Podcasts about minerals council south africa

Stephen Grootes speaks to Peter Leon, mining expert and partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, about the Minerals Council’s disappointment as the MPRDA bill proceeds without industry feedback. The Minerals Council South Africa has raised concerns after the government moved ahead with changes to the MPRDA without considering industry input. In other interviews, Harmony CEO, Beyers Nel and David McKay, Editor at Miningmx discuss Harmony’s $1 billion acquisition of MAC Copper, owner of Australia's CSA copper mine, as part of its strategy to expand its global footprint and diversify into copper production. The Money Show is a podcast hosted by well-known journalist and radio presenter, Stephen Grootes. He explores the latest economic trends, business developments, investment opportunities, and personal finance strategies. Each episode features engaging conversations with top newsmakers, industry experts, financial advisors, entrepreneurs, and politicians, offering you thought-provoking insights to navigate the ever-changing financial landscape.    Thank you for listening to a podcast from The Money Show Listen live Primedia+ weekdays from 18:00 and 20:00 (SA Time) to The Money Show with Stephen Grootes broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj and CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show, go to https://buff.ly/7QpH0jY or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/PlhvUVe Subscribe to The Money Show Daily Newsletter and the Weekly Business Wrap here https://buff.ly/v5mfetc The Money Show is brought to you by Absa     Follow us on social media   702 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702   CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/Radio702 CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephen Grootes speaks to Peter Leon, mining expert and partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, about the Minerals Council’s disappointment as the MPRDA bill proceeds without industry feedback. The Minerals Council South Africa has raised concerns after the government moved ahead with changes to the MPRDA without considering industry input. The Money Show is a podcast hosted by well-known journalist and radio presenter, Stephen Grootes. He explores the latest economic trends, business developments, investment opportunities, and personal finance strategies. Each episode features engaging conversations with top newsmakers, industry experts, financial advisors, entrepreneurs, and politicians, offering you thought-provoking insights to navigate the ever-changing financial landscape.    Thank you for listening to a podcast from The Money Show Listen live Primedia+ weekdays from 18:00 and 20:00 (SA Time) to The Money Show with Stephen Grootes broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj and CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show, go to https://buff.ly/7QpH0jY or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/PlhvUVe Subscribe to The Money Show Daily Newsletter and the Weekly Business Wrap here https://buff.ly/v5mfetc The Money Show is brought to you by Absa     Follow us on social media   702 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702   CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/Radio702 CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephen Grootes speaks to Donald MacKay, Director at XA International Trade Advisors & Jason Borbora-Sheen, Portfolio Manager at Ninety One, about the US tax tariffs sparking a global trade war. In other interviews, Mzila Mthenjane, CEO of the Minerals Council South Africa, talks about the 2025 Mining Indaba and concerns over possible amendments to the country's mining legislation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephen Grootes chats to Mzila Mthenjane, CEO of the Minerals Council South Africa, about the 2025 Mining Indaba and concerns over possible amendments to the country's mining legislation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The ANC Youth League will today picket outside the Minerals Council South Africa in Rosebank, Johannesburg, in protest against the retrenchment of mineworkers and other industrial job losses. The demonstration, In collaboration with the National Union of Mineworkers Youth Structure, seeks to pressure authorities to take immediate action to prevent further job losses and safeguard workers' livelihoods. The protest comes in response to ArcelorMittal's recent announcement to shut down its steel business, affecting its Newcastle and Vereeniging plants, as well as its rail and structures operation, which puts 3,500 jobs at risk. To discuss this further Elvis Presslin spoke to ANCYL President, Collen Malatji

Stephen Grootes engages with Mzila Mthenjane, CEO of Minerals Council South Africa, about the crucial review of the Mineral & Petroleum Resources Development Act and its potential impact on mining policies. In other interviews, Rinie Boshoff, an experienced real estate project consultant, talks about her journey selling luxurious homes in Mauritius and her passion for helping clients find their dream properties. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephen Grootes speaks with Mzila Mthenjane, CEO of Minerals Council South Africa, about the Mineral & Petroleum Resources Development Act review and its potential to reshape mining policies. This review offers a unique opportunity to establish a shared vision for a thriving, inclusive mining industry that benefits future generations. By promoting investment in exploration, development, and operations, the process could help achieve inclusive economic growth and job creation for South AfricaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephen Grootes speaks to Dr Nombasa Tsengwa - President of Minerals Council South Africa & Exxaro CEO, about the Joburg Indaba. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephen Grootes speaks to Hugo Pienaar, Chief Economist of the Minerals Council South Africa, about the importance of developing a strategic policy framework for transition minerals in South Africa.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist. South Africa's 30 years of democracy has changed the character of this country's mining industry profoundly, Minerals Council South Africa emphasised in a report that highlights the industry's significant advance since the dawning of democracy in 1994. Importantly, South Africa's highly regarded mine employees earn among the most competitive wages in the major job sectors, with tens of thousands of employees now direct partners in mining companies through employee share ownership programmes and profit-sharing schemes. Mining is providing employees with profound opportunities to improve their lives and livelihoods as well as those of their families. Steadfastly, the South African mining sector has increased workforce diversity, improved health and safety, crucially, and provided far-reaching training and education to develop skilled employees in tandem with innovation and technology developments. Prior to 1994, black mineworkers were prevented from securing managerial positions, women were barred by law from operational activities, and mineworker pay was kept low. Thirty years on, South African mining has an unrelenting focus on transformation and inclusion as it strives to address its legacy. "We have made enormous progress in the past three decades since 1994," Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane highlighted in a release to Mining Weekly. While significant strides in the transformation of management, the inclusion of women in all aspects of mining, and improved health and safety are acknowledged, the need for ongoing effort is recognised. "We have more to do and we're intent on establishing a modern, inclusive, and transformed industry, which will expand, adding more meaningful jobs, both within the sector and downstream value chains and increasing our significant contribution to South Africa's society and economy," Mthenjane stated. OVERWHELMINGLY HISTORICALLY DISADVANTAGED Against the backdrop of 83% of employees in the mining industry being historically disadvantaged South Africans (HDSA), the Mining Charter 2018 - which was negotiated between government, unions and the industry - set a target of HDSAs holding 60% of middle and senior management roles, which the industry has come close to reaching, with 57% of middle management and 58.4% of senior management now made up of HDSAs, However, to reflect economically active population demographics, the industry has more work to do on its transformation journey to be more inclusive and reflective of the country's demographics. While in 2003, shortly before the Mining Charter came into effect, women accounted for only 3% of the workforce, women made up 19% of mining employees in 2023, up from 17% in recent years. Also in 2023, the mining industry was one of the few economic sectors to grow employment, adding 7 600 jobs, providing work to more than 477 000 people and accounting for 4.7% of formal employment. Salaries grew by R12-billion to R186.5-billion and over the past 15 years, increases in wages across the mining sector have been above the consumer price index (CPI), reflecting both the real wage gains in the sector by employees and a consistent narrowing of the earnings gap between lower and higher income employees. Communities are also beneficiaries of the community benefit schemes that invest in infrastructure and community needs, above and beyond the compliance requirements of the Social and Labour Plans. Some R7-billion a year is spent on human resource development, which includes mandatory, operational and safety training as well as education and skills development. SAFETY ADVANCE Since 1994, the number of mining fatalities has fallen by 88% to 55 in 2023, with major breakthroughs in fall-of-ground-related fatalities. Safety is the foremost concern of the Minerals Council and its members, with CEOs meeting frequently through a CEO Zero Harm Forum to share learnings and inte...

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist. Minerals Council South Africa is focused on increasing the domestic demand for green hydrogen, which it sees as contributing to the kickstarting of the hydrogen economy in South Africa. "The applications that we're looking at are stationary as well as mobility applications of using hydrogen within the mining industry," Minerals Council modernisation and safety senior executive Sietse van der Woude outlined during last week's Hydrogen Economy Discussion covered by Mining Weekly. "The stationary applications may not make economic sense today but if you look at the future trends in terms of reliability and electricity price trends, then stationary applications can very well be a feasible option in the future," Van der Woude pointed out during a panel discussion facilitated by Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) industry development planner Mahandra Rooplall, and in which Science and Innovation Department chief science and technology representative Dr Rebecca Maserumule as well as Bambili Energy CEO Zanele Mavuso Mbatha participated. Rooplall reported that the IDC had been driving the development of the hydrogen industry for several years in facilitating the discussion on regional and global developments, technology, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) advances and implications for the mining industry. Van der Woude pointed out that when it came to mobility application, heavy mine trucks could not be powered enough by electric means. "So, we need to look at alternative ways and the hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are an opportunity in that regard," he added. In spelling out the hydrogen opportunity, Maserumule identified the six African countries that had hydrogen strategies as Algeria, Kenya, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia and South Africa amid more than 50 countries worldwide having hydrogen strategies. The projected global numbers for hydrogen production show seven-million tons of green hydrogen or its derivative being produced a year by 2030, 32-million tons by 2040 and 72-million tons by 2050. Maserumule drew attention to this being based on expected exports into Europe and Asia, which did not have sufficient renewables or which did not have the comparative advantage. Africa securing 15% of that market would amount to one-million tons of green hydrogen by 2030, seven-million tons by 2040 and just under 19-million tons by 2050, a part of which would be domestic consumption. "What's most exciting is that those numbers point to a cumulative investment by 2050 of $400-billion on the African continent for hydrogen production," Maserumule highlighted. This does not include OEMs and other portions of the supply chain. The export value for the African continent would be a $15-billion-a-year increase in African export value in 2050. "The most exciting socioeconomic benefit is the 30-million job years that will be created by 2050 on the African continent if the continent is able to capture 15% of the global hydrogen economy. In identifying the barriers to that, Maserumule spoke of Africa having a globally top comparative advantage for renewable energy production, with only China, Australia and Chile beating most of the African countries. But unlike grey hydrogen, which South Africa produces in large quantities, one of the challenges of green hydrogen production is the intensive capital expenditure (capex) that is required. While the cost of coal or natural gas has a considerable impact on grey hydrogen, the capex required for renewables and electrolysers has a major impact when it comes to the cost of green hydrogen. There is a considerable gap between the cost of investment in developed countries compared with the cost of development in undeveloped countries. South Africa's average internal rate of return, or IRR, is well positioned at between 11% and 14%. Being chased is the levelised cost of hydrogen, with grey hydrogen at $2/kg and ...

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist. South Africa's mining industry is investing R46-million in an action plan to eliminate fall-of-ground (FoG) fatalities. The FoG action plan is being implemented through Minerals Council South Africa with the assistance of its Rock Engineering Technical Committee, and supported by the South African National Institute of Rock Engineering, the Association of Mine Managers of South Africa, and the South Africa Colliery Managers' Association. "We know it is possible to restrict fall-of-ground deaths to six and so certainly, from where we are today, the next breakthrough must be zero fatalities. We cannot aspire for anything less than that," Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane emphasised during Friday's day of learning at Emperors Palace Convention Centre, east of Johannesburg, which was covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Highlighted during the well-attended event was the need to establish improved underground workplace visibility, permanent workface aerial mesh protection, and, likely, hydropowered drills and drill guides. The plan's six pillars are adoption of leading practices, research and development, human resource development, policy considerations, which are ultimately in the hands of government, operational discipline, and the close monitoring of the expenditure of R46-million. "It's a very good vision and we constantly review it," Mineral Council safety and sustainability deputy head Lerato Tsele told the audience, who were invited to pose questions. Set in motion has been research into hazard warning systems, loose rock scanners, and wearable exoskeleton devices to be worn when removing that loose rock. Exoskeletons reportedly bolster human performance in physically demanding tasks by supporting various body parts, including the hands, lower and upper back, legs, shoulders and arms, which is said to reduce the amount of energy required when lifting and carrying heavy objects and holding heavy tools. Crucially, the FoG action plan also comes with a promising skills development boost plus an updating of learning material. The event began with a moment's silence in remembrance of FoG fatalities and injuries, 60% of which occur in the stope face. This is why considerable innovation and technology is being directed towards improving the safety of these areas, as part of the plan being led by a CEO Zero Harm Forum. In 2022, the lowest FoG fatalities of six were reported, which was 73% down on the previous year and a record that still stands. For the past 20 years, the number of FoG fatalities has been reducing, with the first fall below 100 in 2004, when 96 deaths occurred. Six years later in 2010 FoG fatalities fell below 50 and the next breakthrough was in 2015 when FoG fatalities were fewer than 25. But it appears to be getting tougher, reflected in the ten latest deaths. "There are ups and downs, but it's not a time to give up," said Mthenjane. "There's a need for those who will look ahead in terms of what is upcoming that will be useful, whilst we implement current technologies that are proven … and what is going to become much more important moving forward is behaviour," he added. "Perhaps not too much of a focus on when we're going to get there. It's not a race. It's something that is urgent, and it's something that we do need to achieve sooner rather than later because it means that more people will be going back home to their families. "Part of the solution lies in how we leverage innovation and technology," he said. The Isidingo drill has proven its capability. It is much lighter than the pneumatic drill, more energy efficient, considerably quieter, and easier to handle. What these new technologies are showing is that mining is no longer about physicality and lighter equipment technologies are enabling more gender-diverse participation. Hydropower is lending precision drilling in the form...

FEATURINGThuthula BalfourHead of Health, Minerals Council South Africa 

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a leading supplier of products, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation. Organised business says the appointment of a permanent executive team at Transnet - led by CEO Michelle Phillips, who has been acting in the role since September and who has been with the utility for 20 years - will enhance stability in the relationships between Transnet and the business sector and accelerate the implementation of the Transnet Recovery Plan. Phillips' appointment was announced by Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan on February 28 alongside that of Nosipho Maphumulo, who has been appointed CFO. "We have, over the past months, seen a much-needed improvement in the relationship between the country's transport and logistics authorities and those businesses whose existence is dependent on efficient and effective logistics," Busa president Mxolisi Mgojo said in a statement. Likewise, Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busisiwe Mavuso said Phillips had demonstrated decisiveness and an ability to get things done over the past six months, during which business had intensified its collaboration with the utility in support of its recovery. "Phillips knows what business and government are trying to achieve with the Business for South Africa freight and logistics partnership. "She was the acting CEO when we achieved a 45% reduction in vessels anchored outside Durban port and a 36%reduction in the waiting time to anchor for container vessels," Mavuso added. The Minerals Council South Africa, whose members raised grave concerns about the utility's previous leadership, also congratulated Phillips and Maphumulo on their appointments and suggested that "green shoots" were showing in relation to Transnet's turnaround. "The Minerals Council notes Ms Phillips's commitment to implementing the Transnet Recovery Plan, which includes sustainable cooperation with the private sector to improve operational efficiencies," the council said in a statement, noting that mining accounted for about 80% of Transnet Freight Rail's annual revenue. The Minerals Council and its members were actively involved in four corridor optimisation processes to stabilise the performances of the railways serving the coal, chrome, iron-ore and manganese mines, with miners having resorted to more expensive road transport in many instances. "Returning bulk commodities to rail is a priority for the mining industry." Mgojo, who is also CEO sponsor of Business for South Africa's transport and logistics focal area, stressed that the progress made to date represented but the first step in addressing the crisis. "Stability is essential to sustain the good work being done," he added, noting that the poor performance of the country's rail networks and ports was costing the economy an estimated R1-billion per day, with about R50-billion lost in the minerals sector alone in 2023. Business is participating in the National Logistics Crisis Committee set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2023 to improve Transnet's operational performance, implement rail and port reforms and to create enabling conditions for the freight transport system to operate effectively. "Though we are not yet close to the realisation of our ultimate objectives, there have been tangible and encouraging advances," Mgojo said. In particular, Busa highlighted the approval by Cabinet in December of the Freight Logistics Roadmap and the Rail Private Sector Participation framework, the establishment of an Interim Infrastructure Manager by Transnet Freight Rail, and the signing of mutual cooperation agreements allowing customers to assist with the procurement of spare parts. It also noted the approval of a R47-billion guarantee facility for Transnet by the National Treasury, the deployment of technical experts from business into Transnet, and the implementation of best practices into day-to-day operations. "We expect that with skilled and exper...

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a leading supplier of products, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation. Organised business says the appointment of a permanent executive team at Transnet - led by CEO Michelle Phillips, who has been acting in the role since September and who has been with the utility for 20 years - will enhance stability in the relationships between Transnet and the business sector and accelerate the implementation of the Transnet Recovery Plan. Phillips' appointment was announced by Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan on February 28 alongside that of Nosipho Maphumulo, who has been appointed CFO. "We have, over the past months, seen a much-needed improvement in the relationship between the country's transport and logistics authorities and those businesses whose existence is dependent on efficient and effective logistics," Busa president Mxolisi Mgojo said in a statement. Likewise, Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busisiwe Mavuso said Phillips had demonstrated decisiveness and an ability to get things done over the past six months, during which business had intensified its collaboration with the utility in support of its recovery. "Phillips knows what business and government are trying to achieve with the Business for South Africa freight and logistics partnership. "She was the acting CEO when we achieved a 45% reduction in vessels anchored outside Durban port and a 36%reduction in the waiting time to anchor for container vessels," Mavuso added. The Minerals Council South Africa, whose members raised grave concerns about the utility's previous leadership, also congratulated Phillips and Maphumulo on their appointments and suggested that "green shoots" were showing in relation to Transnet's turnaround. "The Minerals Council notes Ms Phillips's commitment to implementing the Transnet Recovery Plan, which includes sustainable cooperation with the private sector to improve operational efficiencies," the council said in a statement, noting that mining accounted for about 80% of Transnet Freight Rail's annual revenue. The Minerals Council and its members were actively involved in four corridor optimisation processes to stabilise the performances of the railways serving the coal, chrome, iron-ore and manganese mines, with miners having resorted to more expensive road transport in many instances. "Returning bulk commodities to rail is a priority for the mining industry." Mgojo, who is also CEO sponsor of Business for South Africa's transport and logistics focal area, stressed that the progress made to date represented but the first step in addressing the crisis. "Stability is essential to sustain the good work being done," he added, noting that the poor performance of the country's rail networks and ports was costing the economy an estimated R1-billion per day, with about R50-billion lost in the minerals sector alone in 2023. Business is participating in the National Logistics Crisis Committee set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2023 to improve Transnet's operational performance, implement rail and port reforms and to create enabling conditions for the freight transport system to operate effectively. "Though we are not yet close to the realisation of our ultimate objectives, there have been tangible and encouraging advances," Mgojo said. In particular, Busa highlighted the approval by Cabinet in December of the Freight Logistics Roadmap and the Rail Private Sector Participation framework, the establishment of an Interim Infrastructure Manager by Transnet Freight Rail, and the signing of mutual cooperation agreements allowing customers to assist with the procurement of spare parts. It also noted the approval of a R47-billion guarantee facility for Transnet by the National Treasury, the deployment of technical experts from business into Transnet, and the implementation of best practices into day-to-day operations. "We expect that with skilled and exper...

Lead: Women in Mining Mzila Mthenjane | CEO of Minerals Council South Africa Women in the South African mining industry face a range of challenges – some shared by their male counterparts and many more, which only women working underground must deal with. It is a priority of the Minerals Council South Africa and its member companies to ensure that women working in the industry has the same opportunities open to them as men – and that they are confident that they are safe to pursue them.   The theme for Mining Indaba 2024 is ‘Embracing the power of positive disruption: A bold new future for African Mining'. The steps taken by Angola to encourage mining investment support the theme of disruption nature and shines a light on the positive steps this African country is taking to bring greater mineral wealth to the country.   Mining Indaba provides a platform for delegates to meet from around the world with interests spanning across finance, technology, sustainability and energy - all essential components of the modernising mining industry. President Lourenço's presence at the event will offer invaluable insights into how the industry can work together towards achieving collective goals and sustainable growth across the African continent.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist. Noise-induced hearing loss has displaced tuberculosis (TB) and silicosis as the top priority health threat of the South African mining industry. "I'm emphasising noise-induced hearing loss because the other diseases have gone down markedly whereas as noise-induced hearing loss has not gone down as much," Minerals Council South Africa health department head Dr Thuthula Balfour revealed on day-two of the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town. The lowest number of occupational diseases reported to date was 1 924 in 2021. The 15 years from 2008 to 2021 saw a massive upwards-of-75% decrease in occupational diseases, with the biggest fall being in TB and silicosis and a lesser fall in noise-induced hearing loss, Balfour told a Minerals Council media briefing in which CEO Mzila Mthenjane, Japie Fullard, Dushendra Naidoo and Sietse van der Woude participated. While noise-induced hearing loss has overtaken TB and silicosis, it must be remembered that coal workers are exposed to lung disease from coal dust, Balfour pointed out at the media briefing covered by Mining Weekly. Of concern are the significant numbers of mine employees who continue to be exposed to noise levels above 85 decibels and key interventions to eliminate noise at the source are under way. Balfour urged that companies to desist from supplying equipment with excessive noise levels as the earmuffs meant to be worn to shield employees from loud sound tend to not be worn efficiently especially during high humidity and high temperature conditions. The elimination of excessive noise is being driven very aggressively "and we are finding a lot of progress", Balfour disclosed. Being targeted in particular are noisy rockdrill held close to the ear and through partnership, drills that emit far less noise are emerging. Coincidentally, the less noisy rockdrills on offer are also considerably lighter in weight, which has opened the way for women to become rockdrill operators.

Martin Kingston, chairman at Business for South Africa (B4SA) discusses the potential legal challenges to the NHI bill, highlighting its impact on the economy.   Then we dived into the Mining Indaba with Mzila Mthenjane, CEO of Minerals Council South Africa, for a critical analysis of the mining sector's landscape.    In our How I Make Money feature, we spoke to Herman Bosman, hostage negotiator and extortion manager at TSU International, for a look into the complex world of negotiation and extortion management.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist. Global mining and metals companies have committed at Davos to take urgent action to support a nature-positive future by 2030 that promotes the health, diversity and resilience of species, ecosystems and natural processes. International Council of Metals and Minerals (ICMM) members, representing a third of the global industry, have pledged that meeting the demand for critical materials must not be at the expense of nature. ICMM brings together a third of the world's mining industry to drive sustainable development. South Africa-linked member companies and organisations include African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American, Glencore, Gold Fields, Sibanye-Stillwater, South32, Minerals Council South Africa, and Mining Industry Associations of Southern Africa. ICMM's new commitments set out a five-point plan for nature: Protect and conserve pristine areas of the natural environment: No mining or exploration in World Heritage Sites and respect all legally designated protected areas. Halt biodiversity loss at operations: Achieve at least no net loss of biodiversity at all mine sites by closure against a 2020 baseline. Collaborate across value chains: Develop initiatives and partnerships that halt and reverse nature loss throughout supply and distribution chains. Restore and enhance landscapes: Around operations through local partnerships, including with Indigenous Peoples, land-connected peoples and local communities. Catalyse wider change: Act to change the fundamental systems that contribute to nature loss and foster opportunities for nature's recovery. These commitments apply to activities across all four realms of nature - land, freshwater, oceans and atmosphere - leveraging companies' areas of influence - from their direct operations, value chains and wider landscapes, through to creating the conditions required to achieve systems transformation. They are supported by transparent disclosures on performance outcomes, including publishing the results of nature-related impact and dependency assessments, and setting targets to address these. "The mining industry owes its very existence to nature. At a time when the health of our natural world is in peril yet the demand for critical minerals is set to soar, we have committed to significant collective action to help create a nature-positive future," ICMM president and CEO Rohitesh Dhawan stated in a release to Mining Weekly. These commitments build on the individual goals and actions of ICMM members over several decades, including habitat conservation, species protection and landscape restoration. "There is no escaping that the act of mining directly affects nature, which is why the cornerstone of our commitments is to ensure at least no net loss of biodiversity at all mine sites by closure against a 2020 baseline. "In addition, we have committed to take steps in our value chains, landscapes, and the wider systems in which we operate so that the total impact of our actions contribute to a nature-positive future. These will be taken with the critical participation of Indigenous and land-connected peoples, and local communities, whose rights, values, and knowledge will be central to our actions," Dhawan said. Examples of initiatives ICMM members have already implemented include strengthening protection for areas of high biodiversity value, developing innovative technologies for improved seed performance during landscape revegetation, and defending important habitats from invasive species. ICMM's new commitments will enhance these to drive performance across the industry. Nature advisory group chairperson Jonathan Price, who is also the CEO of Teck Resources, described collaboration across all sectors as being essential to help reverse nature loss and restore landscapes for the benefit of all. THREE-TO-ONE RECLAMATION "At Teck, we're taking action to conserve and restore nature while we also provide the critic...

Guest: Hugo Pienaar | Chief Economist at the Minerals Council South Africa  What can we expect from the South African economy in 2024? Abongile Nzelenzele speaks to Hugo Pienaar, Chief Economist at the Minerals Council South Africa to find out.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist. The growth of investment in fresh new greenfield mining projects is lagging badly and the contribution of the South African mining industry to the national economy has more than halved in the last two decades, Minerals Council South Africa's latest Facts and Figures 2022 point out. Net fixed capital formation figures show a mining industry bumping along a growthless greenfield path. Investment in the mining sector has largely been directed towards maintaining current operations. This is reflected in the 30%-higher gross fixed capital formation investment, which centres on brownfield growth in existing lease areas. In contrast, net fixed capital formation investment in mining averaging a low 4% from 1993 to 2022. (Also see attached graph.) A major upturn is required in net fixed investment is required because what has been mined has to constantly be replaced with a new find to prevent this finite-horizon industry from fading away. In stark contrast to other sectors of the South African economy, mining has consistently struggled to achieve and maintain positive growth. In fact, mining is the only sector of the South African economy that has averaged a negative 0.4% growth rate since 1994 in the face of all other sectors having grown, Facts and Figures 2022 highlights. Stay-in-business brownfield investment in existing lease areas can only go on for so long, making new greenfield investment essential if mining is to continue to be a meaningful economic multiplier. An indication of mining's magnitude of mining is provided the sector remaining a trillion-rand industry for the second consecutive year when measured in production value. While the contribution to South Africa's gross domestic product (GDP) was 1.9% higher at R483.3-billion, and direct payments into the fiscus totalled R99.1-billion, mining could have contributed 35% to 50% more to the fiscus in an environment of improved logistics performance and electricity security. It would thus made the necessary cash flow available for the government to invest in much-needed socio-economic infrastructure, such as education, health, roads and railways to drive economic development. Production in the year to December 2022 was 6.9% lower than in 2021. What is more, 2022 production performance was 6.7% lower when compared to pre-Covid levels. "Our industry is in decline, a trend which should be of concern to the nation," new Minerals Council CEO Mzila Mthenjane stated. "The value at stake for the nation is too large for the Minerals Council not to play a leading role in reversing this trend," Mthenjane added. Minerals Council is working closely with its business peers, government and other stakeholders to ensure sustainable and pragmatic solutions to the infrastructural and logistics constraints faced by the industry - while addressing the deteriorating security environment. "If these blockages are resolved, with the inclusion of the private sector, the mining industry's role as a key contributor to the wellbeing of the South African economy and livelihoods of people of South Africa will be fully unlocked. We believe and will continue to uphold our vision of #MiningMatters because it really does," Mthenjane emphasised in the release to Mining Weekly. Needed ultra-urgently is an efficiently working proven cadastre as well as an incentive framework to ensure the promotion of mining exploration.

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist,. The world over, green hydrogen is being recognised as the most effective route towards combating the climate crisis in the most holistic way possible, with Minerals Council South Africa highlighting the collaboration of South Africa's leading platinum mining company with a local grey hydrogen producer and a car company with 30 global production site and a 140-country sales network. Collaborating in the trialling of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are Anglo American Platinum, BMW Group South Africa and Sasol South Africa in the trialing of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) in which the green hydrogen is converted into clean electricity by platinum catalysts. "As countries around the world reduce their environmental footprint by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change concerns, green hydrogen is a vital component in the shift towards green energy sources," the Minerals Council stated in its release to Mining Weekly. For South Africa, which is the largest supplier of platinum group metals (PGMs), the use of green hydrogen in the auto sector is an important development that could generate demand of up to five-million ounces of platinum group metals (PGMs) a year if hydrogen fuel cells are used in 10% of the global car market. This will underpin job security for the 175 000 people employed in the PGM mining sector. Coinciding with the Minerals Council media release were several other local releases and many global newsbreaks emphasising green hydrogen's far-reaching momentum. As reported by Engineering News at the weekend, South Africa's Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape provinces have agreed to team up in a bid to position South Africa as a global hub for the production of green hydrogen and derivative products, as well as to produce the components required in the green hydrogen value chain, ahead of the finalisation of South Africa's Green Hydrogen Commercialisation Strategy. In addition, steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa is moving ahead with a study into the production of green hydrogen directly reduced iron (gHDRI) at its mothballed Saldanha Steel Works, in the Western Cape. The JSE-listed group has signed a memorandum of understanding with an as yet unnamed "developer of transformational energy solutions" to advance the production of gHDRI at the plant. On Monday, Charbone Hydrogen of Canada announced the launching of the construction of the first phase of Toronto-listed company's green hydrogen production facility in Quebec This followed the energy company with Australia's iron-ore mining group Fortescue has announced plans to build a 550 MW electrolyser at its Gibson Island Project in Brisbane, a platinum-based proton exchange membrane electrolyser as well as European company Lhyfe, a world pioneer in the production of green and renewable hydrogen for transport and industrial applications, turning the first sod for the construction of a hydrogen production plant in the German city of Schwäbisch Gmünd. This plant will be the first to supply hydrogen directly to an industrial park. It is also the first in a network of many plants that will be operated by Lhyfe, which is setting out to deliver green hydrogen in bulk in Germany and France by 2025. In addition, Fortescue and Plug of the US have started the initial diligence process for Fortescue to take up to a 40% equity stake in Plug's Texas green hydrogen plant and for Plug to take up to a 25% equity stake in Fortescue's proposed Phoenix green hydrogen plant. The World Platinum Investment Council, with its eye on the demand for platinum that the green hydrogen rollout will generate, expects one-million FCEVs to be on China's roads by 2035 and that one in eight newly registered commercial vehicles worldwide will be powered by hydrogen fuel cells by 2030. The broad-based commercial adoption of FCEVs could add more than three-million ounces to yearly platinum...

Lethabo Exploration, which started out as an exploration company, has since transitioned into mining iron-ore in Limpopo, and has secured an offtake agreement. Lethabo is 100% South African black-owned and to date, it has been 100% self-funded, which means the company has no external debt-funding obligations, Lethabo Exploration CEO Mandy Malebe told the Junior Indaba this week. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) “Lethabo's truly a first of its kind, with its director and executive body being local people born and bred in rural Limpopo, in the district of Sekhukhune, and having mining rights for projects and greenfield exploration in Sekhukhune, which takes in the areas such as Steelpoort and Burgersfort. That's home and it's also home to our mining projects. “Being local people from Sekhukhune and mining in our home area, our commitment to the development that we want to see there is personal because of the background that we have and also being exposed to the poverty there,” Malebe said in a presentation covered by Mining Weekly. Lethabo is affiliated to Minerals Council South Africa, of which it has been a member since 2020, and Malebe serves as one of the deputy chairs of the Exploration and Junior Miners Leadership Forum on the Junior and Emerging Miners Desk. At last week's Minerals Council annual general meeting, Malebe was appointed as a council board member. It is also associated to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), where it participates in the entrepreneurial accelerator programme, sponsored by Minerals Council South Africa. This programme is designed to help businesses to access investors and capital, as well as access funding through the option of listing on the JSE, which is seen as essentially increasing South Africa's employment status as a nation and contributing to the economy. The social economy which is within Lethabo's immediate reach is that of Sekhukhune, where it holds mining rights for iron-ore, vanadium, chrome, platinum-group metals, titanium and andalusite. Its mining rights cover the farms Malekskraal, Waterkop and Mecklenburg, situated on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex. For mining continuity, it has secured the mining rights on the farms Waterkop and Mecklenburg, which are neighbouring farms along the R37 provincial route, and mining rights for iron-ore and its byproducts at Malekskraal. The three farms together cover 8 370 ha. “As a self-funded company from inception to date, our progress and project development has been dependent solely on the success of other non-mining-related projects that we run and have used to provide capital. “This is extremely difficult and challenging, especially because mining requires such high volumes of cash injection, not to mention the costs incurred to outsource expert opinion through consultants, geologists and surveyors,” Malebe explained. Lethabo set out in 2007 when its first prospecting rights application was submitted to the Department of Minerals Resources and Energy (DMRE), finally executing its mining rights this year, “so that's after 16 years of being on the receiving end of bureaucracy, litigation, no-access to funding and limited access to markets. “As an emerging mining company, being black-owned and being women-led does not make us immune to the challenges that are common to the industry – access to markets, capital, human capital, and the DMRE's legitimate intervention at a regional level. We are too young a company to even comment on the access's real issues,” Malebe said. Malekskraal is the only site where site establishment has been done, the construction of a weighbridge has been competed and opencast mining operations has begun. Implementing this project was the outcome of many debates where Lethabo was faced with potential buyers resisting to commit to a project that had no existing operations. With no access to project funding for mining, Lethabo resorted to starting “where you are, with what you have. Again, our su...

State-owned freight utility Transnet and the Minerals Council South Africa have agreed to form joint collaborative structures to ensure all possible actions are taken to stabilise and improve the throughput of South Africa's rail and ports systems. Transnet recognises the integrated nature of the mining industry as part of the logistics system and has agreed to mutually focus on stabilising the whole system's performance. The parties agree that stabilisation and recovery of the ports and railways are in the interest of all parties in the value chain. The entities will establish an oversight panel and a recovery steering committee, as well as continue with the work being done through channel optimisation teams for each of the country's major commodities – coal, iron-ore, manganese and chrome. The oversight panel will include principles and office bearers of the Minerals Council and the Transnet board, while the recovery steering committee will be jointly chaired by Minerals Council president Nolitha Fakude and Transnet chairperson Popo Molefe. The five-a-side recovery steering committee will also comprise Transnet board members, the Minerals Council CEO and CEOs of companies that produce bulk commodities. The channel optimisation teams, which already exist, will continue seeking priority practical solutions to improve flows across the system organised across corridors. Fakude says the council is determined to find practical solutions to the rail and port challenges of the country and to ensure that all producers enjoy inclusive growth that comes from an improved logistics system. Molefe adds that Transnet looks forward to an equally open and constructive relationship with the Minerals Council and key Transnet customers to stabilise the performance on the channels, for the benefit of the country.

In what is a transformational high point, Benford Mokoatle will run Gold Fields South Africa from January 1 when Martin Preece steps up as interim CEO following the sudden stepdown of Chris Griffith over the Yamana Gold transaction not succeeding. The Gold Fields South Africa executive VP position goes to Mokoatle for now as Preece – a 37-year industry veteran and a board member of the Minerals Council South Africa – leads the company until a full-time CEO is appointed. As VP South Deep, a de facto GM position, Mokoatle worked alongside Preece to send the once troubled South Deep gold mine into a new high production orbit. Mokoatle's assumption of the EVP Gold Fields South Africa mantle makes for the smoothest of baton changes – a smoothness that would be replicated should Preece – who has shot the lights out in everything he has tackled for Gold Fields so far – be appointed to the top job full time. Meanwhile, internal and external candidates will be considered as global executive search firms conduct a CEO search. Preece, who joined Gold Fields as an executive committee member six years ago, has full board support in his interim CEO role. He will work alongside CFO Paul Schmidt, a seasoned Gold Fields campaigner since 2008. In response to Mining Weekly during a media conference call, Preece expressed ultra-confidence in the team that will be running South Deep, Gold Fields' only remaining South Africa asset: “There's been a great team at South Deep for a number of years now,” he said. Griffith's step down will be effective from December 31. In thanking Griffith for the dedication he showed especially during the Yamana transaction, Gold Fields chairperson Yunus Suleman said: “We were all disappointed that the Yamana deal did not go through, as we felt it was a compelling deal which would have created a strong company and created value for all our shareholders.” In turn, Griffith thanked the board for the opportunity to lead Gold Fields. “The board and I agree that the company's strategy, including growing the value and quality of the portfolio, continues to be the right one, but we also felt that the Yamana setback should not be allowed to impede the company's strategy. So, as CEO, I felt that I should take responsibility and allow the company to move forward under new leadership, unencumbered by the Yamana transaction.” Said Preece: “Our focus remains on implementing our strategy and continuing to deliver operational excellence and sustainable growth. Disciplined capital allocation will remain a key focus for all our strategic decision-making as Gold Fields continues to implement its strategy.” Gold Fields' balance sheet remains healthy, providing the Johannesburg- and New York-listed gold mining company with significant flexibility to pursue its strategic objectives. The turnaround of South Deep has been sustained, with the mine performing well and on track to ramp up to around 380 000 oz over the next two to three years. Gold Fields is also focused on delivering the first gold at Salares Norte in Chile by the end of the second quarter of next year and then building up to full production in 2024.

Geotechnical monitoring radar systems company Reutech Mining has been revealed as the winner of the Rock Hazard Identification and Safe Removal Innovation Challenge, an initiative by the Mandela Mining Precinct (MMP) and the Minerals Council South Africa, supported by mining companies Sibanye-Stillwater and Impala Platinum (Implats). During the first quarter of the year, the Minerals Council and the MMP set out to identify novel solutions in rock hazard identification and safe rock removal for further development, testing and piloting at Sibanye and Implats' mines, with a focus on the reduction in falls-of-ground (FoGs) and improved worker safety. A call for proposals in the rock hazard identification category resulted in the submission of solutions featuring ground-penetrating radar technology, thermal and acoustic imaging, light detection and ranging-compatible drones and millimetre-wave synthetic aperture radar imaging for real-time rock mass quality inspection, among others. In November, a panel of judges representing the MMP, the Minerals Council, Sibanye and Implats shortlisted the top seven submissions. Earlier this month, the shortlisted submissions underwent a final round of judging at a virtual “pitching den” event. This culminated in the announcement of Reutech as the winner, with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research's Advanced Internet-of-Things group, Tata Consultancy Services Research, and drone company Flyability being named runners up. Other finalists in the challenge were Stratafy, Ramjack Technology Solutions and RockMass Technologies. The Rock Hazard Identification and Safe Removal Innovation Challenge was undertaken as part of the FoG Action Plan (FoGAP), a programme developed and approved by the Minerals Council's CEO Zero Harm Forum, in conjunction with the MMP's Advanced Orebody Knowledge (AOK) programme. The FoGAP's objective is to eliminate FoG fatalities, which have historically been cited as one of the leading causes of worker fatalities within the mining industry, while the AOK programme seeks to improve geological confidence at and beyond the rockface. “We are incredibly encouraged by the significant reduction of fatalities due to FoGs this year and hope this is a great step toward reaching zero fatalities – but the work is not done,” Minerals Council safety and sustainability senior policy analyst Lerato Tsele said. MMP director Johan le Roux added that innovation has been shown to directly enhance performance in the environmental, social and governance space – the clearest evidence of this being improvements in health and safety and the significant progress made to date towards achieving zero-harm for the mining workforce.

South Africa's economic paradox is that it cannot grow economically if it has a burgeoning crime crisis but it is unable to solve the burgeoning crime crisis if it is not growing. That was the opening comment of outgoing Mineral Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter, who anchored the second of two panel discussions at on United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 that focuses on the need for peace, justice and stability. “This is the paradox that we need to grapple with as business and as government,” Baxter told the meeting moderated by Anglo American government relations head Bheki Khumalo and covered by Mining Weekly. Also participating were Department of Justice DG Adv Doctor Mashabane, South African Council of Churches general secretary Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, Business Leadership South Africa executive director Busisiwe Mavuso, Anglo American management board chairperson and Minerals Council South Africa chairperson Nolitha Fakude, Anglo American Platinum CEO Natascha Viljoen and many other government and corporate representatives who took part in table hosted discussions on the two main panel discussions. “The mining industry and the country are under siege because of the deteriorating security and crime crisis that we're facing. “Surging rates of murder, extortion, kidnapping are amongst the signs that organised crime is creating an existential threat for South Africa's democracy,” said Baxter, who added that the mining industry is at the brunt of it. “Just talking to some senior executives yesterday, what the industry is having to do over the last couple of years to respond to particularly the extortion crisis – the criminal mafia – has become a much bigger part of our business,” he said. In 1996, South Africa was the 23rd least corrupt country in the world; it is now the 70th. In the Fraser Institute survey, South Africa was the worst ranked country of the country's that had security rankings and South Africa's 40 murders per 100 000 population is now higher than that of Colombia. Illegal mining is costing the country R20-billion and in 2019 there were 22 armed attacks on precious metals facilities in South Africa by gangs of between 20 to 30 people armed with high calibre rifles. This year, a gang of 150 armed with AK47s and other types of weapons attacked the Cooke Shafts of Sibanye-Stillwater, with the fire fight lasting for four hours. “This is an attack on our democracy. This type of attack should not be happening in a society like South Africa's. “The impact of the criminal mafia tactics on the industry is that it is having a huge dampening effect on investment. Companies simply can't press the investment trigger on a number of projects because of security issues related to the procurement mafia – and the procurement mafia often masquerade as business forums,” said Baxter. While the industry did not mind engaging with legitimate business forums in the interests of working with local communities, but when the “range rover brigade” from Bryanston rustle up communities to shut down mines so that they can distort a 30% share of the services to that mine, it becomes a typical mafia extortion process. Moreover, copper theft has been a major setback for rail services and the mining sector is having to spend R2.5-billion a year on security. The slogan that Minerals Council South Africa has adopted to counteract the crime is “be the change that you want to see in the world” and mining company CEOs were leading from the front to put an end to crime. “We are focusing on getting this economy to grow at a much faster pace – but again it's that paradox. How do we do that when crime is burgeoning,” said Baxter, who recalled that the South Africa economy grew at 5% in 2008. “If we could repeat that, we double the size every 12 years, so we would go from at $500-billion to a trillion dollar economy if we could achieve growth rates at that sort of level, and the private sector is a willing partner,” he added.

An index measuring South African economic transactions fell to a 10-month low in October after a strike at the State-owned port and rail operator hobbled exports, suggesting a weak start to the final quarter. The BankservAfrica Economic Transactions Index, which tracks interbank payments, dropped to 130.7 from a revised 131 in September, signalling ongoing strain in the economy, independent economist Elize Kruger said in a statement. Labour unions at Transnet went on a 12-day pay strike last month curtailing mineral, agricultural and manufacturing exports. The Minerals Council South Africa estimated that the industrial action cost mining companies about R815-million a day. In addition to the strike and ongoing power cuts, “the economy has also been buckling under the significant rise in the cost of living,” said Kruger. The South African Reserve Bank has increased interest rates by a cumulative 275 basis points since November 2021 to curb surging prices, adding to pressure on consumers with debt exposure. Another hike is expected on November 24, when the central bank's monetary policy committee is due to announce its final interest-rate decision of the year, Kruger said. That may crimp economic expansion in the coming months because household spending accounts for about two-thirds of gross domestic product. Slowing global growth may also weigh on the economy. International trade flows in October continued to dwindle in the face of heightened economic, inflationary and political pressures, according to Kruger. The deteriorating economy may result in labour protests and potential social unrest, which the country can ill afford, she said. “Much needed infrastructure upgrades -- including road, rail, power and water -- and broader structural reforms are urgently needed to address the declining trajectory of the South African economy.” The central bank and National Treasury predict the economy will expand by 1.9% this year, though the former may revise its forecast next week. BETI is an early economic scorecard for South Africa in terms of growth trends and correlates closely with the central bank's co-incident indicator and GDP data.

Orion Minerals CEO Errol Smart offered the familiar refrain of South Africa's mining industry needing a functional and accurate cadastre. “We cannot manage our minerals with a GIS system,” he said during the Q&A session following his keynote address at the 2022 Council for Geoscience (CGS) Summit on Wednesday. He expressed ongoing frustration with the fact that “some of the most commercially successful mining cadastre developers in the world are based here in South Africa, and yet we don't have a cadastre”. Moreover, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) is only negligibly closer to replacing its defunct system, as it published an invitation to tender earlier this year. “Botswana started speaking about a cadastre at the same time that we started speaking about a mining cadastre. We're still speaking about speaking about speaking, and Botswana has an active cadastre.” Similarly, there has been very little progress in terms of the six points outlined in the exploration reform proposed by the CGS and Minerals Council South Africa. “The CEO of CGS and I sat in a room two years ago, trying to answer the question about what we need to do [to attract exploration investment and reignite exploration]. We came up with six points. Those six points are still not acted upon,” he said. Aside from implementing a functional cadastre and halving licensing times, one of the six points is the need to address ambiguities in the law. “The Minister stands with me on every stage around the world, and he'll tell people that it is not sensible to have BEE overlay on prospecting rights. He makes a clear statement, regularly on stage, that BEE is not required for prospecting. And I go to the international investment community, and I tell investors that BEE is not required for prospecting in South Africa. I have not received a single prospecting right that hasn't had an insistence on Section Two D, in compliance with the new Minerals Charter. That creates uncertainty and unhappiness among investors." He also asked that the DMRE take responsibility in terms of Section 54 and help address the impasse between landowners and prospectors – landowners who are sterilising prospecting opportunities. Smart stated that unless action was taken, South Africa would continue to lose out on investment to neighbours like Botswana and Namibia, not because they have better geology, but because they have better administrative systems. BENEFICIATION Smart noted that in South Africa everybody “waffles on about beneficiation”, with some looking to increase metals smelting capacity, even though the challenges plaguing State-owned utility Eskom all but guarantee that it will never be able to power said smelters. “To me that's not where the value is, the real value is understanding that value chain of a battery precursor.” He provided the example of cell phones, noting that the 3 μm to 6 μm iron micro flakes that are used in a single phone costs the cell phone manufacturer as much as all of the cobalt found in the phone. “Iron, currently [around] $100/t, but the same stuff goes into your cell phone for microwave attenuation and is trading at $100 000/t. The nickel that's used isn't the big ingots, its microfibres. That's what we need to be doing.” He cited technologies and innovations that open up other avenues for beneficiation. “The nickel in your cell phone comes from massive plants where they take a big lump of nickel and go gasify it to produce little microbeads.” He said that similar beneficiation activity can occur using concentrates. ”So there are two different technologies, but they happen the same way, almost identical reactor vessels. You've got a vaporisation vessel, a bunch of pipes and a distillation tower. It's the same stuff that Sasol does, the same process, the same technology, the same reactor, and it's done around the world on a huge scale.” He noted that pursuing these technologies and beneficiation strategies would be viable, cost-effecti...

South Africa is on track to achieve a new record low in mining fatalities for the year, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said during the Mine Occupational Health and Safety Tripartite Summit hosted by the Mine Health and Safety Council, in Midrand, on October 13. To date, 38 work-related fatalities have been recorded in the South African mining industry, a significant drop from the 74 recorded last year, Mantashe said. The lowest ever number of fatalities recorded by the South African mining industry in any year was in 2019, when there were 51 fatalities. The industry's safety performance, however, worsened again in 2020 and 2021 when 60 and 74 fatalities were recorded. Mantashe also warned that there were still two-and-a-half months to go before the end of the year and that much could change during that time. He implored delegates attending the summit to continue striving for zero harm and zero fatalities. The summit is aimed at addressing the bottlenecks that prevent the industry from achieving zero harm and zero fatalities. Mantashe singled out fall-of-ground (FoG) incidents as a longstanding area of significant concern, but he also applauded the lack of incidents in both the gold and platinum group metals (PGMs) mining sectors so far this year. Mining Weekly reported earlier this year that the gold and PGMs mines had achieved zero FoG-related deaths throughout the first half of this year. The mining industry has been paying particular attention to the issue and has been taking steps to do all it can to eliminate FoG-related deaths. The Minerals Council South Africa, the Mandela Mining Precinct and other partners earlier this year also launched an innovation competition aimed at identifying technologies that could help eliminate the risk of FoG-related deaths in the mining sector. Mantashe encouraged continued efforts to eventually eliminate all risk associated with FoG incidents, reiterating that one fatality was a fatality too many. He also commended the 67% reduction in machinery-related fatalities so far this year. Further, Mantashe raised concerns about the safety of South Africa's tailings storage facilities (TSFs), singling out the Free State as having many more TSFs that were akin to the Jagersfontein tailings facility. He implied that there was a general lack of proper qualifications among those who manage the TSFs, saying these employees were qualified in mining rather than in water management. Organised labour stakeholder advocate Hanlie van Vuuren, meanwhile, called on Mantashe to conduct an urgent and immediate survey of all tailings facilities in the country. “We have a responsibility to improve the image and reputation of the sector and we can do better,” Mantashe agreed. He said it was important to continue pushing for zero harm and zero fatalities because the mining sector was important for South Africa's economy, and that it needed to grow. He called on delegates to do more exploration and open up more mines to achieve a 12% contribution to [gross domestic product]. He said mining was not dead in South Africa, only that it was no longer focused so heavily on gold mining but on a more diversified portfolio of metals and minerals. Mantashe claimed that mining saved the fiscus during the Covid-19 pandemic, and so it should work hard to not destroy jobs through injuries and fatalities but rather create jobs by ensuring worker safety. Mantashe said relations between all stakeholders were important, and that much of it depended on continued improvement in health and safety. “The protection of workers is critical to ensure that the industry continues to thrive and contribute to the economy,” he said. Mantashe also called for a swift resolution and end to strikes, or to avoid them altogether by working more cooperatively. He said industrial action caused much stress for workers, and that stressed miners who were under pressure suffered lapses in their safety consciousness, which could lead t...

As the impasse between Transnet and its two recognised unions – the United National Transport Union (Untu) and the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) – continues, organised business has called for a “swift, sustainable resolution”, as mining exporters warned that they were losing R815-million every day the strike continued. In a joint statement, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) and Business Leadership South Africa rejected short-term solutions, such as temporarily increasing levies, which they said could have unintended consequences. “We need a quick, sustainable resolution to this strike, not ad hoc solutions,” Busa CEO Cas Coovadia said. “The strike risks severe damage to the economy not just in the short term but also the longer term if it drags on and South Africa's reputation for logistics gets further tarnished.” Both organisations rejected earlier media reports suggesting that they would support a so-called ‘Avoidance of Strike Levy'. They also expressed anxiety over the prospect of the strike enduring for more than a few days, warning that cargo ships would not only skip slots at South African ports but start taking South African ports out of schedules in the months ahead. “This will add significant costs to either airfreight items or truck goods to and from other African ports – which will add to the inflation pressures South Africans are facing.” Minerals Council South Africa, meanwhile, estimated that bulk mineral exporters were losing R815-million daily, because they had been unable to rail and load 357 000 t of iron-ore, coal, chrome, ferrochrome and manganese onto ships. “On average, South Africa exports about 476 000 t of bulk minerals a day worth R1.06-billion. “We estimate that just 120 000 t of minerals worth R261-million are being exported daily, [given that] mineral export harbours are operating at between 12% and 30% of their daily averages,” the council said in a statement. As with the other orgnaised business formations, the council also warned that the damage caused by the strike was not only limited to the immediate losses and could have longer-term consequences, including damaging South Africa's reputation as a reliable supplier to global markets. “The Minerals Council is deeply concerned that the labour action at Transnet will compound the losses our bulk mineral exporting members are already experiencing because of Transnet struggling to meet targeted annual tonnages on its rail network and throughput at ports.” The council has estimated previously that there had been an export loss of R50-billion on an annualised basis this year for iron-ore, coal, chrome, ferrochrome and manganese exporters as measured by delivered tonnages against contracted rail volumes. “In contrast, R151-billion could be gained in additional exports, with the concomitant benefits of employment in mining increasing by 40 000 jobs to 500 000, the fiscus benefiting from improved tax revenue and higher revenues for Transnet if all rail and ports systems were optimally and efficiently run at design capacity.” EXTREMELY CONCERNED In a separate joint statement, Ministers Pravin Gordhan, Thulas Nxesi and Thoko Didiza said they were “extremely concerned” about the negative impact of the strike on the South African economy. “It is the view of government, that it will be in the interests of the country to find a speedy resolution to this impasse and for parties to continue to engage and, where appropriate, to employ the facilitation services of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). “Our country cannot afford further job losses in other sectors of the economy and the interruption of imports and exports to and from South Africa,” the three Ministers said. Despite this growing pressure, Untu and Satawu have indicated they were likely to reject the latest three-year offer tabled by Transnet following two days of CCMA-facilitated negotiations. The wage offer, which Transnet said would b...

As the impasse between Transnet and its two recognised unions – the United National Transport Union (Untu) and the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) – continues, organised business has called for a “swift, sustainable resolution”, as mining exporters warned that they were losing R815-million every day the strike continued. In a joint statement, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) and Business Leadership South Africa rejected short-term solutions, such as temporarily increasing levies, which they said could have unintended consequences. “We need a quick, sustainable resolution to this strike, not ad hoc solutions,” Busa CEO Cas Coovadia said. “The strike risks severe damage to the economy not just in the short term but also the longer term if it drags on and South Africa's reputation for logistics gets further tarnished.” Both organisations rejected earlier media reports suggesting that they would support a so-called ‘Avoidance of Strike Levy'. They also expressed anxiety over the prospect of the strike enduring for more than a few days, warning that cargo ships would not only skip slots at South African ports but start taking South African ports out of schedules in the months ahead. “This will add significant costs to either airfreight items or truck goods to and from other African ports – which will add to the inflation pressures South Africans are facing.” Minerals Council South Africa, meanwhile, estimated that bulk mineral exporters were losing R815-million daily, because they had been unable to rail and load 357 000 t of iron-ore, coal, chrome, ferrochrome and manganese onto ships. “On average, South Africa exports about 476 000 t of bulk minerals a day worth R1.06-billion. “We estimate that just 120 000 t of minerals worth R261-million are being exported daily, [given that] mineral export harbours are operating at between 12% and 30% of their daily averages,” the council said in a statement. As with the other orgnaised business formations, the council also warned that the damage caused by the strike was not only limited to the immediate losses and could have longer-term consequences, including damaging South Africa's reputation as a reliable supplier to global markets. “The Minerals Council is deeply concerned that the labour action at Transnet will compound the losses our bulk mineral exporting members are already experiencing because of Transnet struggling to meet targeted annual tonnages on its rail network and throughput at ports.” The council has estimated previously that there had been an export loss of R50-billion on an annualised basis this year for iron-ore, coal, chrome, ferrochrome and manganese exporters as measured by delivered tonnages against contracted rail volumes. “In contrast, R151-billion could be gained in additional exports, with the concomitant benefits of employment in mining increasing by 40 000 jobs to 500 000, the fiscus benefiting from improved tax revenue and higher revenues for Transnet if all rail and ports systems were optimally and efficiently run at design capacity.” EXTREMELY CONCERNED In a separate joint statement, Ministers Pravin Gordhan, Thulas Nxesi and Thoko Didiza said they were “extremely concerned” about the negative impact of the strike on the South African economy. “It is the view of government, that it will be in the interests of the country to find a speedy resolution to this impasse and for parties to continue to engage and, where appropriate, to employ the facilitation services of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). “Our country cannot afford further job losses in other sectors of the economy and the interruption of imports and exports to and from South Africa,” the three Ministers said. Despite this growing pressure, Untu and Satawu have indicated they were likely to reject the latest three-year offer tabled by Transnet following two days of CCMA-facilitated negotiations. The wage offer, which Transnet said would b...

In the early 2000s the South African mining industry carried an inescapable risk for its workers. Alack of innovative tools, minimal research and poor organisational cultures meant that miners wentto work without knowing if they’d return home, safely. Over two decades later, the industry can boasta sterling improvement in managing health and safety, a very critical factor in every mining operation.Minerals Council South Africa head of safety and sustainable development DR SIZWE PHAKATHI tellsHLENGIWE MOTAUNG.

The Minerals Council South Africa and the Mandela Mining Precinct plan to announce the finalists of an open innovation challenge – championed by Sibanye-Stillwater and Impala Platinum – to identify high-potential innovations for real-time rock hazard identification and loose rock removal in South African mines. The challenge forms part of the Mandela Mining Precinct's Advanced Orebody Knowledge programme, which is aimed at providing mine planners, rock engineers, geologists and other decision-makers with information and knowledge that will contribute to optimal extraction and zero harm objectives. It also forms part of the Minerals Council's Elimination of Fall of Ground (FoG) Fatalities Action Plan, which is a holistic approach that encompasses technical and human elements supported by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, the Mine Health and Safety Council, as well as organised labour and suppliers. The action plan, which was approved in July 2021, includes a financial investment of R46-million over five years. The open innovation challenge, which was first announced on August 12 and which will close on October 12, was an invitation to identify and implement new technology that will enable the development of user-friendly solutions for improving geological confidence at the face, while also making the underground mining environment safer during the removal of loose rocks after blasting and during cleaning before workers enter the area for drilling. The finalists will be announced in early November. The challenge seeks to address a two-fold problem – identifying the rock features that could be potentially hazardous and then safely supporting or removing them. “For falls of ground safety, statistical analysis revealed a lot of accidents happened during the barring process. This is why we needed to search for whatever technologies, instruments and systems are out there that can help remove loose rock in the safest possible way – preferably remotely, without people being exposed,” Minerals Council safety and sustainable development senior policy analyst Lerato Tsele tells Mining Weekly. She explains that the business case for the Minerals Council on this project centered on saving lives, adding that Sibanye-Stillwater and Impala platinum mines have availed themselves to pilot whatever tool or equipment or technology emerges from the challenge. South African underground narrow, tabular gold and platinum mines have the highest FOG risks. Intense fracturing often occurs owing to high stresses encountered at depth and the structural complexity of these orebodies. This fracturing is also exacerbated by the drill-and-blast method that is traditionally practiced in hard-rock narrow reef mines. The combination of faults, joints and shallow-dipping fractures occurring in tabular stopes can compromise the integrity of the hanging wall, resulting in rock mass instabilities. These instabilities, if untreated, may result in hazardous FoGs. This is why they are typically the target of safe-making and support activities during mining. The identification and visualization of geological structures and hazards on the face by mining personnel is typically limited to in-person visual and physical examination and the ability to identify hazards and risks ahead of the face are limited. A new, better leading practice is being sought for frontline workers in hard rock, tabular, underground mining to more accurately identify and visualize hazards relating to rock faults, joints and fractures. Once unstable and unsafe rocks have been identified, it is necessary to support or remove them safely. The method of using a pinch bar to sound the rock to establish its integrity and then using it to remove the rock exposes the worker directly to the hazard, not to mention it being physically demanding. A new tool to safely remove a loose rock from the rock mass in a controlled manner is required to ensure zero harm to those tasked with carrying out m...

Leading South African mineral sands producer Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with independent power producer Voltalia for the supply of wheeled renewable energy from a 148 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) facility in Limpopo to its smelting and processing facilities in KwaZulu-Natal. Voltalia and its black economic empowerment partners, the identities of whom have not yet been disclosed, will begin construction of the Bolobedu solar project in 2023 at a site that is about 120 km east of Polokwane. The project value has also not yet been disclosed, but Voltalia CEO Sébastien Clerc reports that South African banks have shown a strong appetite for funding the project. “These banks of course will provide funding in South African rand, which is essential since the cash flows of the power plants are in the same currency with very long-term debt.” Once completed in 2024, the facility will be able to deliver 300 GWh yearly into the national grid and supply electricity to RBM through a 130 MW wheeling agreement in line with recent reforms to South Africa's Electricity Regulation Act. MARKET REFORMS The reform allows embedded generation plants, including those wheeling electricity over Eskom and municipal networks, to proceed without a licence and to, instead, register such plants with the regulator. In 2021, the licence-exemption threshold was raised from 1 MW to 100 MW, but President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the full lifting of that limitation on July 25 when unveiling a range of interventions aimed at tackling intensifying load-shedding. Several mining companies have either announced or are pursuing similar opportunities, with the Minerals Council South Africa having reported that 29 of its members have 89 projects with a combined capacity of 6 500 MW and an investment value of more than R100-billion at various stages of development. Earlier this year, another mineral sands producer, Tronox, announced that it had entered into a PPA with the SOLA Group, which would build 200 MW of solar PV capacity in the North West for wheeling to its mines and smelters in South Africa. RBM, which is owned by Rio Tinto (74%) and a consortium of empowerment and community investors known as Blue Horizon (24%), reports that the solar electricity to be supplied will cut its yearly scope 1 and 2 greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 10%, or 237 000 t/y. “This agreement is a first step towards reducing RBM's carbon emissions through the use of renewable solar power, so that we contribute to a net-zero future,” RBM MD Werner Duvenhage says. ELECTRICITY CURTAILMENT He reports that it will also improve security of supply in a context where Eskom, which has ramped up load-shedding this year on the back of major breakdowns across its coal fleet, was currently curtailing RBM's consumption to 215 MW. At full capacity and when RBM runs all four of its furnaces, the company has an overall power demand equivalent to about 400 MW. It is currently operating only three furnaces, with the fourth closed during disruptions associated with the July riots in KwaZulu-Natal in 2021, and is managing within the 215-MW restrictions by operating these at a lower power rating. Rio Tinto also suspended the proposed $463-million Zulti South expansion at RBM, owing to security concerns including the murder of GM Nico Swart, who was shot on his way to work in 2021. Duvenhage reports that the tariffs secured from the Bolobedu plant will be lower than Eskom tariffs, even after Eskom's wheeling costs are included. RBM is, thus, considering further renewables opportunities both to meet the decarbonisation commitments of its parent Rio Tinto, which aims to cut its emissions by 50% by 2030, as well as to lower the cost of its power bill. Voltalia's Clerc said the company was pleased to support RBM in its decarbonisation journey and noted that the Bolobedu plant would be Voltalia's biggest and its first in South Africa, where it has a signif...

Leading South African mineral sands producer Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with independent power producer Voltalia for the supply of wheeled renewable energy from a 148 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) facility in Limpopo to its smelting and processing facilities in KwaZulu-Natal. Voltalia and its black economic empowerment partners, the identities of whom have not yet been disclosed, will begin construction of the Bolobedu solar project in 2023 at a site that is about 120 km east of Polokwane. The project value has also not yet been disclosed, but Voltalia CEO Sébastien Clerc reports that South African banks have shown a strong appetite for funding the project. “These banks of course will provide funding in South African rand, which is essential since the cash flows of the power plants are in the same currency with very long-term debt.” Once completed in 2024, the facility will be able to deliver 300 GWh yearly into the national grid and supply electricity to RBM through a 130 MW wheeling agreement in line with recent reforms to South Africa's Electricity Regulation Act. MARKET REFORMS The reform allows embedded generation plants, including those wheeling electricity over Eskom and municipal networks, to proceed without a licence and to, instead, register such plants with the regulator. In 2021, the licence-exemption threshold was raised from 1 MW to 100 MW, but President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the full lifting of that limitation on July 25 when unveiling a range of interventions aimed at tackling intensifying load-shedding. Several mining companies have either announced or are pursuing similar opportunities, with the Minerals Council South Africa having reported that 29 of its members have 89 projects with a combined capacity of 6 500 MW and an investment value of more than R100-billion at various stages of development. Earlier this year, another mineral sands producer, Tronox, announced that it had entered into a PPA with the SOLA Group, which would build 200 MW of solar PV capacity in the North West for wheeling to its mines and smelters in South Africa. RBM, which is owned by Rio Tinto (74%) and a consortium of empowerment and community investors known as Blue Horizon (24%), reports that the solar electricity to be supplied will cut its yearly scope 1 and 2 greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 10%, or 237 000 t/y. “This agreement is a first step towards reducing RBM's carbon emissions through the use of renewable solar power, so that we contribute to a net-zero future,” RBM MD Werner Duvenhage says. ELECTRICITY CURTAILMENT He reports that it will also improve security of supply in a context where Eskom, which has ramped up load-shedding this year on the back of major breakdowns across its coal fleet, was currently curtailing RBM's consumption to 215 MW. At full capacity and when RBM runs all four of its furnaces, the company has an overall power demand equivalent to about 400 MW. It is currently operating only three furnaces, with the fourth closed during disruptions associated with the July riots in KwaZulu-Natal in 2021, and is managing within the 215-MW restrictions by operating these at a lower power rating. Rio Tinto also suspended the proposed $463-million Zulti South expansion at RBM, owing to security concerns including the murder of GM Nico Swart, who was shot on his way to work in 2021. Duvenhage reports that the tariffs secured from the Bolobedu plant will be lower than Eskom tariffs, even after Eskom's wheeling costs are included. RBM is, thus, considering further renewables opportunities both to meet the decarbonisation commitments of its parent Rio Tinto, which aims to cut its emissions by 50% by 2030, as well as to lower the cost of its power bill. Voltalia's Clerc said the company was pleased to support RBM in its decarbonisation journey and noted that the Bolobedu plant would be Voltalia's biggest and its first in South Africa, where it has a signif...

The biggest opportunity mining has as an industry is to help the world to transition to a net-zero carbon world, Minerals Council South Africa president Nolitha Fakude said on Wednesday. Fakude, who is also chairperson of Anglo American's management board in South Africa, highlighted this during her keynote address at the Joburg Indaba, covered by Mining Weekly. “With climate change and the global energy transition well underway, it is many of the metals and minerals which we produce right here in South Africa that are required to support this transition – and our abundant sun and wind resources give us yet another wonderful opportunity to produce and benefit from renewable energy sources,” said Fakude. Minerals Council members have a pipeline of 6.5 GW of sustainable energy projects worth more than R100-billion. “But the question we hear others ask of us remains: will South Africa's policymakers, and indeed the mining industry, organise themselves enough and in time to really benefit from this enviable position? “If we do, then we truly have the power and potential to be the lighthouse industry for South Africa. “Not only would we catalyse the much-needed growth and socio-economic development that our country so desperately needs, but we would also create a pathway and model for other industries to follow suit while helping South Africa's own decarbonisation journey as we, together, fight global climate change. “This requires a shift in our thinking and ways of working together, away from who we are to what we must become,” she said. “Many factors are impacting our ability and confidence to invest, which include complex regulatory framework. Policy support, regulatory certainty on energy production and efficient robust state-owned institutions are all essential – and so too is the rule of law, security, and the rooting out of corruption. “It is critical for the government to allow the private sector to participate fully in revitalising the potential of key infrastructure in water, energy, and logistics. Partnerships between the public and private sectors are essential to unlock our full mineral potential to create jobs, wealth, and opportunities for future generations. “Within our locus of control, however, is also the willingness to truly collaborate – bringing together labour, government, business, communities, and civil society to enhance our confidence, support the country's investment prospects and secure a just energy transition,” said Fakude. In this regard, Anglo American and EDF Renewables announced a partnership agreement incorporating joint venture company, Envusa Energy, that will develop a regional renewable energy ecosystem in South Africa. The agreement includes the launch of 600 MW of wind and solar projects as a first step towards generating 3 GW to 5 GW of renewable energy. “The ecosystem also illustrates how mining can serve as a springboard for unlocking national growth and development potential. Across our industry, many other companies are on the same path – signalling a commitment to not only making the energy transition real but just and inclusive as well. “The energy transition is not going to be sustainable or just if we do not invest in advancing the economic inclusion of women and young people. “I believe that as the energy transition gains pace, we as an industry can play a leading role in building a more collaborative and inclusive economy – one that places people and the principle of shared prosperity at the heart of development,” said Fakude.

South Africa's mining sector will be required to make major investments into alternative and renewable energy sources and energy planning to address the dual challenges of decarbonisation and reliable power supply, PwC said on Tuesday when it launched its SA Mine report, which highlights mining's sterling 2022 financial performance of distributing R190-billion to shareholders, growing capital expenditure by 36% and paying 14% more in taxes. The statistic that less than 5% of the total energy consumed by South African mining in 2020 was sourced from renewables highlighted the big increase in green energy investment still needed. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) An increased cross-industry capital expenditure commitment boded well for the overall economy, communities, suppliers, labourers and government and was expected to contribute to increased tax and job opportunities. Growing demand for commodities in the sector saw record rand prices for the platinum group metals basket, iron-ore, and coal, while most other South African commodity prices remained at relatively high rand levels. Mining companies had found themselves in a very strong financial position, with debt largely paid and returns to shareholders at record rand levels in many instances. The fiscus had benefited to the extent that it could support ongoing socioeconomic grants during the pandemic. However, with higher costs impacted by lower production levels, near-term margin erosion would impact 2023 performance, PwC cautioned. CLEANER, GREENER MINING With issues of decarbonising as well as sustainable and reliable power supply directly connected to 81.4% of South Africa's 2021 electricity being coal-fired, investment was required to lower mining's high volume of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Shown as basic resources on the above graphic, mining in 2020 contributed 7 t out of every 10 t of CO2 emitted amid South Africa committed to decarbonising in line with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. Moreover, Minerals Council South Africa had further endorsed this commitment by setting a net-zero-by-2050 target. The potential to use green electrons to produce green molecules, such as green hydrogen, as is being done by Anglo American at its Mogalakwena platinum group metals mine in Limpopo, also needed highlighting. Investing in sustainable energy would also directly connect companies beneficially to environmental social and governance opportunities, including contributing to the just energy transition through upskilling and community support. Moreover, remaining globally competitive required the inclusion of sustainability and circularity across the entire value chain. Global constraints in supply of green commodities would mean increased prices and investment in supply to enable an aligned just transition pace was needed. “In South Africa, we stand to benefit from the demand growth, but whether South Africa and other resource-rich countries will benefit to the full extent will depend on their ability to address bottlenecks in supply and mine-to-market infrastructure,” PwC Africa Energy, Utilities and Resources Leader Andries Rossouw stated. “There is an obvious need to invest in the right skills, infrastructure, energy, and water, and in general, creating an enabling environment for exploration, mine development, production, and sales. “Realising the full potential benefit of our resources and creating long-term sustainable outcomes will depend on our ability to mine cost competitively and to integrate various value chains profitably,” Rossouw added. ECONOMIC CONTEXT, RECOVERY FROM COVID The South African economy was only 1.4% year-on-year larger in the first half of 2022 as a combination of local and international factors held back the pace of economic growth. These included the international economic and geopolitical fallout of the Ukraine conflict, Covid lockdowns in China, floods in KwaZulu-Natal, and elect...

The key objective of transparency in applying for prospecting rights and mining rights – and openly managing them – can be enabled by a commercially available cadastre system. While South Africa does not have such a cadastre, fellow African countries that are already thriving on it include Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique and Zambia. Worse still is that the Proudly South African supplier of the system to these countries has opted to walk away from the South African tender invitation – because it is unable to understand the drivers of the terms of reference that South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has set. A cadastre is ideally an end-to-end solution that not only awards exploration and mining licences but also monitors regulation, tax and royalty collection, and revenue distribution. “Minerals Council South Africa is absolutely adamant that we want a commercially available cadastre system in South Africa, and that message is conveyed to both the DMRE and the Council for Geoscience on an ongoing basis,” Minerals Council South Africa's Junior and Emerging Miners Desk head Grant Mitchell stated during a junior mining and exploration webinar covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) “We really feel that if we are going to unlock the exploration potential of this country, we need a mining cadastre, along with a flow-through share tax system,” added Mitchell. At the same webinar, Council for Geoscience CEO Mosa Mabuza urged all South Africans to rally around exploration as this country's Big Hairy Audacious Goal, owing to it being essential for the future of mining, a major national strength. The supplier of the cadastre, Trimble, began its work in Africa as Spatial Dimension nearly two decades ago. “Our first mining cadastre project was in 2003 in Mozambique, a World Bank-funded project and we've got well over 20 customers now using our system to manage their mineral rights in their country,” Trimble Natural Resources MD Bill Feast outlined. Through its efforts, Cameroon has an online cadastre system and one can see who has applied where in Côte d'Ivoire. The DRC has been using its system for well over a decade, and one can do a desktop search on where people are applying in Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Libya and Zambia. One can find these portals on its website, where one can see how easy it is to find out the landholding in any of these countries. “I'm sure most of you know how difficult it is at the DMRE to find out who owns what and where,” said Feast. On the reason for walking away from the DMRE's cadastre tender put out over a year ago, he said: “We didn't understand the drivers behind their terms of reference.” Trimble is now a few weeks away from going live with the Botswana's new cadastre system, while the DMRE is still, as far as he understands, debating. “Probably by the end of October, there's going to be a new Botswana portal that you're going to be able to log-in to. It's got multi-factor authentication so you'll be able to log-in securely,” he told webinar attendees. “Once you enter the system, you'll be presented with a dashboard of all the mineral rights allocated to you or the company that you represent. “You'll be able to monitor your obligations, make online payments, upload your work reports, upload your production statistics, see whatever the obligations for that particular exploration or mining right are,” said Feast, who provided screenshots of how to apply for a new licence ­– yes, by simply clicking on ‘apply'. In this case, a prospecting licence for uranium was the outcome. He then uploaded a shapefile of the area applied for. The tenure could be seen in the background, as well as protected areas and exclusion zones. He digitised a square and one could see that the area applied for overlapped with four restricted areas. He was...

South Africans have been urged to rally around exploration as this country's Big Hairy Audacious Goal – a BHAG – so that what is described as "our lowest hanging economic fruit" can be turned to positive account. Council for Geoscience CEO Mosa Mabuza, who was speaking in support of the junior mining sector during a webinar presented by Minerals Council South Africa's Junior and Emerging Miners Desk, said: “We've been given a very important task. In fact, Parliament has set a BHAG for us.” (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Chaired by Minerals Council South Africa's Junior and Emerging Miners Desk head Grant Mitchell, the webinar's panellists and speakers included Orion Minerals and junior desk chairperson Errol Smart, Industrial Development Corporation mining industry champion Kevin Hodges, South African Diamond Producers Organisation (Sadpo) CEO Yamkela Makupula, Trimble Natural Resources MD Bill Feast, Lethabo Exploration CEO Mandy Malebe, ChromTech CEO Jono Gay, and JSE origination and deals head Sam Mokorosi. Pronounced ‘bee hag', Mabuza recalled how the BHAG banner had in years gone by been waved with vigour by former De Beers Group MD Gary Ralfe, on his way to successfully implementing some of the most far-reaching advances of the then South Africa-centred global diamond business. Another massive national BHAG rally is required once again, he emphasised, to attract “in the short term” a minimum of 5% of global exploration expenditure a year. Urgently needed, he harangued, was for "all stakeholders to have their hands on deck, so that we can, as a nation, work towards obtaining the desirable outcomes", for what he regards as South Africa's lowest hanging economic fruit. “We have a very rich mining history,” referring to the number of multinational mining corporations that have been founded and built in South Africa before becoming “truly global”. “They started here, and it's possible to have them again,” Mabuza enthused during the webinar covered by Mining Weekly. But what had to be recognised was that South Africa, after delineating and understanding some of the mineralising systems, relaxed its exploration effort. This had been made apparent by a revisit to some of the old boreholes of, for example, the historic Witwatersrand basin, which had been exceedingly revealing. “We've found some incredible information there that may potentially expand the extent of the Wits basin,” Mabuza revealed. RENEWBLE ENERGY AND CRITICAL MINERALS Regarding the huge minerals potential of the Northern Cape, South Africa had “barely scratched the surface”, and had paid scant attention to renewable energy being material intensive. Regarding critical minerals that the world requires for renewable energy generation, he said: “We should have started yesterday to organise ourselves as a country to begin the search for these minerals”. Owing to exploration being an ecosystem, building blocks needed to be put in place to unleash “this wonderful opportunity”. “I'm delighted that we're having this discussion now, so that we can strengthen and enrich our thinking in respect of re-imagining and recatalysing exploration activities”, which he described as South Africa's lowest hanging economic fruit. The Junior and Emerging Miners Desk programme of Minerals Council South Africa represents 38 junior and midtier producers as well as exploration/development companies. In addition, the desk works closely with mining associations, particularly Sadpo and the Clay Brick Association. Junior mining and exploration have been identified as key components in developing and driving the overall mining sector. The release of the exploration strategy and implementation plan by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in April spoke to the need for exploration to be increased to 5% of all global exploration dollars within the next five-year period. The Toronto Stock Exchange has 1 600 small-cap mining companies and the Sydney Stock Exchange 600 compared...

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses Minerals Council South Africa urging more rapid private sector energy participation; Southern Africa needing a collaborative energy approach, much like that of the EU's; and the World Platinum Investment Council's new CEO seeing much opportunity for global platinum investment as the world looks to decarbonization.

Industry body the Minerals Council South Africa says the industry's safety performance in August, during which eight fatalities were recorded, making it the worst month of the year, is a red flag that it cannot ignore and demands an immediate, proactive response. In the year to date, the total number of deaths is 36 compared with 36 in the same period in 2021, which is deeply disappointing after the industry's safety interventions delivered an encouraging performance in the first seven months of the year. During the early months of this year, record safety achievements in fall-of-ground (FoG) and trackless mobile machinery-related fatalities were achieved, it says. "We are fully cognisant of the heartbreak and tragedy that is visited on the families, friends and colleagues of every single person who has died. We affirm our ongoing commitment to the achievement of zero harm in the industry and that our members are proactively addressing the deterioration in safety with all the seriousness and urgency that it deserves," the council emphasises. The Minerals Council convened a special board meeting on September 9 to urgently address an unacceptable regression in the mining industry's safety performance in August and to implement a range of interventions to ensure safer working environments. "The board meeting was to agree revitalised safety interventions in the sector, as it heads into the final three months of the year, which are historically the period associated with an increasing number of fatalities." While the board members agreed on the need for increased and impactful, visible, felt leadership safety campaigns and mass meetings in the last months of the year, the board emphasises that it was equally important to address the potential impact of Covid-19, mental health and external environmental factors, which include economic pressures, crime in communities and gender-based violence, on the safety of employees in mining operations. "The board members agreed on various actions for the prevention of fatalities in the last months of the year, including ensuring proper planning, supervisory oversight and adequate team resourcing in people, materials and equipment. The Minerals Council will also establish a multi-disciplinary team to explore alternative ways of cleaning broken ore from working areas, as part of the winches proposal." Further, in terms of trackless mobile machinery, the aim is to ensure controls, such as proximity detection systems and/or collision prevention systems, are effective. "While the industry has seen reductions in FoG and transport-related causes of accidents in recent years, a worrying trend has been observed regarding winch-related fatalities in the mining industry," the Minerals Council highlights. On September 15, the Minerals Council hosted the Scraper Winches Day of Learning to share learnings, leading practices and technologies to address the challenges associated with using underground winches that are used to scrape broken ore out of working areas to haul to the surface for processing. "One of the outcomes of the session was the endorsement of the recommendation made by the Minerals Council special board meeting on the establishment of a multi-disciplinary team to explore alternative ways of collecting the broken ore in conventional mines besides scrapers and winches," it notes. Additionally, the actions agreed on by the board also include a recommitment to eight interventions agreed in December 2021, which include increased visible-felt leadership presence at mining operations, and stopping unauthorised and uncontrolled access to old mining areas that are not routinely mined; and to effectively and rigorously conduct risk assessments and implement controls where work in previously mined areas is routinely undertaken. The December commitments also include quality and scheduled maintenance programmes instead of opportunistic and ad hoc maintenance arising from production pressures, and deplo...

The Minerals Council South Africa supports President Cyril Ramaphosa's electricity recovery plan and urges more rapid private sector participation in resolving the country's deepening electricity crisis. Minerals Council members have 6 500 MW of embedded energy projects in the pipeline which will ease demand pressures on Eskom, giving it the space to conduct much-needed maintenance programmes. The 89 projects by 29 mining companies are worth more than R100-billion. The mining industry's projects are part of the more than 8 000 MW of energy projects the private sector has planned, taking advantage of the removal of the 100 MW cap on licence-free embedded energy projects by President Ramaphosa in July. The plans outlined to stabilise South Africa's electricity supplies included, as a primary focus, the stabilisation and normalisation of Eskom, which declared Stage 6 load-shedding on Sunday after multiple plant failures. “It's critical we get stabilisation in the existing network while we in the private sector do what is necessary to get investment into the next stage of South Africa's energy chapter by developing alternative additional sources of electricity in the form of renewable energy,” Minerals Council CEO Roger Baxter stated in a release to Mining Weekly. “We know load-shedding will be a risk for the next two years, but we must continue to bring supplemental supply from the private sector on stream as quickly as possible,” Baxter added. There has been progress around the time it takes to register private renewable energy projects and access Eskom's grid, and in relaxing environmental permitting, but there are still unnecessary bottlenecks that are delaying investments. The Minerals Council and fellow business groups and energy users have raised these with the Presidency and relevant Ministers. Eskom CEO André de Ruyter has said the utility needs up to 6 000 MW of additional electricity supply so its teams can conduct effective maintenance programmes on its fleet of aged power plants. The energy projects in the mining industry are largely for self-use as the sector strives to be a net-zero carbon emitter in line with commitments by its global peers by 2050. The industry has noted Eskom is willing to buy third-party generated electricity as outlined in the President's energy recovery plans, but at the moment mines are focused on supplying their own needs to take pressure off the national grid. As reported by Mining Weekly, Eskom aims to approach the market imminently with an offer to buy up to 1 000 MW of surplus electricity that it believes could be immediately available from existing independent power producers and large companies with their own generation capacity Mining companies that have opted to self-generate have found the business case to be exceedingly strong. Gold Fields' South Deep gold mine west of Johannesburg in Gauteng will be generating its own solar power at a mere 8.5% of the cost of power from the national grid. The JSE- and New York-listed company is also optimistic that it will be successful in augmenting the solar power generated with wind power. Gold mining company Pan African Resources, which began with 10 MW, is now targeting another 30 MW. From its pioneering 10 MW endeavour it saved R4-million in its first month of generation. Moreover, the energy transition under way globally presents a fresh opportunity for South Africa to build a clean and inclusive energy ecosystem that can create new and significant economic opportunities for the African continent. This continent, with its vast natural reserves of abundant sun and wind, provides an unmissable opportunity to both decarbonise and create significant new economic sectors – and many in mining have been committed for a long time now to play their role in making that opportunity a reality.

Several organised business formations have outlined six recommendations in a joint position statement on carbon tax, which they argue will improve the carbon tax proposals in the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill and “avert unintended consequences”. Released by the Energy Council of South Africa, Minerals Council South Africa, Business Leadership South Africa, Business Unity South Africa, the South African Petroleum Industry Association and the Energy Intensive Users Group, the joint statement stresses that organised business is supportive of carbon pricing, including the carbon tax, to help decarbonise the economy and facilitate a just transition. However, the statement argues that the “carbon tax should be implemented at a pace and rate aligned to a developing economy that takes into account the challenges in South Africa including low economic growth, energy security and high unemployment”. The organisations recommend that yearly carbon tax increases be based on the prevailing consumer price index plus two per cent structure until at least 2030, rather than implementing the National Treasury's proposal of increasing the carbon tax rate for the 2023 to 2025 tax periods by a minimum of $1/t carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) and increasing thereafter to $20/tCO2e in 2026 and at least to $30/tCO2e in 2030. During Phase 1 of the implementation period, South Africa's headline carbon tax base rate was set at R120/tCO2e and, in February, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that the first phase would be extended for three years. He also announced that the carbon tax rate had been increased from R134/t to R144/t, and that the carbon tax rate would be progressively increased every year to reach $20/t by 2026 and $30/t in 2030. “We welcome the extension of Phase 1 and recognise the need to increase the rate of the standalone carbon tax to ensure that South Africa remains protected against border tax adjustments and can attract financing to enable the just transition,” the organised business grouping assert. However, they add that the South African economy cannot accommodate the steepness of the carbon tax rate increase in the proposed timeframe currently envisaged. The organised business formations acknowledge that carbon prices are high in other regions, including the European Union and Canada, but stress that these are ameliorated by various allowances, such as free allocations, indirect compensation, subsidies, ringfencing of carbon tax revenues, and funding support for innovation, technology, research and development. “For South Africa, such support measures/incentives are currently lacking, and we propose that these be explored and introduced in support of decarbonisation.” The organisations have, thus, called for the enacted allowances to be retained to 2030 and for other supporting policies and measures to be introduced to encourage decarbonisation and growth of low-carbon sectors. “We are concerned that the 2022 draft Bill does not retain the allowances to mitigate the impact of the rapidly increasing carbon tax proposals. “To date, these allowances have been instrumental in assisting business sectors requiring support, such as the mining, petrochemical, steel, cement, and other hard-to-abate sectors, from detrimental financial impacts. “There is therefore a need for greater policy certainty around the retention of allowances,” the joint statement reads. During the first phase, several tax-free allowances and offsets have been included, which have resulted in a materially lower effective tax rate. In a recent opinion article published on Daily Maverick, Just Share director Robyn Hugo warned that with such extensive allowances, even a much higher tax rate would be ineffective in driving the change required to ensure urgent decarbonisation. The third recommendation contained in the statement is for the implementation timelines to be revised on the basis that “business cannot afford the proposed tax rates and simultaneously m...

South Africa's energy conundrum will require a concerted effort by both industry and government, Minerals Council South Africa said. Speaking to Mining Weekly Online on the sidelines of Paydirt's Africa Downunder conference, in Perth, Minerals Council CEO Roger Baxter said that the solution to solving South Africa's energy crisis is unlocking "massive" private sector investment. “In the mining sector we have 6.5 GW of [energy] projects that we're going to bring on stream over the next three to four years. Some 300 MW of that has already been registered as special industrial projects. “We are forming real partnerships to drive the changes. Sitting and whinging, telling the government that it is not doing its job is not helping. We are getting our hands dirty, rolling up our sleeves and really starting to drive the agenda,” Baxter said. The energy investment by mining companies is worth an estimated R1-billion, Baxter told delegates at the conference. For its part, government-owned Eskom is estimated to have 47 GW of installed capacity, accounting for about 60% of the installed capacity in the entire sub-Saharan Africa, however, Baxter noted that energy availability from Eskom was currently less than 60%. However, Baxter noted that there was positive movement from the government of South Africa's side to address the energy issues, with major reforms under way, including the removal of a licence cap, the decline in registration time from four months to just 18 days at the National Energy Regulator, the establishment of a national electricity committee, and proposed amendment to the Electricity Regulation Act. South African Mineral Resources and Energy Deputy Minister, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane told delegates at the conference that that the government was paying "particular attention" to South Africa's energy infrastructure, noting that the national energy fleet was coming to the end of its life. “This has posed a risk to the mining sector, given the fact that it is an intensive energy user. To this end, we have implemented some reforms in the energy policy and regulation. This includes the introduction of power producers that are known as IPPs and the removal of the cap on embedded generation, which will allow the mining companies to generate power for their own use without a licence when making strides in South Africa. “This has enabled a pipeline of over 80 renewable energy projects with a total capacity of 6.5 GW initiated by the mining sector.” Nkabane said that as part of these reforms, the government was also progressing the unbundling of Eskom, with the process at an advanced stage. “We're making strides again, in terms of transforming the sector to ensure that there is energy security in the country and there is no energy poverty. This will see Eskom being unbundled into three independent business units, which is the generation, the transmission as well as distribution. All these reforms are geared towards ensuring that we are reclaimed South Africa's position as the mining investment and development destination.”

Energy solutions that reverse climate change are on the list of strategic differentiators that Sibanye-Stillwater has under scrutiny, Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman said on Thursday, when the Johannesburg- and New York-listed platinum group metals (PGMs), gold and green metals company reported its third-biggest half-year profit of R12.3-billion. The concept of energy solution involvement has been a strategic addition since the beginning of the year and the envisaged involvement is at the grid storage end of energy solutions with redox batteries, vanadium, and molten salt grid storage solutions that use antimony. “We do expect, over a long period, to become more involved in energy solutions,” said Froneman in response to Bank of America analyst Patrick Mann, who had asked whether being involved in energy solutions that reverse climate change included renewable energy. “But this is not, let's call it, the type of energy solutions you've seen most companies moving towards, which is really renewables,” said the head of the company that is becoming increasingly involved with green metals including lithium hydroxide and nickel sulphate as battery metals. “We are primarily a mining company, and our focus remains on producing metals. We do believe, over an extended period, that having some exposure to the downstream side of certain businesses is valuable and appropriate,” said Froneman at the presentation covered by Mining Weekly. “It's been a very different approach to most other PGM producers, so when we talk of energy solutions, we are probably more focused on, let's call it, grid storage solutions. “Yes, solar panels use silver. Silver's a good commodity, should we come across a good project it could well take us into the commodity of silver, but things like redox batteries, vanadium, there are other molten salt grid storage solutions that use antimony, those are all things that are currently under investigation and therefore, I anticipate that you will see an evolution of the portfolio of metals that we are focused on growing to include some of those. “In ten- or 15-years' time, there could be an energy division, but that's not our primary focus now. I want to, again, just say we're primarily a mining company, we're focusing on the metals that provide energy solutions and we may become involved in the downstream and upstream sides of the energy solutions business. I hope that gives you some clarity in terms of what we mean by energy solutions,” Froneman added. ILLEGAL MINING Also, in response to a question on the role Sibanye-Stillwater would play with other stakeholders to voice concern about illegal mining by Zama-Zamas, Froneman said the company had highlighted the illegal mining issue for many years and had incurred considerable expense in dealing with illegal mining, which had even led to the company having to close shafts prematurely. “It's a tremendous problem,” he said, adding that a state of emergency should be declared to put an end to illegal mining. “We should involve the military. It's something we have requested special assistance for from the police. “It's not going to be solved by dealing with the obvious issue of the illegal miners. We've got to address the syndicates; we've got to deal with this internationally and stop just focusing on the individuals that are abused at the lower end of illegal mining. “We'll continue to engage with international organisations, we'll continue to be involved with Minerals Council South Africa and local institutions that should be dealing with it, and we'll continue to see what we can do as a company to get rid of this scourge. “It happens because of a lack of jobs. It's a poverty issue, so this is the manifestation of low economic growth as well. It's a big issue and much more complex than the poor illegal miners that we continuously arrest. We really need to get to the people who sit behind this,” said Froneman. MARIKANA RENEWAL In 2020, Sibanye-Stillwater introduced t...

Glencore Alloys head Japie Fullard has hailed the new energy plan announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa as opening the way for the company to target bigger power projects. “I must say that the President's energy presentation is definitely something that is appealing to us,” said Fullard, who welcomed the removal of the 100 MW cap, as well as clarity around the ‘wheeling' of renewable energy back on to the grid. A couple of projects, already beyond prefeasibility stage, were being pursued “quite aggressively”, said Fullard, who also acclaimed the ‘wheeling' insight provided during a Minerals Council South Africa session with Eskom group chief executive André de Ruyter. “So, definitely, renewable energy for our ferroalloys business is on the cards,” added Fullard. As reported by Mining Weekly, also forming part of Glencore Alloys decarbonisation commitments are on-site projects involving potential cogeneration, and off-site virtual power purchase agreement possibilities. The cogeneration opportunity involves turning currently wasted operational offgas into electricity, which is now set to be coupled with on-site renewable energy and off-site virtual power plants. The London- and Johannesburg-listed Glencore has a short-term target of a 15% reduction of total Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2026. Glencore Alloys produces and markets chrome ore, ferrochrome and vanadium, and markets manganese ore and alloys. Most of the world's ferrochrome is used in the production of corrosion-resistant steel, more specifically stainless steel. South Africa's ferrochrome industry as a whole employs 6 800 people directly, supports 68 000 jobs overall, contributes something like R40-billion to South Africa's gross domestic product, pays R14-billion a year to State power utility Eskom, has pay-as-you-earn tax payments of R1.4-billion, buys 2.5-million tons of product a year from 20 South African reductant mines, and accords many millions of rands a year in social support and local enterprise development. JUST ENERGY TRANSITION Glencore CEO Gary Nagle said the company was embracing the prospect of assisting in the just energy transition towards a decarbonised future. “In terms of our rundown of our South African coal operations and the just transition, we obviously will have plans in place for responsible closure of those coal operations as they run down, in terms of rehabilitation, retraining of workforce, community commitments and the like. “When it comes to that part of the just energy transition, we certainly embrace our responsibilities. The investments that we're making on the renewables side are just the start and there are many other things that we can and may do over time, which will continue to assist in the just transition towards South Africa's decarbonisation,” Nagle said in response to Mining Weekly.

Minerals Council South Africa says it is ready to help government solve our energy crisis.

This week the European Commission approved €5.4-billion of public support by 15 member states for a hydrogen technology value chain taking in hydrogen generation technology, fuel cells technology, storage technology and end-user technology. The week before, Shell started building Europe's largest renewable hydrogen plant – Holland Hydrogen I – which will be Europe's largest green hydrogen plant once operational in 2025, with the ‘I' indicative of more to come. That followed Australia's Viva Energy ordering a platinum-using proton exchange membrane, or PEM, electrolyser from Nel Hydrogen US, which when installed, will provide green hydrogen to a fleet of heavy-duty fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), which also use platinum group metals (PGMs) to catalyse the conversion of hydrogen into electricity for vehicle mobility and, if needed, also stationary power. Airbus has joined the world's largest clean hydrogen infrastructure investment fund which is at the ready to fund credible large-scale green hydrogen projects anywhere in the world. Transport Canada has launched a new incentive to make it easier for business to purchase heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles platinum-using fuel cells provide. Australia, which has aspirations to become a green hydrogen superpower, is one of the countries expected to become an exporter going forward. Cheap green hydrogen would be a massive breakthrough in clean energy, Bill Gates says on Gates Notes on LinkedIn. Bloomberg reports that Britain is moving forward with policies to ramp up its nascent green hydrogen industry as the government looks for ways to reduce dependence on imports of natural gas.and the list could go on. Against backgrounds like these, it is little wonder that Minerals Council South Africa comprehensively outlined in a 13-slide presentation earlier this year that green hydrogen presents a “significant opportunity” for economic development in South Africa, in that it has the capacity to create jobs, monetise the platinum industry, contribute to South Africa's decarbonisation objectives and give South Africa a chance to export energy. As pointed out more recently by Anglo American Platinum CEO Natascha Viljoen, South Africa is one of only four countries that have more renewable energy available to them than what they need for themselves, which places the country in a very strong position to be able to export energy in the form of hydrogen derivatives or even as hydrogen gas or liquid hydrogen itself. On the jobs front, South Africa's proposed Hydrogen Valley alone could potentially generate 14 0000 to 30 000+ jobs and add $3.9-billion to $8.8-billion to the economy by 2050, the Minerals Council document by its CEO Roger Baxter calculated. The Minerals Council's document on the development of the hydrogen economy in South Africa calls for the facilitation of high-level strategic thinking about the current state, potential and future of the green hydrogen economy in South Africa and globally. It proposes that South Africa Incorporated discusses what a green hydrogen industry could look like by 2030 and 2050 and suggests that an industry view of the key foundational pillars be agreed to support the establishment of a large-scale green hydrogen industry in South Africa. This could include: policy support for promoting adoption of green hydrogen technologies, including development of targets and milestones, hydrogen codes and safety standards, policy support to enable early scale up of capacity and scale; tax incentives that encourage investment in research, development and innovation to help produce green hydrogen-related applications; collaboratively establishing hydrogen corridors and refueling infrastructure, supply chains and green hydrogen industrial nodes; engagement with original equipment manufacturers in heavy trucking, rail, sea and air transport, and in stationary base load fuel cells; and consideration of skills requirements and potential changes to curricula to enable...

South Africa achieved a record six months without a mining fatality caused by a fall-of-ground (Fog) incidents in its gold and platinum mines, industry body Minerals Council South Africa reports. Building on the record performance in the first three months of the year, when one person was killed in a Fog incident in the coal sector, the leadership initiatives and the implementation of strategies, leading practices and the Minerals Council-led Fog Action Plan to mitigate incidents have resulted in no fatalities in the gold and platinum mines for the first six months of the year, the council says. The entire industry was Fog-fatality-free in the second quarter of the year. This is significant, because gold and platinum mines have not had a Fog-fatality-free first six months of the year in the history of South African mining, says Minerals Council safety head Dr Sizwe Phakathi. There were 11 Fog fatalities by the end of June last year. In the past three years, including the industry's record safety performance in 2019, Fog fatalities accounted for at least 20 deaths in each of those three years. “The Minerals Council commends all stakeholders, including mining companies, unions, employees, mine professional associations, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, suppliers, research institutions, the Mine Health and Safety Council and the Mining Qualifications Authority, who have all worked tirelessly and collaboratively to ensure every mine employee can return from work unharmed,” says Phakathi. The Minerals Council board held a special meeting in December 2021 to agree on, and urgently implement, eight interventions to halt two years of regression in safety performances in the mining industry and then to reverse the trend. In 2020 and 2021, the industry reported 60 and 74 fatalities, respectively, compared with the all-time low of 51 in 2019. According to data available to the Minerals Council, 23 employees have died in the year to July 18 compared with 29 in the same period a year earlier, marking a 21% reduction and the best rate of reduction in fatalities in the first six months of a year, the council highlights. “We are undertaking a comprehensive review to understand what went well and what we can learn from the past six months. The review will be done by the Minerals Council in collaboration with other stakeholders,” informs Phakathi. The results of the review will be unveiled during the National Day of Health and Safety in Mining on August 3.

South Africa has quite a few competitive advantages that will serve it well in entering the green hydrogen manufacturing space, Sasol low-carbon energy solutions business developer Zanele Salman has said. She spoke during a Saldanha Bay Innovation Campus webinar, the third in a series that focuses on the energy transition landscape, on July 14. These advantages include South Africa having access to platinum as an enabler of hydrogen reactions and being otherwise naturally endowed with available land, and solar and wind resources; being well geographically placed, with many global trading partnerships already in place with countries desiring access to hydrogen; and having processing capabilities in the mining and industrial sectors already in place, including technical skills and experience. Sasol, for one, has experience spanning many years in producing grey hydrogen, which is a big know-how advantage, and chemicals, which also bodes well for developing a hydrogen economy. The company considers hydrogen a great opportunity for South Africa to grow economically and to create jobs. Not only is the country able to cater to international demand but it can also supply local companies that are looking to decarbonise and access green hydrogen for their operations. Sasol estimates the demand for sustainable fuels globally to be around 400-million tonnes a year currently, and the demand for sustainable steel to be at about 200-million tonnes a year. South Africa can also tap into the 670-million-tonne-a-year demand for sustainable ammonia, which is produced as a by-product of green hydrogen manufacturing. Advisory firm RSS Trade and Investments group CEO Ipeleng Selele said implementation is key - “we have been talking about the just energy transition a lot, which is normal, but now things need to start happening”. She urged stakeholders and government to take stock of the skills sets that the Southern African region has and start repurposing skills where necessary, especially in the coal regions. Selele also deemed it vital that public education be undertaken and stakeholders be kept up to speed. She pointed out an example: if port staff are not up to date on what is happening in the green hydrogen space, how should exports be expected to proceed? “If green hydrogen is meant to industrialise, where are industrialists at the discussion table? These discussions are often key elements missing in our approach,” she added. Selele believed a regional approach was key, whereby South Africa and Namibia, for example, work together on manufacturing and supplying hydrogen, given both countries' ambitions to this effect. Moreover, research institute Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies senior economist Gaylor Montmasson-Clair highlighted how South Africa was entering the just energy transition with inclusiveness top of mind, but with policies that are moving in multiple directions. He remarked, for instance, how the Presidential Climate Commission and other institutions were developing their own just transition frameworks, while the Minerals Council South Africa was also developing its own framework. All the panel members agreed that a collaborative approach was necessary to effectively implement a just transition – whatever the combination of energy sources turned out to be.

A new draconian mining industry Bill, which threatens jobs and investment – and can even impose a penalty of 10% of turnover on a mine company, along with corporate manslaughter charges – must be “very, very strenuously opposed”, top South African mining industry lawyer Willem le Roux urged on Thursday. The long-serving and highly experienced Le Roux – who is the author of the authoritative loose-leaf 'Mine Health and Safety Law' published by LexisNexis – has an illustrious career which dates back to the industry-changing Leon Commission of Inquiry into mine health and safety of 1994/5, when he served as lead lawyer for what is today Minerals Council South Africa. At the time of going to press, interested and affected parties had only 15 more days – until July 29 – to submit written representations to the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy. Le Roux called on all webinar attendees to draft representations opposing the Bill. “It doesn't matter if you don't put it in legalese; set it out in your own words,” urged Le Roux in making specific reference to the penalty provisions of the Bill's Section 86 (A), which he described as being of “very serious concern”. “This is not positive for our economy. This is not positive to the creation of employment for employees. It's a sorry state of affairs,” Le Roux lamented during an ENSafrica webinar facilitated by ENSafrica executive and head of mine and occupational health and safety department Pieter Colyn, and co-presented by ENSafrica executive of the mine and occupational health and safety department Celeste Coles. Various parts of the Bill were described as failing to comply with key pieces of South African legislation, including the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, which, in a court of law, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy would have to show were infringements of rights that were justifiable. “I don't think it's necessary to implement this to control health and safety, and improve health and safety. We've got legislation. It must just be applied by competent people, not only at the instance of the department but also at the instance of the prosecution, which doesn't really happen. “It doesn't help just to create legislation and hope for the better. We don't need it,” said Le Roux, who made reference to Amendment Act 74 of 2008, which saw mining business and mining labour combine to quash the inclusion of corporate manslaughter provisions. Then, in 2013, the idea of a penalty of 10% of turnover was argued out of enactment. Now, under Section 86 (A) of the new Bill, corporate manslaughter and 10% of turnover penalties are back. “It seems to us that the drafters have forgotten,” Le Roux told the webinar covered by Mining Weekly Online.

South Africa's exported bulk mineral tonnages have dropped to their lowest level since the Covid-19 lockdown in the first half of 2020, with rail, port and border constraints negatively affecting users of these State-owned services, causing exporters and the country to miss the full benefits of the current high commodity price cycle, industry body Minerals Council South Africa says. It notes that the constraints on exports of coal, chrome, iron-ore and manganese are a continuation of the difficulties mining companies and traders experienced during 2021, when they experienced an opportunity cost of R35-billion if delivered tonnages are measured against targets set by rail operator Transnet, and a R50-billion opportunity cost if deliveries are measured against the capacity of the rail and port infrastructure and rolling stock. “If there is no change or urgent intervention to address the logistical bottlenecks, the mining industry is likely to incur similar opportunity costs this year, if not surpassing historical losses,” says Minerals Council chief economist Henk Langenhoven. Bulk mineral exports in April were at the lowest monthly level since 2016 if the Covid-19-related economic shutdown from March 2020 is excluded. “The rail and port logistics bottlenecks are having a big impact on South Africa's mineral exports. This worrying trend, which shows no signs of slowing or reversing, underscores the urgency for high-level intervention on the rail network and our ports to stabilise them, return them to productivity and meet design capacity. “Only having achieved the latter can we realistically talk about implementing growth projects so the bulk commodity mines can expand,” says Langenhoven. “Currently, better commodity prices are compensating for underperforming export volumes but the price cycle may reverse, or volumes may deteriorate to such a degree that it negates the price windfall,” he adds. In the four months to April 30, iron-ore export volumes were 7% lower year-on-year, with the value of sales down by 25%. Similarly, production was 14% below that of a year ago. Thermal coal export tonnages were just 8% higher, meaning companies, traders and the fiscus have not fully realised the 150% improvement in coal prices if capacity existed to increase volumes. Production was nearly 3% lower, the council points out. It adds that chrome export tonnages were flat, at 0.4% below those of a year earlier, while the value of exports climbed by 14%. Production nudged up 2.2%. Producers continue to use trucks to export chrome through Mozambique's Maputo port, the council points out. Manganese exports grew by 6% against a 23% increase in value. Production was down by 2%. Crime has recently started to influence tonnages transported on rail, which the council says is concerning. The Minerals Council says its leadership is engaged in high-level talks with Transnet's senior executives and management about the constraints it is dealing with, and how best the mining industry can assist to resolve these challenges. There are also talks about specific commodities and their associated rail and port links between the council, relevant member companies and Transnet to find solutions in a collaborative manner. The Minerals Council and Transnet are in regular contact with Cabinet Ministers and the government's security cluster to address the sourcing of spares for about 200 locomotives and to tackle crime on the rail network respectively, the council says. It highlights that the coal industry has invested more than R100-million on security interventions that have proved effective in considerably reducing the number of security incidents on the COALlink network. Chrome, iron-ore and manganese miners are in talks with Transnet about extending the private security and technology initiatives to their rail corridors to combat crime that is disrupting exports, the council says.

Mining production slumped 14.9% year-on-year in April, which is almost three times worse than expected as miners had to contend with load shedding and a dysfunctional rail network. Business Day TV unpacked the print with Henk Langenhoven, Chief Economist at the Minerals Council South Africa.

A rare earths development is marking time owing to a prospecting right appeal to explore where a mining right has already been granted, Steenkampskraal chairperson Trevor Blench disclosed at last week's Junior Indaba. The Steenkampskraal mine contains all 15 rare earths, including those that are used to make electric vehicles and wind turbines. As reported by Mining Weekly last month, Steenkampskraal Holdings (SHL), which owns the rare earths project, in the Western Cape, has decided to raise equity funding through a pre-initial public offering and public offering on the Aim market of the London Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. A subsidiary of SHL, Steenkampskraal Monazite Mine, has all the regulatory approvals in place to start mining and producing monazite concentrate. SHL is in discussions with potential offtake partners. Steenkampskraal has a mineral resource estimate of 605 000 t of ore, grading 14.4% total rare earth oxides (TREO), containing about 86 900 t of TREO, including 15 630 t of neodymium, 4 459 t of praseodymium, 867 t of dysprosium and 182 t of terbium. The mine was previously operated by diversified mining major Anglo American from 1952 to 1963, during which time it produced 26 969 t of TREO. SHL envisages a production rate of 2 700 t/y of TREO over a life of more than 20 years, involving first producing and selling monazite concentrate, then progressing to producing and selling mixed rare earth concentrates, and thereafter producing and selling separated rare earth oxides. The project is also said to have brownfield exploration potential. SHL recently appointed Graham Soden as a director and the mine manager of Steenkampskraal, while Timothy Crombie has been appointed as a director and project manager. In a presentation to last week's Junior Indaba covered by Mining Weekly, Blench disclosed that although the mining right to mine for rare earths and other minerals on portion 1 of the farm Steenkampskraal was secured from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) in 2010, a few months ago another company applied for a prospecting right for rare earths on the same portion of Steenkampskraal. “The DMRE correctly refused to approve that permit for a prospecting right over the same land where we hold the mining right. However, the company that applied for that prospecting right appealed to the DMRE against their decision to refuse that prospecting application. “We've now been waiting for 60 days, which is the statutory period that the DMRE has to review these appeals, and we still do not have the reply from the DMRE. “We want to raise money for our project. There's an application of a prospecting right on land where we have a mining right, which contests the legitimacy of our mining right. “If there is an opportunity for claim jumpers to come in and apply for prospecting rights where you have already issued a mining right, then it questions the validity of the mining right,” said Blench, who implored the government to make it clear that the mining right is secure so that investment can proceed. During question time, Junior Indaba chairperson and mining stalwart Bernard Swanepoel spoke of Minerals Council South Africa having resolved administrative problems of a similar kind in the past. “My advice from past experience is that the channel between Minerals Council South Africa and the DMRE functions reasonably well, so if there is a clear case of the DMRE having 60 days and not coming back, it may be worth contacting the Minerals Council, and I could even assist you. We have resolved a few such administrative problems in the past. If it's just inefficiency, then this channel may assist,” said Swanepoel. MINE PROGRESS According to its website, Steenkampskraal has a: compliant technical report with both mineral resource and reserve estimates; renewable new order mining right valid until 2030; National Nuclear Regulator certificate of registration that allows it ...

The Minerals Council South Africa has re-elected Kumba Iron Ore CEO Themba Mkhwanazi, Harmony Gold CEO Peter Steenkamp and Northam Platinum CEO Paul Dunne to serve as VPs for another year. The council hosted its 132nd annual general meeting (AGM) on May 25, reporting that mineral export sales totalled R841-billion in 2021. The Minerals Council represents 90% of South Africa's mineral production by value and is the industry's primary advocacy organisation. The council reports that the mining industry's contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021 came to R480-billion, or 8.7%, compared with a contribution to GDP of R353-billion, or 7.1%, in 2020. Mining was one of few sectors to actually create employment in 2021, with 8 000 jobs created during the year. As of December 31, 2021, 71% of the industry's 450 000 employees were fully or partially vaccinated against Covid-19. The Minerals Council said that although production has recovered by 11.2% year-on-year, 2020 was indeed a low-base year and mining production has not managed to recover to the output peaks witnessed between 2000 and 2006. This is, in part, owing to a lack of exploration and investment in the industry. CEO Roger Baxter confirmed that the council continues to engage with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy on the draft Exploration Strategy agreed upon initially in January 2021. Baxter said the council awaits engagement from government on the “final version” of the strategy, as the latest version has not yet been shared with the Minerals Council. While the positive impact of rising commodity prices benefitted the local mining industry's performance in 2021, physical volumes of production and exports remain a concern. The council said the longer-term trend was unstable and struggling to break out of its low trajectory. Mining input costs have also been rising at an average rate of 10% and crept up to nearly 12% towards the end of 2021. The council pointed to transport and logistics challenges at South Africa's ports and railways as a dampener of export performance. On another note, Baxter bemoaned that there have already been 20 fatalities so far this year, adding to the 74 fatalities reported by the mining industry in 2021, and the 60 reported in 2020. He described 2021 as a year of “regression” with regard to safety, seeing that fatalities had reached a record low of 51 in 2019. Meanwhile, commenting on Glencore South Africa's continued membership of the council, given the parent group Glencore's recent admittance to paying bribes to governments in Brazil, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Venezuela, Baxter explained that it could not apply the principles of its compact to non-member companies, but said it had been in constructive engagements with Glencore South Africa to ensure that its own conduct was above board. The Glencore group on May 25 announced that it had reached a settlement with various governments related to the bribery allegations. On energy-related matters, Dunne highlighted that there was a pipeline of 4.2 GW of energy projects lined up in the mining industry, of which many were ready for development once Eskom advances more transmission projects, particularly in the Northern Cape. Dunne noted that the State-owned power utility would need to balance out the decommissioning of coal-fired power stations with the timeous tie-in of renewable energy projects onto the grid. It is the Minerals Council's view that companies are increasingly evaluating the potential of renewable energy projects, and that Eskom must rather focus on optimal management for fewer power stations, and expedite the process to allow supplementary supply to come on stream. MINISTERIAL VIEW Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe used the council's AGM as an opportunity to address South Africa's ranking for the first time among the world's ten least-attractive mining destinations globally, as per the Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mi...

Concern about mineral resource scarcity is widespread and, at the same time, many countries, such as Australia, Canada and China, are investing significantly in strengthening their mining-related research, development and innovation (RDI) capabilities. “This makes cost and differentiation competitiveness a challenge for South Africa,” states Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) CEO Dr Thulani Dlamini in an Op-Ed to Mining Weekly, in which he emphasises that it will require all mining RDI stakeholders – Minerals Council South Africa, mining companies, mining equipment suppliers, government and research institutions – to have an integrated plan for South Africa's mining industry to become globally competitive in niche areas. As an entity of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), CSIR hosts the Mandela Mining Precinct, the largest public-private partnership of its kind between the DSI and the Minerals Council. With significant investments required to achieve mining modernisation goals, CSIR has partnered with the Minerals Council and other mining stakeholders in the development of the CSIR Mining Roadmap to revitalise mining extraction RDI. “Much like mining is the cornerstone of the South African economy, harnessing RDI to deliver value is one of the cornerstones of competitive industries,” Dlamini accentuates. While South Africa holds the overwhelming percentage of the world's platinum reserves, he points out that extraction is inhibited by: increasing depths to safely access mineral deposits; low efficiency and productivity with a high cost of production; ageing infrastructure; and skills shortages. “We must admit that holding 80% of the world's platinum reserves is of little value if the country cannot benefit from the extraction and beneficiation thereof. “Changing the way we mine means equipping ourselves with information about the host rock that would enable efficient and accurate decision-making,“ notes Dlamini, who adds that CSIR's geophysicists have been optimising a suite of geophysical techniques for safer extraction of minerals amid understanding that the provision of detailed orebody knowledge ahead of mining is crucial to mitigate falls of ground and ensure optimal extraction. He applauds mining operations that regularly report zero fatalities and highlights CSIR's provision to mines of safety training through its Kloppersbos fire and explosion research and testing facility, which is being enhanced with the inclusion of virtual reality-based immersive training modules for emergency preparedness, including the correct use of self-contained self-rescuers. LEARNING FACTORY With technological innovation at its core, CSIR has set up a one-of-a-kind learning factory in partnership with the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Education and Training Authority to leverage Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) opportunities. This facility's technology development reflects CSIR's engagements with organised labour and augments a memorandum of understanding the Mandela Mining Precinct signed with organised labour last year to ensure full participation in the modernisation research agenda. In view of the need for skills development for the operation of 4IR technologies, CSIR has partnered with industry through the Mandela Mining Precinct to establish an underground test facility at Royal Bafokeng Platinum's Maseve mine. Dlamini points out that 4IR technologies to improve safety, productivity and efficiencies have become an important value driver for the mining industry, with research by Accenture showing that digital technologies can assist mining houses to unlock R153-billion in value by 2026. He foresees the ability to predict productivity, safety and financial sustainability as becoming a key future mining industry enabler and points out that CSIR's product lifecycle management capability provides a means to simulate ‘what if' scenarios to support future decision-making processes. CIRCULA...

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy reports that she has written to provincial environment MECs to enquire whether they require any assistance in processing environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for embedded-generation projects that could help relieve pressure on the country's load-shedding-prone grid. Speaking ahead of her department's Budget Vote, Creecy said her letter outlined the urgency of the projects, which are being pursued by miners and other energy-intensive businesses in line with a recent market reform allowing sub-100 MW projects to proceed without a licence. The processing of EIA applications has been identified as one of several factors standing in the way of some 58 such projects that have combined generation potential of more that 4 500 MW and an investment value of about R54-billion. A joint task team, involving government departments and agencies, the Minerals Council South Africa and the Energy Intensive Users Group is meeting weekly under the aegis of Operation Vulindlela to resolve obstacles at an individual project level, as well as to address remaining constraints at a systemic level. The Presidency's project management office head Rudi Dicks reported recently that the task team is working to shorten the timeframes for EIAs and water-use licences through the designation of embedded generation projects as Strategic Infrastructure Projects. Dicks also reported that dedicated capacity had been created withing Eskom to process grid-connection applications more quickly and that wheeling frameworks and tariffs were being finalised at the municipal level. Progress is also reportedly being made to simplify the National Energy Regulator of South Africa's registration process, including by addressing onerous requirements, such as the stipulation that a power purchase agreement be included at registration. “With regard to the EIA for the 100 MW projects, I have written to all the MECs and I have said to them that we can assist them to fast-track the EIAs or, if they are agreeable, we can actually take over the EIAs for these projects. “I'm waiting to hear what their preference is, but I have emphasised to them that these are extremely urgent projects,” Creecy said. She added that a one-size-fits-all approach was not necessary, as some of the provincial administrations were “quite speedy and efficient” and the department would, thus, target only those administrations that required additional support. AIR QUALITY PANEL Creecy also used her Budget Vote to confirm her decision to appoint a panel of six experts to provide advice with regards to appeals against various decisions by the department's National Air Quality Officer in relation to requests for the suspension and postponement of compliance with the Minimum Emission Standards (MES). Initially, she requested the Presidential Climate Commission to oversee the process, but the commission had indicated that it had insufficient capacity to fulfil the role. A notice had been Gazetted calling for nominations to the panel by May 26. Once assembled, Creecy expected the panel to hear evidence from various stakeholders, including Eskom, which has warned that some 16 000 MW of coal capacity would need to be shut immediately unless a postponement was granted. “In my view, it's necessary to air all of the evidence that would pertain to human health and environmental issues, but also . the economic implications of the emitter having to take facilities offline. “I think it's important that we hear all of that evidence and we try to work out what would be the best solution because this is obviously an area where there has been a lot of divergent opinions between different interest groups in our society.” She acknowledged, though, that South Africa continued to face severe air pollution in the three highly industrialised priority areas of the Vaal Triangle, Highveld and the Waterberg-Bojanala areas. “The regulations for implementing and enforcin...

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana reports that work is under way with the private sector to unblock the remaining obstacles to investment of about R54-billion in embedded generation projects. Speaking during a presentation of Operation Vulindlela's first quarter progress report, Godongwana said he was aware of frustrations over the slow pace of the structural reforms being championed under the initiative, including those designed to address the electricity crisis. However, he said that the majority of the 26 high-priority reforms had either been completed or were “progressing well”, with seven experiencing implementation delays or critical challenges. The progress update lists the emergency procurement of 2 000 MW of new generation capacity, as well as the initiative to improve the energy availability factor of the Eskom fleet to 70% as facing “critical challenges in implementation”. However, the progress dashboard marks as “completed” the reform raising the licencing threshold for embedded generation from 1 MW to 100 MW. The Presidency's project management office head Rudi Dicks said that a distinction needed to be made between the actual implementation of the 100 MW reform, which was unveiled by President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe in June last year, and the “follow-through” required to ensure implementation. He said the announcement of the reform was “an important step” in itself as it set in motion a process of ensuring that miners and other energy intensive businesses reduced demand on the national grid by being allowed to develop their own generation. “When we look at a reform there is a particular objective . but underneath that there may be a number of other areas that constrain us in getting to the point of greater levels of investment, economic growth and employment,” Dicks explained. In the case of the 100 MW reform, the raising of the licensing threshold had unlocked a “robust investment pipeline” of 58 projects, with a combined energy generating potential of 4 547 MW. However, several obstacles remained in ensuring these were made “shovel ready”, Dicks said. A joint task team, involving government departments and agencies, the Minerals Council South Africa and the Energy Intensive Users Group was, thus, meeting weekly to track progress, resolve obstacles at an individual project level, as well as to address remaining constraints at a systemic level. Dicks reported that the task team is working to address the following issues: shortening the timeframes for environmental impact assessments and water-use licenses through the designation of embedded generation projects as Strategic Infrastructure Projects; creating dedicated capacity in Eskom to process grid-connection applications more quickly; putting in place wheeling frameworks and tariffs at the municipal level; and simplifying the National Energy Regulator of South Africa's (Nersa's) registration process, including by addressing onerous requirements, such as the stipulation that a power purchase agreement be included at registration. “All national departments, as well as Eskom, Nersa and the South African Local Government Association are cooperating actively to address these challenges,” Dicks confirmed. He said that, if cleared, projects could be connected between 2022 and 2024. During an earlier briefing, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter reported that more than 30 potential investors had participated in briefings held at the Majuba and Tutuka power stations, where the utility is preparing to offer 20-year leases to those investors seeking to take advantage of the 100 MW reform. He also announced that steps had been taken to improve the operation of its Grid Access Unit, which was responsible for issuing budget quotes for grid connection. “We have taken heed of the comments received from investors and also parties wishing to feed electricity into the grid, that our grid access unit processes were slow and cumbersome and...

The Minerals Council South Africa says it remains concerned about South Africa's rail and port constraints, which it estimates resulted in an opportunity cost of 35 billion rand for 2021. The council says it is working closely with Transnet to address the constraints that are preventing the country from fully benefiting from high commodity prices and strong demand for our minerals. This as President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that 65-billion-rand of investment for electricity generation capacity is in the pipeline. Ramaphosa was addressing the Mining Indaba at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.  For some more on this Elvis Presslin spoke to Director of Mining at Major at Major Corporate Solutions, Peter Major

South Africa's first hydrogen corridor now under development has the potential to generate a minimum of 14 000 jobs, $400-million in gross domestic product and $900-million in taxes a year by 2050. In an addition, there is potential to grow platinum group metal (PGM) demand by between 1% to 2% within the valley. “That touches on some of the aspects why we as Anglo are interested in hydrogen and see it perfectly aligned with our purpose of reimaging mining to improve people's lives,” said Anglo American market development principal Fahmida Smith during a media briefing at the Investing in African Mining Indaba covered by Mining Weekly. Emphasising that the hydrogen economy is being advanced to mitigate against climate change, Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter told journalists: “We are sitting here with climate change being probably the single biggest risk that we are facing from the company and country-level perspective and clearly if we do nothing, the results of climate change will end up being catastrophic at a particular point. We all accept the science of climate change and the need for the just energy transition.” The green hydrogen needed is produced by electrolysis using renewable energy sources and the process splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. It doesn't have any greenhouse gas emissions. While at the moment green hydrogen is still costing between $5/kg and $6/kg and grey hydrogen from coal between $1.50/kg and $2/kg, it is contended that economies of scale and cost focus would bring them down to a much lower level. Why is South Africa so ideal for green hydrogen? “We think that South Africa will become a global player in the game of green hydrogen. The reason for thinking that is first of all we rank in the top ten sunniest countries in the world, making us very well placed to produce renewable energy from photovoltaics and from wind,” said Baxter. South Africa has a significant resource and reserve base of PGMs, which are used in fuel cell technology and based on this country's experience in using the Fischer-Tropsch technology through Sasol, we possess the know-how. Already if you look at it on a grey hydrogen basis, South Africa, through Sasol, already produces 2% of global grey hydrogen. In countries such as Germany, Japan, South Korea and others, the level of solar radiation is considerably lower than what South Africa has, which gives the country a comparative advantage in the production of green energy, which can be theoretically translated into the production of green hydrogen. “We also possess in the mining sector large volumes of water on mine sites at, for example, Kumba Iron Ore in the Northern Cape, and at gold and platinum operations,” said Baxter. “We have access to sufficient water required to do the hydrolysing and we are working hard on the process because the benefits could be quite substantial.” In fact, the Minerals Council commissioned a consulting company, Singular, to do some detailed work which pointed to South Africa's green hydrogen economy sector potentially being 25 times bigger than this country's iron-ore mining industry by 2050. Going through the just energy transition and reducing carbon intensity in production were all cited as being critically important components of the hydrogen economy, which would bring a big market for PGMs. “So, it's really a big area of focus. It has a huge job creation potential as well as significant economic potential from a country-level perspective. “We estimate that the green hydrogen economy in South Africa could generate something like 20 000 to 40 000 extra jobs as we go forward,” said Baxter. A number of other countries have already embarked on green hydrogen strategies. Australia already has offtake agreements for green hydrogen with South Korea and Japan, as well as a hydrogen road map and a hydrogen strategy in place. South Africa has the Hydrogen Societal Road Map, which Minerals Council South Africa participated in developing...

Members of Minerals Council South Africa have agreed to commit to a climate change response strategy that will reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 or earlier. Minerals Council South Africa senior health and environment executive Nikisi Lesufi on Tuesday briefed the media on the Mineral Council's dual approach to energy, explaining that it is a common but differentiated approach. “There are those who are leaders and those who are laggards and our responsibility as a Minerals Council is to assist those who are behind the curve to be able to be at the same pace as those who are able to lead us faster into the just energy transition space,” Lesufi told journalists at the Investing in African Mining Indaba being covered by Mining Weekly. “We also commit that they will implement mitigation into their businesses and mining operations and support the integration of climate solutions into internal management practices,” he said of Minerals Council members who include coal-mining members. "They also commit to collaborate with business and supply chain partners to support a reduction of Scope 3 emissions and adoption of climate resilient management approaches. “We also encourage and commit them to continuously improve the transparency of their public reporting so that they can be held accountable for the commitments that they have made,” Lesufi added. Regarding the contribution to just energy transmission efforts, the Minerals Council has committed itself to expand on its mine project strategies because from a just energy perspective, mine closure is always related to the creation of new economies post-mining. The just energy transition involves fast-tracking the preparedness for the closure of mines but also ensuring that employees and communities are not left behind. Economic succession plans to replace those mine opportunities as they faded out over time would thus have to be developed. There are five key areas in which the Minerals Council believes that the mining industry will make a difference. The first is in the technology space, where it believes that the development and adoption of leading technologies for greenhouse gas emission reduction and climate change succession in mining operations will facilitate South Africa's transition to a low carbon future. The second is its belief in policy development, where it is supportive of policy regulatory research and an investment environment that enables the mining sectors' climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. Third is the development and growth of key commodity pools for a low-carbon future and encouraging globally competitive exploration, extraction and processing of minerals of the future. Fourthly, the Minerals Council supports the accountability measures of improving reporting and disclosure mechanisms, and finally also the development, collaboration, and partnerships with others so that communities and other stakeholders are not left behind.

A mining cadastral system is the most critical part of the puzzle to ensure the re-emergence of exploration in South Africa, says Minerals Council South Africa public affairs and transformation senior executive Tebello Chabana. The country currently attracts less than 1% of global exploration spend. A working cadastral system will act as a management tool that will provide transparency within the industry, while it will also allow access to South Africa's resources, notes Chabana. “It must be a simple, tried and tested system. We don't need a bespoke system. People have been there, done that. They know what works. It is a matter of taking something that works, adopting it to our circumstances and using it. That is really the core.” Unfortunately, notes Chabana, there is currently no time frame for when South Africa's cadastral system will be up and running. Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe told delegates at the 2022 PGMs Industry Day on April 6, that the roll-out of an online central cadastral system – which the mining and exploration industry has been begging for for over a decade – was one of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy's “biggest nightmares”. He blamed the ongoing lack of implementation of a mineral rights cadastre on the sluggishness of the legal system. South Africa's mineral rights are currently managed through the South African Mineral Resources Administration System (Samrad), which has been called dysfunctional and has been blamed for discouraging investment in South Africa's mining industry and encouraging corruption owing to its opacity. A cadastral system would reduce human inputs by incorporating automated processes, thereby significantly enhancing the reliability and transparency of the mineral regulatory system in South Africa. By creating a system that applies to the entire mining life cycle, mining cadastres provide a tool by which governments may regulate the industry effectively, as well as monitor and regulate it through checks, balances and automated record keeping. Several other African countries, including Botswana and Mozambique, have already implemented cadastral systems for managing mineral rights. A cadastral system would log all properties in the country, specifying who is permitted where, for which commodity, where a right's borders are and the expiry date of those rights. A minerals cadastre would list available mining or prospecting rights, properties currently under a mining or prospecting right and the expiry of currently held rights and ownership thereof. However, what pundits have said would make minerals cadastres particularly useful for the mining industry, particularly the junior mining and prospecting sector, is that they would also contain all historical prospecting data generated by previous exploration parties.

Guy Leitch, Editor at SA Flyer Magazine updates Bruce Whitfield on jet fuel shortages at OR Tambo International. Tebello Chabana, Senior Executive Public Affairs & Transformation at Minerals Council South Africa talks about the Mining Indaba that has kicked off in Cape Town and bemoans red tape that causes the mining sector R100-billion investments. Then, Thando Thabethe, Radio presenter and actress talks about her relationship with money. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The mining industry must work harder on implementing human rights programmes to prevent the exploitation of unhappy communities for narrow self-defeating motives, Minerals Council South Africa senior executive Tebello Chabana commented during a Human Rights Dialogue on March 17. He noted that South African communities had been “stranded by failing and failed local governments”, which had created a “hotbed for discontent that is easily stoked by unscrupulous third parties”. Richard Spoor Attorneys associate Johan Lorenzen noted that communities were looking for “basic recognition” and cautioned that “the more they are disrespected, the more communities get radicalised.” He pointed to the fact many communities have gone to court over, among other issues, a lack of free, prior and informed consent, which arose from a lack of adequate consultation with mine-affected communities. “We're seeing a Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) that is less and less interested in protecting community rights.” He said the actions of the DMRE, in granting mining rights without looking at the consultation process and without moving towards free, prior and informed consent, blocked off an avenue that empowered all parties to reach reasonable agreements in advance. Such an avenue would ultimately derisk the investment, while protecting basic human rights. Lorenzen said both the State and the industry should consider the environment they were creating when ignoring communities. He noted that there had been increased complaints from mining companies about “mafias” trying to benefit from mining contracts. “Certainly, this is the case and it's certainly wrong. But communities who partner with these so-called mafias do so because they feel that this is a remedy available to them in the absence of remedies provided by mining companies.” He noted that the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights envisaged companies enabling remedies to human rights abuses and other challenges through grievance and other mechanisms. “Access to remedies is one of the central principles in the Guiding Principles,” Lorenzen said. Further, he stressed that, while changing expectations and scrutiny from society on corporate practices had resulted in increased litigation as a means of enforcing accountability, “litigation is incredibly expensive and can only be accessed by a select few”. He stressed the need for active mechanisms that did not require the use of courts. “We shouldn't need lawyers to provide remedies for communities, because in my experience, communities are incredibly reasonable.” Lorenzen stated that industry must internalise the Guiding Principles and should look to changing its approach, as the tools and mechanisms used to successfully manage a mining operation are not necessarily useful in addressing human rights issues and community engagement. Further, the structural issues that are deeply entrenched in South African society would not be solved with a ‘project-management approach'. “Every day, I deal with good, moral and righteous people in the mining sector. But the [challenge], for my clients, isn't about whether there are good or bad people engaging with them, it's about what structures we set up to create a more just world.” He agreed with Chabana that companies were increasingly being asked to ‘step up' their human rights recognition and protection, and that this was “principally a product of the failure of the State”. Lorenzen added that it was not sustainable to ask companies to lead on protecting rights. As such, he noted, “we are collectively calling on the State to protect human rights so that we eliminate a race to the bottom for companies and force them to compete on a level playing field where human rights are respected across the board. That can only be done if we are all standing up and demanding that the State does its job.” LEARNED HELPLESSNESS On the issue of holding the State to account, Cape Town Arch...

The growing use of surveillance technologies, drones and wearables has serious implications for employees' and individual's rights – to privacy, for one – which civil society and the private sector have yet to fully explore, diversified major Anglo American international, government and sustainability relations group head Froydis Cameron-Johansson has said. Speaking during a Human Rights Dialogue hosted by the Minerals Council South Africa on March 17, she outlined themes and trends that had emerged post-Covid, including the restriction of civic freedoms, violence and harassment, low-carbon transition risks, corporate accountability and litigation, increasing expectations, labour rights, and technology and human rights. She pointed out that drone adoption in the mining industry had increased by 198% between 2017 and 2018 alone and cited the increased use of artificial intelligence and wearables to monitor employees' behaviour and record health-related data. This, combined with the introduction of various ‘track and trace' applications adopted by organisations and governments to combat the spread of Covid-19, has created an environment where companies and governments have access to personal information that can be exploited, if these actors do not respect basic human rights. “Everybody has a phone. You're going onto an app, it asks you for all this personal information that you probably wouldn't ever give a stranger, except you're just [sending] it into the Metaverse, so to speak.” Cameron-Johannsson explained that, over the last two years, this dispensing of personal information “exploded exponentially”, because of Covid-19. She noted that, before the onset of the pandemic, the notion that the general public would willingly allow the government to track their everyday movements was laughable. “But here we are with our iPhones.” She commented that she does not believe civil society as a collective has truly grasped data and the implications of data surveillance, or what it all means from a rights perspective. Further, she remarked that, while it was “incredibly valuable” to have track and trace applications and technologies to manage the pandemic response, “it's a huge risk now to human rights, to the right to privacy, to the right to not be surveilled all the time”. “The interesting thing will now be in countries where they instigated a lot of surveillance; what happens now? Do they roll those back? Are people just used to it? How is this now going to work?” She also stressed that the implications of using these technologies, particularly in terms of respecting and safeguarding rights, had not really been explored in their entirety, from a mining perspective. “There are a lot of wearables. We use them for monitoring in terms of health and fatigue monitoring, as well as speed monitoring. But how then is that data being used? Even simple things like storing vaccination records under the General Data Protection Regulation rules is very, very difficult. So how do we balance those health requirements to keep people safe, [while] ensuring the right to privacy as well?” With regard to drones, she mentioned that, aside from being used for mapping and geosciences, they can also be used for security and monitoring. She stressed that the fact that drones record activities on and around the mine licence means that companies must be “very mindful” when creating privacy policies with respect to video capabilities, as well as when engaging people that are affected. University of Johannesburg Professor Shafika Isaacs commended the dialogue for raising the topic of digital justice and cautioned against the “dominant evangelical narrative around the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)”. Isaacs noted that there was an erroneous perception that the 4IR is “going to save us”, and that many stakeholders look to technology and the 4IR as a panacea; that if everybody had access to the Internet, that would solve problems ranging from a lack of compe...

The appointment of mining stalwart Sipho Nkosi to cut red tape is crucial to encourage new investment and expand existing investment in South Africa, says Menar MD Vuslat Bayoglu, whose private investment company has about R1.5-billion worth of investment being delayed by regulatory processes. While Nkosi was appointed to reduce government red tape in general, Bayoglu believes that his background and skill would be better used in the mining regulatory space. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) “There are huge bottlenecks in mining approval processes, from prospecting rights, where it is relatively easy, to water use licences (WULs) and environmental authorisation, where things get harder,” said Bayoglu in a Zoom interview with Mining Weekly. “Often, different government entities contradict each other. Some NGOs take advantage of the red tape to block mining investment. They don't care about the taxes that the state is losing when it delays mining investments, exploit this to their own advantage and to the detriment of the country,” said Bayolu, who pointed to Minerals Council South Africa's members having R90-billion worth of ready-to-execute projects being stalled by red tape. “South Africa cannot afford to lose out on the current upswing in the commodity market. It is only during such times that investors have appetite to expand existing operations and develop new mines from scratch. “If we don't take advantage of this now by cutting the red tape, we should kiss goodbye to employment creation and the prospect of reducing poverty and inequalities – all of which are the key priorities of President Cyril Ramaphosa's administration. The President clearly knows this. We hope various departments will support him,” said Bayoglu. His second takeway from last month's State of the Nation Address (Sona) is that reforms are under way in the field of logistics. “Allowing third party access to the rail infrastructure is key to solving the logistics bottlenecks. While Transnet has performed better than many SOE's over the years, it has experienced challenges lately and this has impacted on mining exports. So, the President's initiatives, which Transnet has already embraced, are also a welcome development,” Bayoglu added. His third Sona takeway was the President firmly stating that business is responsible for creating jobs and the government should create an enabling environment. “I think if he can act on this statement and ensure that government takes decisions quickly, then we can succeed in creating economic opportunities,” he said. GROWTH STRATEGY DEVELOPMENTS The company's latest growth strategy development includes the commencement of mining at Kangra Coal's Udumo mine in February, marking the beginning of the extension of the life-of-mine (LoM) at Kangra, through the mining of the Kusipongo reserve of around 41.9-million tons, which could extend the LoM by more than 20 years. Kangra is targeting a production rate of 1.5-million tons a year from the underground mining sections for the duration of the LoM, with 360 000 t/y of anthracite being produced from available opencast areas. Located in Saul Mkhizeville, Mpumalanga, Kangra employs 549 people including contractors. The extension of the LoM of Kangra is described as being critical for local communities that derive employment and business opportunities from the mine. In addition, negotiations are continuing with stakeholders at Canyon Coal's fully licensed but yet to be developed Gugulethu colliery, which will create 430 jobs. Through Canyon, some R600-million is being invested in the Phase 1 development of Gugulethu, which is near Hendrina, also in Mpumalanga. The project has an estimated LoM of more than 35 years based on a run-of-mine (RoM) production of about 200 000 t/m from opencast areas and 150 000 t/m from underground sections. Mining will take place through underground and opencast methods. Phase 1, which will entail opencast mining, has a reserve of 14.3-million...

Cabinet has announced its approval of an Exploration Strategy for the Mining Industry of South Africa; however, it does not seem to have been released for public comment and its actual legal nature is unclear. The strategy proposes a collaboration between the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to ensure exploration provides for the inclusion of emerging exploration companies. It also reinforces the research role to be played by research institutions such as Mintek and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and the need for a skills development programme. The strategy was first announced in October 2019, followed by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe stating a few months later government's aspiration to garner 5% of global exploration spend within five years. AmaranthCX director Paul Miller says now, more than two years later, the country has limited time left to achieve this goal. “One can only imagine that the contents of this strategy document will be incredible, if it is to grow exploration spend in the country at least five-fold from R1.2-billion a year currently to between the targeted R6-billion and R8-billion a year,” he notes. Government, in a post-Cabinet meeting statement, said the strategy was a product of broader consultation between government, industry and other social partners; however, Miller, as a seasoned mining consultant, affirms that the strategy did not undergo a “broad consultation” process, as the content of the strategy remains to be seen by many stakeholders. He adds that, while it is a positive move for the IDC to become involved, its few hundred million rands of assistance, albeit welcome and necessary, will not move the dial towards the R6-billion exploration spend South Africa needs to keep its mining sector alive. “Our industry, barring single exceptional assets, has 20 years of operations left at current resources. Additionally, a Tier 1 deposit takes at least 15 years to develop from its date of discovery. It is imperative to get exploration going now,” Miller tells Mining Weekly. Minerals Council South Africa communications head Allan Seccombe confirms that the council was involved in drafting the original exploration strategy document, but says it has not had sight of the Cabinet-approved version. The council does not yet have information on when, or whether, the strategy will be published for public comment.

Thuthula Balfour | Minerals Council South Africa In this episode WiMSA chairperson, Petro du Pisani, speaks to Dr. Thuthula Balfour, Head of Health for the Minerals Council South Africa. Dr Balfour has headed and coordinated the South African mining industry's response to the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020. She is also a WiMSA patron and she leads the Minerals Council's Women in Mining Task Team. Thuthula explains how she ended up working in the mining industry. We talk about the Minerals Council's white paper on women in mining, which has lead to a number of workstreams being executed by the women in mining task team. These workstreams include: - A gender & diversity reporting platform - Reaffirming zero tolerance for gender-based violence - Diversity and Inclusion Policies - Unconscious bias training to transform culture Thuthula explains what it means for her to be a WiMSA patron, and she talks about her vision for women in mining in the South African mining industry. Learn more about the Minerals Council · Connect with Thuthula on LinkedIn · Become a WiMSA member now · Website · Connect with WiMSA on Facebook · Briony Liber Coaching · Connect with WiMSA on LinkedIn · Solid Gold Podcasts

Thuthula Balfour | Minerals Council South Africa In this episode WiMSA chairperson, Petro du Pisani, speaks to Dr. Thuthula Balfour, Head of Health for the Minerals Council South Africa. Dr Balfour has headed and coordinated the South African mining industry's response to the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020. She is also a WiMSA patron and she leads the Minerals Council's Women in Mining Task Team. Thuthula explains how she ended up working in the mining industry. We talk about the Minerals Council's white paper on women in mining, which has lead to a number of workstreams being executed by the women in mining task team. These workstreams include: - A gender & diversity reporting platform - Reaffirming zero tolerance for gender-based violence - Diversity and Inclusion Policies - Unconscious bias training to transform culture Thuthula explains what it means for her to be a WiMSA patron, and she talks about her vision for women in mining in the South African mining industry. Learn more about the Minerals Council · Connect with Thuthula on LinkedIn · Become a WiMSA member now

It will never be business as usual as South African mines slowly ramp up operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. How do companies ensure that their workers are safe yet still ensure a profitable operation? This week, Deep Insights speaks to Dr Thuthule Balfour, Head of Health at Minerals Council South Africa about the impact of COVID-19 on the South African mining industry? Was the national lockdown necessary? What can mining companies do to safeguard their workers? How do they protect mining communities and what can in expect in a post COVID-19 mine? Just, how do mines operate in the new normal? And remember, to access our webinars, videos, industry insights and the latest mining news, visit miningreview.com

Trade union, AMCU members have threatened a prolonged strike in the platinum sector if Sibanye Stillwater fails to heed the demands of their counterparts in the gold sector. They embarked on a secondary strike today, in support of their counterparts in the gold sector. Thousands of AMCU members were taken in buses yesterday to join their gold counterparts for a march at the Minerals Council South Africa.