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South Africa's definition of critical minerals is not limited to those minerals used in the green economy and includes coal and uranium, says Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe.

Speaking at the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town this week, he noted that any limitation would mean that South Africa would be using "the standards set by others".

"It is about what is critical to us."

He added that each country around the world had their own definition of critical minerals, with that definition sometimes linked to what they needed but did not have available readily.

Mantashe said coal was vital for South Africa in terms of the sector's high employment numbers and its use in electricity generation, with uranium an essential component of nuclear power generation.

At a later media briefing, Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane concurred with the fact that coal was indeed a critical mineral for South Africa when considering that it was used to produce 90% of the country's electricity.

"What is critical for country X, is not necessarily critical for country Y," noted Council chief economist Hugo Pienaar.

He said that South Africa would probably need two lists of critical minerals, with one focused on current needs and one on future needs - "some 15 years from now" - with coal "tops" in the list of current needs, but perhaps moving down the rankings in the future list.

Sharing a stage with Mantashe on the topic of critical minerals, Manganese Metal Company executive chairperson Bernard Swanepoel highlighted that it was "problematic to try and have the world's longest list of critical minerals".

He said there were only two minerals in which South Africa was truly competitive - platinum group metals and manganese.

"We should passionately defend our platinum industry. If we do not do that, we run the risk of it becoming another gold story."

Also on stage was Mintek CEO Dr Molefi Motuku. He outlined the progress made by the task team developing South Africa's critical minerals and metals strategy.

He said the draft strategy document had been completed, and that it was now the subject of an "interdepartmental consultative process".

The most difficult part was developing an implementation plan.

"We are working on that."

Motuku also noted that there was no universal consensus on criticality.

"It is country-specific; it is region-specific; it is context-specific."

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Helping South Africa to return to being a producer of ferromanganese will be a major 2025 focus of mining company Menar, its MD Vuslat Bayoglu emphasised on Wednesday.

In an interview on day-three of the Investing in African Mining Indaba 2025, Bayoglu spoke of being "very excited" about the prospect of his company being part of South Africa's mining-linked re-industrialisation, through the revival of an asset that was once the world's biggest ferromanganese producer. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Last year, Menar consummated a transaction with Samancor involving the acquisition of the South32/Anglo Joint Venture (JV) Metalloys ferromanganese asset in Meyerton, Gauteng.

"I have to give the credit to the South32/Anglo JV, which kept the asset in pristine condition," Bayoglu noted.

"There's a 50 MW gas fired power station, which we could start running in a very short period if we had gas."

Ahead of being placed on care maintenance in 2020, Metalloys was the world's largest ferromanganese producer and steps are now being taken restart it under the new name of Khwelamet.

"The idea is to prepare Khwelamet to be ready to be restarted, so this is going to be one of our important focuses this year," Bayoglu enthused.

Menar's revival plans are taking place amid South Africa being the world's largest producer of manganese ore.

The property's large slag dump from which ferroalloys can be recovered is also of considerable value.

Interestingly, two of the smelter's four furnaces are only ten years old.

While talking to Eskom about power considerations for the restart of these furnaces, Menar is also studying options outside of electric arc furnace technology.

Also under scrutiny is the blast furnace route amid discussions with providers of technology that slash two-thirds off the electricity required for existing smelting.

Entry into the battery grade manganese metal field through an unidentified "old" asset is also being contemplated.

On the Mining Indaba itself, Bayoglu said of the event, now in its 31st year: "It's very exciting to be here. It's great to see the enthusiasm."

ANTHRACITE AND STEAM COAL

Regarding anthracite, Menar is planning to finalise the licensing of the Riversdale and Fuleni projects in KwaZulu-Natal, which are both viewed as being quality assets that have the potential to employ many people.

On the steam coal side, both Bekezela, near Springs and Thuso, near Bethal, are licensed, with Bekezela set to be a flagship operation with an output of 7.2-million run-of-mine tons a year.

In planning to move the coal by rail, Menar would like to create its own rolling stock capacity as part of the new TRIM applications being accepted by Transnet.

"The other thing very critical for us is to look at the kind of JVs that we can create in South Africa with emerging South African companies.

"We're targeting different commodities. We're a very firm believer in investing in South Africa. Yes, we've got challenges with Eskom and Transnet, but I think current administrations of Trasnet and Eskom are addressing those."

Mining Weekly: How prepared do you think South Africa is to seize opportunities in the critical mineral space?

I think every mineral is critical in our lives. If you look at what is produced by South African miners in South Africa, chrome is a critical mineral. Manganese is a critical mineral. Platinum group metals are critical minerals. Iron-ore is critical. Coal is critical because it's got applications that are very critical for us. If you don't have manganese, or if you don't have chrome, you can't make steel and stainless steel. To stop the pollution from vehicle exhausts, you need PGMs, which are critical for our economy.

The current Eskom administration has stabilised the business an...

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Beneficiation is not the responsibility of mining companies, says Manganese Metal Company (MMC) executive chairperson Bernard Swanepoel.

"Speaking as the last standing manganese beneficiation business in the country, what we do wrong in our country is that we expect mining companies to go where they don't belong.

"Our business…is an industrial-scale pharmaceutical plant. Don't bring miners there. It is completely different to mining."

Speaking at the Investing in African Mining Indaba 2025 held in Cape Town this week, Swanepoel noted that MMC produced 2% to 3% of the world's pure electrolytic manganese, and China 97%.

"China does not mine manganese. China beneficiates manganese. We come to beneficiation from the wrong angle.

"We are trying to force miners into a business where they have been, and left.

"Our country needs beneficiation, but it cannot come from bullying our miners into that space. We'll misallocate capital; we'll make mistakes. We'll shut it down the first time the commodity cycle goes through a slump."

IDC Must Step Up

When asked what government could do to intervene, Swanepoel said it was time for the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to do what it was created to do.

"It must fund the industrialisation of South Africa, and stop messing about with everything else.

"My business was funded by the IDC 50 years ago. Now we have been talking to them for three years about a little expansion project - we've given up on them.

"The State's capacity must be directed towards the State's objectives - unashamedly."

Swanepoel added that skills were not a problem in South Africa.

"Outside China, South Africa happens to have the experts in manganese beneficiation. Most of them are part of the company I chair.

"We actually just need to start to do things. We must get off our backsides and actually start to do things in this country."

Junior Miner Challenge

Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane added his voice in calling government to action.

"To paraphrase…We must not ask what the mining industry can do for you, but what you can do for the growth of the mining industry.

"Some of the basics…it's about speed. How quickly can juniors embark on exploration.

"We spend a lot of time navigating the legislative environment, which is hugely frustrating."

Mthenjane said everyone could "speak ad nauseam" about 'communities' and 'women' and 'youth'. However, all these parties were frustrated with the current situation.

"My message is - let's focus on the basics.

"When somebody applies for prospecting rights, it must happen quickly. All departments must work together towards issuing that prospecting right quickly, and make sure that that prospecting takes place without interruption and unnecessary disruption, in order to proof up an orebody that can be mined. And that's where the benefits will come through."

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The launch of a pilot initiative to produce feedstock for renewable diesel in South Africa was announced on day two of the Investing in African Mining Indaba taking place in Cape Town.

The launch, which has far-reaching promise owing to the high status of the participants, has taken the form of a joint development agreement, which was entered into on Tuesday, February 4.

The corporations involved are:

South Africa's long-standing hydrocarbons-based synthetic fuels producer Sasol;

the London- and Johannesburg-listed Anglo American; and

the iconic Anglo group diamond pioneer De Beers.

This timely and far-reaching pact has in its sights the establishment of a competitive climate-friendly South African renewable fuels value chain of considerable substance.

Being assessed is the technical and commercial viability of renewable diesel feedstock production at scale, with solaris and moringa plantations generating vegetable oil.

This is taking place amid Sasol's existing assets being able to process a variety of feedstocks.

Importantly, this is enabling the partnership to produce vegetable oil-based renewable diesel quicker than greenfield projects and at lower costs.

Renewable diesel is transformative in that it meets the technical standards of conventional diesel while significantly reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions.

"Our customers can use it as a 'drop-in' fuel in their existing equipment and machinery to meet their GHG reduction commitments," Sasol business building, strategy and technology executive VP Dr Sarushen Pillay outlined at the signing ceremony covered by Mining Weekly.

Partnering with Anglo, Sasol is investigating the development of a local and cost-effective supply chain for sustainable feedstock, utilising vegetable oil to produce renewable diesel in its facilities, as the partnership innovates for a greener future.

"As we innovate for a better world, Sasol's ambition is clear - to help our customers navigate the energy transition while delivering high-quality, sustainable solutions for a low-carbon future," Pillay added.

Anglo projects and development director Alison Atkinson highlighted the strengthening role that renewable diesel will play in the group's commitment to reducing scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions by 2040.

"It's an innovation that contributes to our sustainability journey as a business and our quest to maintain a healthy environment by creating carbon neutral operations," Atkinson explained.

The initiative is said to align with De Beers' Origins sustainable practices and innovation strategy while also aligning with the diamond company's aim of replacing fossil fuel, which is a critical element of the 2030 decarbonisation goals.

"Prefeasibility studies have been approved, and renewable diesel production trials have been initiated within De Beers mining operations and host communities," Atkinson added.

Although renewable diesel production in South Africa is not yet at a commercial scale, recent market engagements indicate that the country's renewable fuels market is promising, driven by end-customer demands and their decarbonisation targets.

Old mine sites will be repurposed for farming of the crops required for renewable diesel.

As stated by Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad on Monday, Anglo is intent on continuing to leverage its global status in mining, processing, and sustainability to support inclusive South African economic growth more broadly.

"South Africa will continue as our platform to drive our strategic agenda across Southern Africa, where we believe we have a rare set of capabilities to bring to bear for the right opportunities. South Africa's success is deeply intertwined with our own," Wanblad added.

The often-repeated need for bold partnerships to strengthen the South Afric...

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Investing in African Mining Indaba presenters on Monday spoke repeatedly of the need for Africa to add value to its metals and minerals on the continent itself rather than allowing this to take place elsewhere.

Digging African raw ore out of African ground and shipping it to richer countries for processing was displayed as a practice that must end as fast as possible.

All African countries are now being urged to process mined material in Africa for the benefit of the continent amid the reality of the continent hosting significant reserves of industrially important minerals that include manganese, copper, nickel, cobalt, titanium, vanadium, lithium, and rare earths, as well as most of the world's chromium and platinum group metals (PGMs).

With the growing demand for these minerals, it was repeatedly posited on day-one of Investing in African Mining Indaba that the continent has a duty to ensure that its people share in the wealth that African countries host.

African leaders were urged to take charge of the growing demand for critical endowments to implement Africa's industrialisation, South Africa's re-industrialisation and put an end to the export of raw ore.

On the South African front, it was pointed out that South Africa's PGM production alone in 2021 reached a decade-high 285 t and notwithstanding the decline in the PGM basket price, in 2023, South Africa was the world's largest producer of PGMs, accounting for 73% of global new mine supply of platinum, 38% of palladium and 81% of rhodium supply to global commodity markets.

Moreover, South Africa has about 37% of the world's manganese ore reserves, and also leads in manganese production with an output of 7.2-million tonnes in 2023.

But despite the country formerly earning significant value-added revenue by processing the ore domestically into ferromanganese, only 2% of the major manganese ore available is now processed in South Africa.

The same applies to the processing of the large volumes of mined chromium into ferrochrome, also a strong former South African-held market that was badly impacted by the high prices that Eskom began charging for electricity

"We're mindful that for local beneficiation to succeed, we need to guarantee consistent, reliable, and affordable electricity supply. Despite the recent setback, I can assure you that, now that we have reached over nine months with no electricity interruptions, government is working on measures to reduce administered prices, and in so doing reduce the cost of doing business in South Africa," South African Minerals and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe promised during his keynote Mining Indaba presentation covered by Mining Weekly.

"We're also considering sustaining commodity-linked tariffs, as well as consolidating and applying incentives and other existing financial instruments to support and encourage beneficiation," Mantashe revealed.

What is being urged by African leaders is for mineral beneficiation to extend as close as possible to point of production so that the continent can put an end to the export of wealth from communities that are in significant need of it.

"We're, however, alive to the fact that there can be no mining or beneficiation without exploration; hence, our steadfastness to reignite exploration investment and, in so doing, turn South Africa into an exploration site," Mantashe disclosed.

"Our efforts in this regard are beginning to take shape, as evidenced by progress made since we launched the country's exploration fund during the last Mining Indaba.

"During the previous Mining Indaba, we committed to putting in place a new mining licensing system to enhance efficiency and transparency in our systems and thereby guarantee regulatory certainty in the South African mining In...

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Day two of the twentieth annual McCloskey Southern African Coal Conference opened here on Friday with carbon emission reduction being highlighted as one of the coal industry's key challenges.

Electricity and Energy Ministry special adviser Silas Zimu, in delivering the keynote address during the opening session chaired by McCloskey senior VP John Howland, gave recognition to the importance of the pragmatism that had characterised South Africa's coal-dominant energy and electricity sector in recent years as it had worked in tandem with the emerging necessity of renewable-energy generation.

'We really appreciate the cooperation you have given to Eskom," Zimu commented as he spelt out the significant learnings of the past two years in which coal has continued to play its crucial ongoing role, accompanied by the contribution of sun and wind energy initiatives.

"It's not about coal versus renewables. It's to ensure that energy is available, accessible and affordable.

"We've learnt a lot in the past two years. Are we out of the bush? Not yet," Zimu commented as he drew attention to the need for a focus to be placed on clean coal as well as carbon emission reduction, which he noted was already a discernible prospect in Mpumalanga, where most of South Africa's coal-fired power stations are located.

The generation of renewables by Eskom was posed as a good pursuit, as was the cessation of plans to close old power stations.

Interestingly, to reduce emissions further, he reported at the coal conference covered by Mining Weekly that a close look was being given to the manner in which Japan was making use of green ammonia, a derivative of green hydrogen, to generate coal-fired power in a lower carbon manner.

This, Zimu revealed, followed the visit to Japan in December by South Africa's Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, about which the publication ESG Africa reported that Japan's pursuit of a sustainable hydrogen future presented an opportunity for South Africa.

During the visit, Ramokgopa showcased South Africa's commitment to advancing flagship hydrogen projects, such as Boegoebaai and the Coega Green Ammonia Project, and engaged with key Japanese stakeholders, including major financial institutions and trading companies.

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Existing economic reforms now in motion have the potential to lift South Africa's economic growth rate to 3.5% a year by 2029, South Africa Presidency Project Management Office director Sikhulekile (Khule) Duma told the McCloskey twentieth annual Southern African Coal Conference on Thursday.

Delivering the keynote address during the opening session chaired by McCloskey OPIS senior VP John Howland, Duma outlined that independent modelling by the Bureau for Economic Research found that implementing the Phase I reforms could boost real GDP growth by 1.5% above the 2% baseline.

The largest driver of this improvement is fixed investment, which is projected to be 4% higher by 2029.

The government and business partnership report back to President Cyril Ramaphosa every six to eight weeks provides the joint strategic oversight committee to assess progress, provide direction, unblock issues and elevate opportunities across energy, logistics and crime.

Given improved energy availability and access to ports and railways, exports are projected to be significantly better, attaining the nigh-5% growth rate in 2029.

In the reform scenario, real GDP is 7.7%-higher at R399.6-billion by 2029, and investment a 22.3%-higher R196.7-billion.

Duma highlighted that headline initiatives underway through the collaborative efforts between Transnet, government, the National Logistics Crisis Committee and industry to improve the network and rolling stock availability, as well as operational efficiency, included 2024's independent technical assessment of the Richards Bay coal line in KwaZulu-Natal leading to the start this year of multi-year public-private coal line improvement initiatives.

"Our government is committed to our energy mix and coal will continue to have a role," Duma told the conference covered by Mining Weekly.

The Operational Breakthrough Project has a strong focus on operational efficiency and volume ramp-up, with partnerships with the private sector through the Richards Bay Coal Terminal procuring locomotive batteries and compressors for the maintenance of coal export locomotives.

"The involvement of the private sector in rail and ports is the biggest reform we've seen in 100 years," Duma stated during questions time.

On the energy front, the launch of National Energy Crisis Committee 2.0 (NECOM 2.0) was bringing greater focus to the strengthening of the national electricity transmission grid along with market reform.

Targeted under NECOM 2.0 are improving the availability of existing electricity supply, accelerating private-sector investment in generation capacity, fast-tracking procurement of new power generation capacity, unleashing investment in rooftop solar, and fundamentally transforming the electricity sector to achieve long-term energy security.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer unpacks Richards Bay Coal Terminal's confidence that coal exports can go up to 81-million tons; the role platinum is playing in anti-cancer; and Implats's deal with Discovery Green for its Springs operation.

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Platinum group metals (PGMs), which are hosted overwhelmingly in South Africa, are playing a crucial anti-cancer role as well as making a significant overall PGM contribution to the pharmaceuticals sector.

This has been highlighted by Heraeus Precious Metals, following its acquisition of the platinum-based active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) business of Umicore outside of South America.

According to the World Health Organisation, cancer is the cause of nearly one in six deaths and, alarmingly, this number is expected to rise further.

The demand for platinum-based highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (HPAPIs) is on the rise with the number of new cancer cases worldwide predicted to increase from 21.9-million this year to 30.2-million in 2040.

Besides their presence in HPAPIs, PGMs are also very helpful for the synthesis of sophisticated API molecules. HPAPIs are described as the key compounds in chemotherapy because they can target cancer cells accurately, Heraeus informs Mining Weekly.

PGMs company Heraeus Precious Metals in 2023 played a role in around 2.3-million cycles of chemotherapy, involving more than 450 000 patients.

Platinum-based Cisplatin and Carboplatin anti-cancer drugs work primarily by binding with DNA.

Additionally, these drugs can induce oxidative stress and potentially modulate the immune response, enhancing the recognition of cancer cells.

Since the 1970s, Heraeus has been selling a broad portfolio of oncology APIs from Germany to the world.

Platinum APIs, especially Cisplatin, Carboplatin and Oxaliplatin, form the backbone of cancer treatment through chemotherapy.

PLATINUM IN COATINGS FOR ELECTROLYSIS

Earlier this month, Heraeus also signed a memorandum of understanding with Jolt Solutions, a Barcelona-based company specialising in the coating of metallic catalysts for electrochemical applications, to optimize the use of PGMs for proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis, using Jolt's proprietary SparkfuzeTM technology.

This faster coating method with low energy demands is scalable and produces surfaces with high catalytic activity and durability.

The two companies aim to explore the use of PGM-based metallic catalysts for PEM water electrolysis. Heraeus Precious Metals sees synergies between the two companies. Whilst utilizing Jolt's patented electrode production technique to produce electrochemical products, the precious metals expert can use its specialties in PGM trading, hedging, PGM sourcing, recycling and recovery to create a valuable closed loop product offering.

Heraeus EVP Business Line Hydrogen Systems Dr Philipp Walter said Jolt's technology competence and ability to tackle and quickly scale development projects is "a very good fit to our know-how and service portfolio around PGM applications".

"We're looking forward to exploring new business opportunities together," was the comment of Jolt Solutions CEO Leon Rizzi.

Meanwhile, PEM electrolysers are gaining increasing traction in the transition to a hydrogen economy owing to their dynamic response time.

The production of green hydrogen through PEM electrolysis of water is seen as a very suitable concept to enable storage, transportation and deployment of the produced renewable energy.

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The London Aim-listed Sylvania Platinum is looking forward to the Thaba Joint Venture introducing a chrome revenue stream.

On its way to becoming the first platinum group metals (PGM) beneficiation facility for primary chrome ore and tailings on the northern part of the western limb of the Bushveld Complex, the joint venture will have chrome beneficiation and PGM processing plants treating a combination of run-of-mine (RoM) material and historical chrome tailings.

Sylvania and Limberg Chrome Mine will share equally in the PGM and chromite concentrate revenue once the on-schedule project comes on stream, which is expected to take place in the second half of financial year (FY) 2025.

Meanwhile, the RoM plant commissioned at Lesedi is expected to achieve steady state operation towards the end of the third quarter of FY2025, specialist studies required by the regulators for the Volspruit project are being finalised to allow for the submission of the water use licence application, and the company continues to explore potential disposal options for the Hacra asset as a result of Sylvania focussing its exploration activities on the shallower mineralisation of the Volspruit and Aurora projects.

Sylvania describes itself as being a lower-cost PGMs producer with its South Africa-based dump operations made up of six chrome beneficiation and PGM processing plants focusing on the retreatment of PGM-rich chrome tailings materials from Bushveld mines.

Millsell, Mooinooi, Lesedi, Doornbosch, Lannex and Tweefontein are chrome beneficiation and PGM processing plants, treating a combination of RoM and current and historical chrome tailings at host mine-sites.

The commissioned column flotation cell at Millsell is in an optimisation phase to improve PGM concentrate quality and payability.

In the three months ended December 31, the company's dump operations recorded 17%-higher net revenue of $25.7-million quarter-on-quarter.

"The second quarter of FY2025 was a very positive one," Sylvania CEO Jaco Prinsloo reported in a release to Mining Weekly.

Group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation were a 104%-higher $6.7-million and the $77.5-million cash balance was in line with expectations.

Cash unit cost fell by 3% while direct operating costs increased 4% compared with the previous quarter.

The annual production target of 73 000 oz to 76 000 oz has been maintained for the year.

Interim financial results are scheduled to be released on February 18.