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The hydrogen economy is an important new growth area for platinum group metals (PGMs) and, in turn, PGMs are pivotal for hydrogen production and application across a broad front.

Accentuating this in a Zoom interview with Mining Weekly, Heraeus Precious Metals new business development executive VP Dr Philipp Walter highlighted the strong global current momentum of the hydrogen economy - "politically, socially and technologically". (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

"There'll be significant growth," Walter forecast shortly before departing for Asia to visit customers.

To meet that growth, Heraeus Precious Metals has formed its new Business Line Hydrogen Systems unit to focus on hydrogen applications, in particular proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis and fuel cells, as well as the recycling of spent electrolysers and membranes.

"When I started in this role five years ago, now and then there was an article about hydrogen and PEM electrolysis, but nowadays, these are skyrocketing," he noted.

Amid the need to replace the anticipated potential loss of PGM demand to battery electric vehicles, hydrogen is seen as providing abundant opportunity to replace expected PGM demand loss - and then some. (Also see attached infographics.)

The hydrogen-related applications in which PGMs play a key role may begin with green hydrogen using PEM electrolysis but they certainly do not end there, extending as they do to other elements in PEM electrolysers, and so much more beyond that.

PGMs, for example, are again key in the transport of hydrogen through carriers such as liquid organic hydrogen carriers or LOHC, ammonia, methanol and fuel cells. The European Clean Hydrogen Alliance has just published the Learnbook on hydrogen imports into the EU market, citing LOHC technology as a viable hydrogen transport solution. LOHC can use existing non-cryogenic liquid fuel infrastructure at ports, thus transforming assets without leaving stranded investments.

Green hydrogen depends on especially PEM electrolysis technology owing to this coping best with renewable energy fluctuations.

In addition, platinum, iridium and now also ruthenium play electrocatalytic roles in splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, with PGMs also being used as catalysts to crack ammonia into nitrogen and hydrogen and to convert carbon dioxide into methanol or other hydrogen-carrier molecules.

Furthermore, PGM catalysts are essential in gas purification through palladium membranes, by either removing oxygen in a hydrogen stream or removing hydrogen in an oxygen stream.

In fuel cells, platinum on carbon catalysts are used to generate energy out of hydrogen and oxygen, forming water.

When hydrogen is converted into electricity by fuel cells, platinum allows the energy to be released in a controlled manner as mobile and stationary power, which is so useful in areas not served by national electricity grids.

The essential need to have enough Iridium available to accommodate and accompany PEM electrolysis growth is already being met by highly successful thrifting achievements as well as through the addition of ruthenium.

This not only reduces reliance on iridium, a highly scarce and expensive PGM, but also reduces material cost.

Primary production of ruthenium, also a PGM, is three-and-a-half times greater than the primary production of iridium.

While some are seeking to substitute PGMs completely, being able to do so is seen as being highly unlikely.

"As a chemist, I find that difficult because I believe platinum group metals and hydrogen belong together, simply because of their chemical nature," was Walter's comment to Mining Weekly on the issue of substitution.

"Everybody dealing with platinum group metals also knows that thrifting is part of the DNA of platinum group metals," he added.

Significant thrifting has not only been achieved with environmental catalysts, but also with autocatalyst...

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South African Hall-of-Fame luminary Ian Cockerill has been appointed CEO of West African mining company Endeavour, which owns and operates gold mines in Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Senegal.

Cockerill, who was Endeavour's former deputy chairperson, gleaned most of his four decades of experience in the global natural resources industry in South Africa.

In light of his appointment as CEO and executive director of the London- and Toronto-listed Endeavour, he will reportedly be reviewing his other current directorships.

As was reported in November, Endeavour's mines in Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire delivered a combined 792 000 oz of gold for the nine months to September 30. Full-year guidance is between 1.06-million and 1.14-million ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of between $895/oz and $950/oz. In the third-quarter of last year, Endeavour produced 281 000 oz at an AISC of $967/oz.

Third-quarter revenue was $530-million and planned full-year capital expenditure is $400-million.

"Looking ahead, we expect 2024 to be a strong year for Endeavour, as the brownfield expansion of Sabodala-Massawa and the Lafigué development project both remain on budget and on track to be commissioned next year," former CEO Sebastien de Montessus stated in a release to Mining Weekly in November.

This year, the Sabodala-Massawa expansion is scheduled to commence in the second quarter and the Lafigué project in the third quarter.

Cockerill was inducted into the South African Mining Hall of Fame of the Joburg Indaba in 2017.

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Giyani Metals is a company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in Toronto, Canada. Through its wholly-owned Botswana subsidiary Menzi Battery Metals, Giyani is the owner of the past producing K.Hill manganese mining project in Botswana.

Giyani is now intent on producing battery manganese at K.Hill, which is being developed as an integrated mining and processing operation.

What has caused some head-scratching in South Africa is that Giyani has secured $16-million worth of funding from South Africa's State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), ahead of South Africa's own Manganese Metal Co (MMC) in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, which has a half-century of experience in adding value to manganese.

All that stands between MMC and the construction of the battery manganese project in Mbombela is the finalisation of funding, which South Africa's State-owned IDC has managed to achieve for Botswana to the extent that the Canada-based Giyani has described the IDC funding as being the cornerstone of its $26-million funding package.

But funding from the IDC for construction of South Africa's own potentially paradigm-shifting initial HPMSM in Mbombela is still undecided, after a year of contact between the State-owned entity and MMC.

Though the Canada-Botswana operation's demonstration plant will be built in Johannesburg, its commercial scale battery manganese plant will be built in Botswana.

Moreover, the arrangement is that if the IDC converts the $16-million into equity, then Giyani will list on the Botswana Stock Exchange, to help Botswana develop its capital market.

This is being arranged at a time when South Africa's shrinking Johannesburg Stock Exchange is going all out to attract new listings.

IDC's funding of the Botswana project is also taking place at a time when a long and growing list of South African agricultural products are being denied entry into Botswana.

Amid South Africa being overlooked by a South African State-owned entity in favour of a Canada-Botswana business, Engineering News & Mining Weekly put these questions to Giyani Metals CEO Danny Keating. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Why has your Canada-owned Giyani Metals not opted to raise its own equity capital on the TSX Venture Exchange in Toronto and instead opted to secure $16-million worth of developmental finance from South Africa's IDC, for an ultimate battery manganese plant that will not be built in South Africa but in Botswana?

Keating: As part of the overall financing, the IDC component, the $16-million is one part and there's another $10-million that includes equity from Canada and different investors. Historically, about $30-million or $40-million of Canadian money has been invested. There's been a lot of investment both into Botswana and into the South African part of the project over the last few years. Yes, it's come in from Canada but the money, the technology, the people that are, ultimately, benefiting from this are in Southern Africa. The IDC does have a larger remit.

It isn't just South Africa. It's the SADC region, and strong neighbours for South Africa are good for South Africa, and that's obviously part of their strategy. I can't talk too much for the IDC, they obviously talk for themselves, but I think that part of their overall strategy is how do they develop battery technologies within Southern Africa and driving that within South Africa. In discussion with them, what they've recognised is that the SADC region has the ingredients for battery metals. There is nickel, there is cobalt, there's now the manganese and the components. South Africa has a massive car industry, but there isn't that joined up bit in between and that's obviously where the IDC comes into play. Part of assisting and being involved in Giyani, and our projects in Botswana and in South Africa, is to help to also drive that process forward.

The money that we've receiving from the I...

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Gold mining company AngloGold Ashanti is taking steps to become part of a search for gold in Guyana, a country on South America's North Atlantic coast.

The New York- and Johannesburg-listed company, led by CEO Alberto Calderon, intends owing 11.7% of exploration company G2 Goldfields, which has been involved in the discovery of millions of ounces of gold in Guyana.

"This strategic investment will provide us with a strong position in one of the world's key gold provinces with significant potential for new discoveries," Calderon stated in a release to Mining Weekly on Tuesday, December 19.

Being banked on is G2's continued exploration success in the Guiana Shield, which, in Guyana alone, hosts the six-million-ounce Aurora mine, the five-million-once Omai mine and the seven-million-ounce Toraparu deposit.

In addition to finding gold in Guyana, G2 has also been involved in the financing and development of Aurora.

G2's principal OKO project is made up of the OKO Main Zone deposit and the Ghanie deposit. Last year, the indicated mineral resource estimate for the OKO Main Zone was 220 000 oz of gold (793 000 t at 8.63 g/t), and the Inferred mineral resource estimate 974 000 oz (3 274 000 t at 9.25 g/t). A mineral resource update is expected in the first half of 2024.

G2 has other exploration targets within a 20km radius of OKO Main and Ghanie, and these are located next to Reunion Gold Corporation's OKO West discovery, where an Indicated and inferred mineral resource of 4.24-million ounces at 1.91 g/t was published in June.

G2 executive chairperson is Patrick Sheridan and its CEO is Dan Noone.

AngloGold expresses the belief that the company's exploration properties have significant growth potential.

As part of the share subscription, which is expected to close in next month, AngloGold will be granted pre-emptive and top-up rights for future security issuances by G2.

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Overwhelming demand and declining South African mining supply are poised to result in a very substantial rise in the price of platinum, Dr David Davis forecasts.

Davis has been associated with the South African mining industry and mining investment industry for the past 45 years in mainly platinum-group metals, gold and uranium, and he reaches this conclusion in a 25-page review for Auctus Metal Portfolios of Singapore.

His calculations imply that the platinum quantum of above-ground platinum inventory, in Western Europe and the UK, has entered a critical red zone.

He notes that China, which has been buying volumes of platinum that exceed its demand since 2009, does not export platinum. Therefore, supply support can come only from the above-ground platinum inventory of the US, at a price; or from an increase in primary mine supply, which is in decline; or from a significant increase in recycling, which is unlikely.

He expects these trends to ignite the price of platinum within the next few months: "It's only a matter of time before the impact of this growing global supply-demand deficit bites and we see a very substantial rise in the price of platinum".

He calculates China's above-ground inventory to have absorbed 12-million ounces of platinum, which represents 57% of the apparent global platinum above-ground inventories of 21.2-million ounces.

As China's above-ground inventory is not accessible by the Western world, Davis concludes that the rate of global decarbonisation will be negatively affected.

He calculates US above-ground inventory at 8.1-million ounces and Japan's above-ground inventory at 1.8-million ounces, with Western Europe, the UK and the rest of the worlds' above-ground inventories all on their last legs.

"Given these scenarios . . . it is imperative for the industry to significantly advance its current timeline and replace the obsolete and simple supply-demand equation with a real market balance equation," Davis states in the review released to Mining Weekly.

He denounces as "mind-boggling" the impact of using simple supply-demand market balance and above-ground inventory estimates and highlights that using real-world equation trends in above-ground inventories reveals vital information concerning the regional distribution and the quantum of platinum contained in these inventories.

Davis believes that the platinum-group metals and the investment industry, as well as research organisations and other interested parties, do not have an accurate understanding of the structural changes in the above-ground inventories of platinum between 2007 and 2022.

The geographic location and mobility of vaulted above-ground inventory stocks are an important factor when considering platinum's supply life and price, he argues.

Davis emphasises that platinum stocks have entered a critical low-level stage.

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The building of the R105-billion green ammonia project by Hive Hydrogen South Africa is poised to be a huge economic uplift for the Eastern Cape.

The large project is the first phase of a multi-phase venture that will be constructed over 16 years. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

The front-end engineering design (FEED) process gets underway next month and tenders will invited shortly after the conclusion of that process in July.

Funding will be a combination of 70% debt and 30% equity. The final investment decision, which is expected by the end of next year, will be followed by construction and commissioning in 2028.

Targeted is the achievement of a lower price of green ammonia than virtually anywhere else in the world.

The building by Hive Hydrogen of 3.6 GW renewable energy capacity is scheduled to begin in early 2025. The solar power component will be built near the town of De Aar, in the Northern Cape, and wind component north and south of Beaufort West, in the Western Cape.

A large transmission grid strengthening programme will enable Hive Hydrogen's 3.6 GW on to the grid and phases two, three and four of the project will each require additional renewable energy of a similar gigawattage. Interestingly, Hive Hydrogen's initial 3.6 GW on to the grid will enable an additional 14.4 GW from other independent power producers.

The one-million tons of green ammonia a year that the Coega project will produce will provide clean energy for a variety of applications, with green hydrogen and ammonia being particularly well suited to the decarbonisation of heavy industries and transportation industries.

To get more insight into the project, Mining Weekly conducted this question-and-answer interview with Hive Hydrogen GM Colin Loubser.

Mining Weekly: Hive Hydrogen South Africa has signed a memorandum of co-operation with the Itochu of Japan. Why was this done and how and when do you expect South Africa's proposed green ammonia project to benefit from this?

Loubser: The main reason why the memorandum of co-operation was signed is because Itochu is probably leading the world at the moment in the new clean fuel sector for green hydrogen and green ammonia. Itochu has a very large team working on green hydrogen and green ammonia in the Far East and globally. Itochu has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Sasol but memorandum of co-operation between us and Itochu has a different context. What we are hoping to achieve is to set up a roadmap to ensure the project, the phases, the strategic partners, are all aligned to ensure that we get the best cost of finance and to make sure we have the lowest priced green ammonia. We are seeing is an evolving situation where particularly our Coega site and all the dynamics around it, leads us to a lower price of green ammonia than virtually anyone anywhere else in the world. We see blue ammonia is as the major competitor to green, so we have to be the same price or lower than blue ammonia. We're working with Itochu to find out how to do that, and to make sure that the financing is the lowest possible and to achieve the lowest price for green ammonia. Not only the first phase of our project but its future three phases also need to be looked at and the memorandum of cooperation will cover the entire scope of the project and then how we deliver this lowest cost of green ammonia. There's a huge appetite for debt funding at low interest rates because of the value of the project to the world in terms of climate change, decarbonisation and the like.

What are the additional phases envisaged that will take Hive's sun and wind energy requirement beyond the 12 GW mark?

A really good question and a bit of a crystal ball in part of the part of that but we are looking at doing some direct connections into the project, as well as more grid connection. Those in the industry will know that one of the most important thing...

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All mining and metals companies are being urged to embrace guidance on reducing Scope 3 emissions, which was published by the International Council for Mining and Metals (ICMM) on Wednesday.

The guidance is a tool to assist mining companies in their engagement with the financial sector, investors, regulators, suppliers, customers and other mining sector stakeholders on Scope 3 emissions, which are a critical area of concentration for the mining and metals industry as they represent up to 95% of a company's total emissions for some commodities.

The guidance helps companies to set short-, medium- and long-term targets for reducing their Scope 3 emissions, which occur in a company's value chain from the upstream manufacturing of products purchased from suppliers and those produced downstream by customers repurposing that company's materials.

Emphasised is the importance of transparency and engagement with suppliers, customers, investors and regulators in setting targets, to help accelerate emissions reduction throughout the value chain.

Target-setting principles tailored to the specific considerations of the mining and metals sector are drawn from European, American, British, Canadian and Australian regulatory frameworks, as well from the United Nations' high level expert group on net zero emissions commitments of non-state entities.

Acknowledging the differences in commodities and value chains, the guidance provides mining and metals-specific context around commonly used approaches rather than endorsing a specific methodology.

A framework is provided for companies to enhance their targets as their capabilities mature over time.

Set out is leading practice across accounting and reporting, emissions 'hotspot' identification, business integration, decarbonisation pathway assessment, and organisational governance.

"As the discussions at COP28 have made clear, each sector bears the responsibility to understand its part in the broader system and extend beyond immediate boundaries to unearth solutions to stubborn sources of emissions," ICMM CEO Rohitesh Dhawan stated in a release to Mining Weekly.

As the base products in almost every industry - from renewable energy and sustainable transport, to construction and tech - metals and minerals are critical to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.

All mining and metals companies have been exhorted set their own Scope 3 emissions reduction targets.

"At Antofagasta, our commitment to addressing climate change permeates every aspect of our strategy and decision-making," Antofagasta CEO Iván Arriagada, who chairs ICMM and is member of member of the council's climate change advisory group.

Arriagada described the guidance as an important step in catalysing collaborative emissions-curbing efforts across the industry.

"Tackling Scope 3 emissions requires a distinct approach from operational emissions directly or indirectly generated at sites. Setting targets within mining and metal value chains is a complex process, demanding a shift from direct emissions management to collaborative and integrated engagement. This involves building strong relationships with suppliers and customers, even within intricate supply chains."

In 2021, ICMM members committed to achieve net zero Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 or sooner, in line with the Paris Agreement.

They also committed to report on Scope 3 emissions and set reduction targets by end-2023 or as soon as possible.

Significant progress has been made towards these commitments, and members remain focused on meeting their short and medium-term milestones.

This new target-setting guidance builds on the Scope 3 emissions accounting and reporting guidance published by ICMM in September, has been built on by South Africa's Johannesburg-listed Gold Fields in last month pledging to reduce its Scope 3 carbon emissions by a net 10% by 2030 off a 2022 baseline ...

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the green ammonia export MoU recently signed by Hive Hydrogen and Itochu; the latest developments at the Bakubung platinum mine, where an underground sit-in is being staged; and South Africans' duty to unshrink the mining industry.

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A Johannesburg-listed company, in strategic partnership with a Middle Eastern conglomerate, has secured one of the largest copper waste rock assets on surface in Zambia.

JSE AltX company Jubilee Metals, in partnership with International Resources Holding (IRH) of the United Arab Emirates, is to recover copper from the estimated 350-million tonnes of dumped material, which early preliminary surface sampling results indicate has zones with grades higher than 1.5% copper.

While IRH has undertaken to provide all capital required through a combination of equity and shareholder loans, Jubilee has been appointed to design, implement, and operate the mining and processing solution.

An affiliate of the large Abu Dhabi International Holding Company conglomerate, IRH was earlier this month selected as the preferred strategic equity partner for Zambia's Mopani Copper Mines, owner of the Mufulira slag dump project that has been awarded to Jubilee. It is taking steps to invest in critical metals and develop a new entity that encompasses the entire metals and mining supply chain.

Meanwhile, the technical services team of Jubilee, which is also quoted on the London AIM, has begun resource definition and process technical review with the aim of completing the project implementation detail within the next 60 days.

Processing by Jubilee's newly developed modular copper units aims to produce, from this historical waste rock dump, more than 20 000 t/y of copper at below $4 000/t of copper.

Overall project costs, taking in mining equipment and project infrastructure, are likely to be about $50-million.

Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of next year, with commissioning 12 months after commencement.

Jubilee has a binding funding term sheet with IRH to form a dedicated special purpose vehicle through which both the acquisition of the copper waste rock asset and implementation of the processing solution will be funded.

The transaction has catapulted the expansion of Jubilee into Zambia and will fast-track the implementation of its modular copper processing units in the country, with the potential to far exceed Jubilee's goal of reaching 25 000 t of copper a year.

The partnership combines Jubilee's technical and operational experience with IRH's strategic Zambia copper focus and financial support, Jubilee CEO Leon Coetzer stated in a release to Mining Weekly.

Its strategic significance is enhanced by the selection of IRH as the preferred strategic equity partner for Zambia's Mopani, Coetzer added.

Jubilee's copper processing modules help to rehabilitate environmentally unfriendly dumps that have accumulated over decades of copper mining in Zambia and this latest waste rock project will provide employment opportunities and strengthen the local economy in Zambia.

MUFULIRA SLAG PROJECT

Jubilee, which has developed metal extraction solutions from waste and overlooked materials, has already secured 300-million tonnes of copper and cobalt tailings in Zambia for upgrading and refining.

Its multi-project portfolio across South Africa and Zambia provides exposure to a commodity basket that includes platinum group metals (PGMs), chrome, copper and cobalt.

It processes up to 44 000 oz/y of PGMs in South Africa and recently countered the drop in the PGMs basket price by expanding chrome operations into higher-margin offtake agreements.

At Mopani's Mufulira, Jubilee is aiming to process about 13-million tonnes of slag, estimated to contain 89 000 t of copper and 44 000 t of cobalt, in addition to current slag arising from the ongoing Mopani facility in Mufulira.

The stated mission of the President of Zambia is to achieve three-million tonnes of copper output a year from Zambia and the project to recover copper from waste is seen as forming part of a greater waste recovery initiative in Zambia to help achieve that mission.

Jubilee's Project Roan upgrade includes t...

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Through its green ammonia export project in the Eastern Cape, the leadership of Hive Hydrogen South Africa intends to show how a just energy transition is possible, Hive Hydrogen chairperson Thulani Gcabashe highlighted at the signing ceremony of the $5.8-billion Coega development.

"We're already working with governments in all spheres, development funding institutions, and local businesses to ensure that the full potential of the project's impact on the development of the Gqeberha area is realised," said Gcabashe at a time when Hive Hydrogen is collaborating with Itochu Corporation of Japan to develop a least-cost green ammonia solution.

Hive Hydrogen and Itochu have signed a memorandum of co-operation in Gqeberha to advance green ammonia. The two companies share objectives regarding the use of green hydrogen and green ammonia in the fight against climate change.

Itochu is a potential strategic equity investor and offtaker from the gigascale green hydrogen project.

"We're also of the same mind about the importance of this investment to impact growth and development in South Africa," added Gcabashe, a former chairperson of Standard Bank and a former CEO of State electricity utility Eskom.

A conglomerate engaged in domestic and international trading and investment which has 90 offices in 61 countries, Itochu is active in textiles, machinery, mining and metals, energy, chemicals, food, general products, realty, information and communications technology, and finance.

For both Hive Energy of the UK and BuiltAfrica of South Africa, the Coega green ammonia export project is a leading project to contribute towards the decarbonisation of energy systems in their areas of operation.

BuiltAfrica, which was founded by Gcabashe in 2009 as an investment and development business focused on sectors that support sustainable development, spent its first ten years focused on developing renewable energy projects in South Africa, having successfully participated in the early rounds of renewable energy procurement under the South African government's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).

During this period two solar generation plants were built and are in operation. In addition to this, the BuiltAfrica Group was involved in energy efficiency projects aimed at lowering peak demand on the power system.

"The significance of the project can be measured in many different ways - the economic impact it will have on the city of Gqeberha as well as the Eastern Cape province, the jobs that will be created, the new skills it will bring, the impact on South Africa's balance of payments and so on. However, at this very point, where the Climate Conference COP 28 in Dubai is taking place, our attention is drawn to the climate change impacts of the proposed project," Gcabashe said.

Climate change is a gradual and long-term rise in the earth's average temperature as measured from pre-industrial time - the late nineteenth century.

The build-up of greenhouse gas, in particular carbon dioxide (CO2), as a result of human activity, has resulted in heat being trapped in the atmosphere.

As temperatures rise, weather patterns get disrupted - and extreme weather conditions are experienced increasingly.

"A very recent example of this is the heatwave experienced in most of SA making the month of November - the hottest ever recorded! We have also seen flooding in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, which have wrought much misery," Gcabashe outlined at the signing event covered by Mining Weekly.

Listing some of the most pertinent considerations about climate change that should occupy the minds of all policy makers as well as developers, he said: "We need to contain the rise in temperature to below 1.5 oC [above preindustrial levels] so that we can achieve net-zero by 2050. This will arrest further deterioration. However, in 2023 we are already at 1.1 oC and...