Mining Weekly

With a focus on research, development and innovation (RDI), the Mandela Mining Precinct (MMP) is implementing a new strategy for the next five years, with a focus on the future of the South African mining sector. Speaking at the 2024 Mining Technology and Innovation Showcase, on November 18, MMP executive director Julie Courtnage noted that the new strategy, which was approved on October 30, reflected a shift in thinking for the public-private partnership.

The issues of electricity affordability and Eskom’s inefficiencies emerged as recurring themes as the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) kicked off nationwide public hearings in Cape Town on Monday into the utility’s latest revenue application. Through its sixth multiyear price determination (MYPD6) submission, Eskom is requesting an increase in its allowable revenue to R446-billion in 2025/26, R495-billion in 2026/27 and R536-billion in 2027/28.

Vanadium producer Bushveld Minerals has suspended the trading of its shares on the Aim market of the LSE after it failed to secure additional funds to address its liquidity position. The company said on November 18 that its discussions with various stakeholders to secure funding had not yielded any results and that it would consequently be investigating turnaround strategies with the help of a turnaround specialist.

President Cyril Ramaphosa described the Stilfontein mine as a “crime scene”, on Monday, as he called for a peaceful resolution to the standoff at the disused mine shaft, where illegal miners are holed up. The South African Police Service and government departments have been trying, for over a month, to surface the illegal miners from the abandoned North West gold mine. While more than 1 000 miners have since surfaced and been arrested, it is believed that there are still hundreds of illegal miners in the shaft. Police had closed off the mine’s entrances and stopped supplies of water and food to the miners. However, the Pretoria High Court has since ruled that the shaft be unblocked by police to allow for food and water to reach the miners. One body has been retrieved from the mine. Ramaphosa said this operation formed part of government’s nationwide Operation Vala Umgodi crackdown to curb illegal mining activities in the country, which he said cost the economy billions in lost export income, royalties and taxes. “We need to be clear that the activities of these miners are illegal. They pose a risk to our economy, communities and personal safety. The Stilfontein mine is a crime scene where the offence of illegal mining is being committed. It is standard police practice everywhere to secure a crime scene and to block off escape routes that enable criminals to evade arrest. In doing so, the police must take great care to ensure that lives are not put at risk and that the rights of all people are respected,” he said. Miners who surface from the mine shaft are medically assessed and detained if found to be in good health. Others are transported to the hospital under police guard.

Donald Trump’s victory immediately buoyed markets from stocks to Bitcoin. Gold is going to take a lot longer to turn things around. In the two days immediately following the Republican candidate’s win, the precious metal’s performance was the worst in at least 13 US Presidential election windows, according to Deutsche Bank. Gold prices have dropped almost 7% since Election Day, even as several other asset classes enjoy a post-campaign boost.

BHP Group’s Australia chief said the nation can’t rely on its traditional mining export markets and is unprepared for a new era of lower-cost competitors. The boom in demand from China’s industrialisation is now “past the period of aggressive growth,” BHP’s Australia President Geraldine Slattery said Monday in a speech in Brisbane.

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.