Mining Weekly

State-owned electricity utility Eskom has provided some additional detail regarding the decision to continue operating 17 coal units across five power stations beyond their original decommissioning dates. The decision is in line with a May 23 determination by then Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy to allow Eskom to operate Hendrina, Grootvlei, Arnot, Camden and Kriel at existing minimum emission standards (MES) plant limits until March 31, 2030.

Based on coal producer Thungela Resources’ performance from January 1 to November 30, CFO Deon Smith has expressed confidence that the company would exceed its full-year export saleable production guidance in South Africa and Australia. In a pre-close statement for the financial year ending December 31, issued on December 10, Smith confirmed that the free-on-board (FoB) cost per export tonne was expected to fall below the guidance range, reflecting higher production levels and a sustained focus on cost efficiencies.

State-owned utility Eskom’s average energy availability factor (EAF) exceeded 60% for the seventh consecutive month in November. This milestone coincided with over 250 days without loadshedding and a significant reduction in open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) use this year, industry organisation Minerals Council South Africa points out.

The transportation of raw materials to diversified miner South32’s Mozal Aluminium operation is being negatively impacted on by road blockages related to escalating civil unrest in Mozambique. Mozal Aluminium is the largest industrial employer in the country, consisting of a smelter and transport infrastructure, just west of Maputo.

Development finance institution (DFI) the African Development Bank (AfDB) has released the first tranche of four of its $1-billion loan to State-owned Transnet as part of a financing arrangement to support Transnet’s business recovery plan. The funding will allow Transnet to start the first phase of its ambitious R152.8-billion, five-year investment plan to upgrade existing infrastructure while enhancing key logistic chain segments.

JSE- and NYSE-listed Sibanye-Stillwater has agreed to sell its Beatrix 4 shaft, in the Free State, to LSE-listed uranium exploration and development company Neo Energy Metals for R500-million in cash and shares. The transaction includes the Beisa uranium project, located at the Beatrix 4 shaft. The project accesses the Beisa uranium reef through the upper sections of the Beatrix 4 shaft infrastructure.

ASX-listed Turaco Gold, and its 100%-owned subsidiary Turaco Côte d’Ivoire, have entered into an exclusivity and option agreement with Pioneer Minerals, securing acquisition rights over an additional 366 km2 of prospective exploration tenure adjoining Turaco’s 2.52-million-ounce Afema project in south-east Côte d’Ivoire. The transaction further extends Turaco’s coverage of the Sefwi greenstone belt within Côte d’Ivoire to include additional prospective shear corridors, including the western margin of the main volcanic sequence.

ASX-listed Triton Minerals has entered into a share sale and purchase agreement (SSAP) with Chinese company Shandong Yulong Gold through its wholly-owned subsidiary NQM Gold 2 for an interest in the Ancuabe graphite project, in Mozambique. This follows the company’s previously announced memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the sale of at least 70% of its interests in the entities that hold the Ancuabe project, including 70% of its interest in the intellectual property and drill core assets relating to the Nicanda Hill and Nicanda West projects, as well as 70% of its interest in the Cobra Plains mining concession.

Midtier gold mining company Pan African Resources, which has been top of the pops as a South African gold share for the most part of this year, on Monday uplifted its 2024 activity further with a share issue announcement on Australia’s Tennant Consolidated Mining Group (TCMG), which is now a wholly-owned Pan African subsidiary. The Sunday Times Top 100 Companies last month singled out the Johannesburg- and London-listed Pan African as the JSE’s best-performing 2024 gold stock, boosted by its South African gold operations at Mogale, Barberton and Evander.

Shareholders of ASX-listed Star Minerals have approved the Cobra uranium project earn in, in the Erongo region of Namibia, at a general meeting held on December 6. Earlier this month, Star announced that it had entered into a binding agreement with Canadian-listed Madison Metals for an earn-in and joint venture to acquire up to 51% of the company holding exploration permit EPL 8531, comprising the Cobra uranium project, which is located in close proximity to the Rössing uranium mine.

Diamond miner De Beers Group has announces the winners of the 2024 Shining Light Awards, a jewellery design competition for designers from the countries where De Beers recovers diamonds, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Canada. Launched in 1995, the Shining Light Awards are part of the De Beers Group Designers Initiative, a youth beneficiation skills development initiative aimed at developing jewellery design and manufacturing skills within De Beers Group’s host countries.

Dual-listed mineral sands producer Kenmare Resources has said that, contrary to some media reports, senior management have remained on site at the Moma titanium minerals mine, in northern Mozambique, despite recent protests in the area. No employees have been evacuated.   “The safety and wellbeing of employees, contractors and the company’s host communities remain Kenmare’s highest priorities and there are no reported injuries, to date, at the mine. “The company is monitoring the situation closely and is taking precautionary measures to ensure the continued safety of its personnel and the integrity of its facilities,” Kenmare said in a statement on December 9.

In this article, World Bank senior counsel and African Mining Legislation Atlas (AMLA) project team lead Nneoma Nwogu writes about the AMLA’s impact over the past ten years.

New Proudly South African smelting technology, which uses 70% less electricity, cuts costs, slashes carbon emissions and can process low-grade material, has all the attributes needed to win back the top ferroalloy production renown that South Africa enjoyed in the not so distant past. The inventive new green, clean, economically competitive, locally patented smelting technology, which is tried, tested and proven, needs only 1.2 MW of power to produce a ton of ferrochrome compared with the conventional 4 MW of power needed to do so.

ASX-listed Lotus Resources’ recent infill drill programme has successfully converted a significant portion of the inferred mineral resources at the Letlhakane uranium project, in Botswana, into the indicated mineral resource category, with the indicated portion of the mineral resource estimate (MRE) now standing at 50%, CEO Greg Bittar says. The revised pit-constrained MRE has increased Letlhakane’s indicated mineral resources by 65% with global resources of 142.2-million tonnes at 363 ppm of uranium oxide for 113.7-million pounds. 

Global gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded their first monthly outflow since April, losing $2.1-billion in November, according to industry body the World Gold Council. Europe (-$1.9-billion) led outflows, while North America, with $79-million of inflows, was the only region to report inflows.

London-listed potash development company Emmerson has raised £850 000, before expenses, through an oversubscribed placing and subscription of 130.77-million new ordinary shares of no-par value each in the share capital of the company at a price of 0.65p a share and 43.59-million attaching warrants with an exercise price of 3p a share and a term of seven years from the date of issuance. The fundraising was led by Shard Capital Partners.

TSX- and NYSE-listed Platinum Group Metals has entered into a new equity distribution agreement with BMO Nesbitt Burns, Beacon Securities and BMO Capital Markets for a new at-the-market equity programme. The distribution agreement, effective from December 5, would allow the company to distribute up to $50-million of common shares of the company under the programme.

Canadian multinational Wheaton Precious Metals’ (WPM's) wholly-owned subsidiary Wheaton Precious Metals International (WPMI) has entered into a definitive precious metals purchase agreement with international gold mining company Allied Gold and its wholly owned subsidiary Allied Gold Services for the Kurmuk project, in Ethiopia. WPMI will pay Allied a total upfront cash consideration of $175-million in four equal installments during project construction, subject to certain customary conditions.

Mali, one of Africa's biggest gold producers, has issued an arrest warrant for Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow, a warrant document seen on Thursday by Reuters showed, escalating a dispute with the Canadian mining company. The West African country's junta-led government is seeking more income from the sector to bolster state revenues as prices of the precious metal rally and has detained mining executives to put pressure on foreign companies operating there.