies remain strong, with the company having earned auction revenues of $242-million in 2023 – the second-highest year in Gemfields' history despite the withdrawal of November 2023's auction of higher-quality emeralds. Gemfields' 75%-owned Kagem emerald mine, in Zambia, experienced a general improvement in both the quality and quantity of premium emeralds recovered in recent months, the company points out.

ASX-listed Ionic Rare Earths has received firm commitments to raise about $2-million by way of a share placement to provide working capital and to advance demonstration plant activities at both the magnet recycling facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and the Makuutu rare earths project, in Uganda. Incoming executive chairperson Brett Lynch has committed to subscribe for about $1.5-million worth of fully paid ordinary shares, subject to the receipt of shareholder approval.

Mining Indaba to open with SA mining industry hit hard by rail inefficiencies The yearly African Mining Indaba will start on February 5 against the backdrop of the local mining industry facing unprecedented challenges, including rail inefficiencies leading to historically low coal and iron-ore exports in 2023, persistent energy insecurity challenges and more than a decade of regulatory chaos, said business organisation Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso.

Canada-headquartered Tantalex Lithium has produced its first batch of tin and tantalum concentrates from its Titan plant, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The first batch of 10 t of exportable high-grade industrial and fully traceable tin concentrates has been processed in Manono. An additional 2.5 t of tantalum concentrates have also been produced.