MiningWeekly.com Audio Articles

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the American-Australian business partnership that was recently announced, which focuses on a global green hydrogen ecosystem; the global attention that Copper 360’s mining school is getting; and the focus on the integration of mining with the circular economy.

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist.

Building out and scaling up a global green hydrogen ecosystem collaboratively is at the heart of an American-Australian business partnership announced this week, amid 30-plus countries already having hydrogen strategies in place that focus on the deployment of green hydrogen to achieve net-zero climate-mitigation goals.

Plug of the US, headed by Andy Marsh, and Fortescue Energy of Australia, headed by Mark Hutchinson, outlined to 3 000 virtual attendees their common mission of spreading green hydrogen across the world, while at the same time fighting climate change by slashing carbon emissions, cleaning up industry, electrifying vehicles, powering commercial and residential buildings, and generating a substantial number of sustainable jobs. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

"This is a big market opportunity. It's really a focus of Plug every day to make hydrogen an ubiquitous fuel, and that's why I get so excited when we partner with companies like Fortescue. We have a similar vision and know we have to make hydrogen easy," Marsh told the company's fifth annual symposium, which was covered by Mining Weekly.

Great news for South Africa is that the 550 MW electrolyser that Plug will supply to Fortescue's Gibson Island Project in Brisbane is a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser. This is because PEM electrolysers are platinum-based and South Africa hosts the world's largest resource of platinum group metals.

Fortescue's final investment decision on that project is expected to be taken by the end of December. Once operational, the plant will produce 385 000 t/y of green ammonia from the green hydrogen produced onsite through the hydrogen electrolysis facility.

In addition, Plug and Fortescue have started the initial diligence process for Fortescue to take up to a 40% equity stake in Plug's Texas hydrogen plant and for Plug to take up to a 25% equity stake in Fortescue's proposed Phoenix hydrogen plant.

Meanwhile, across North America and Europe, Plug has deployed more than 60 000 fuel cells and 180-plus fuelling stations and plans to build and operate a green hydrogen highway.

Fuel cells, which go hand-in-glove with platinum-based green hydrogen electrolysers, contain platinum catalysts that convert the green hydrogen into clean electricity for mobile and stationary use.

PEM electrolysers were first developed during the 1950s for the space programme and have transitioned to the mainstream as the case for green hydrogen has strengthened, driven by the need to find solutions to combat climate change. The improving business case for green hydrogen is based on growing renewable generation capacity, falling renewable electricity costs, and PEM's innovative advance.

"Gibson Island's one of our first projects. Eventually we want to work on how do you replace the LNG market globally. That's like the Holy Grail in our view.

"Just think about the last 12 months, how governments around the world have really accelerated this industry. We're very much at the starting gate of this industry, we've got a long way to go, but there's plenty to do for everybody," said Hutchinson.

Bloomberg estimates that 20% of world energy will come from hydrogen by 2050. By 2030, Europe will be using 10-million tons of domestically produced hydrogen a year and will also be importing another 10-million tons of hydrogen. Europe has made it clear that 42% of this hydrogen must be green hydrogen. The US will be generating 10-million tons of its own hydrogen.

"When we do a back-of-the-envelope calculation, just for our electrolyser business, just for Europe, just for the United States, it's a $40-billion opportunity between now and 2030, just for one small segment of our business.

"So, yes, hydrogen's going to be big, and we've been building it out. We've been building infrastructure for the last 15 years, and what I've learnt over those 15 years is that when you're in ...

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist.

The technical team of the JSE AltX- and Aim-listed Jubilee Metals Group is innovating a waste leach circuit for the treatment of copper and cobalt tailings, as part of its Northern Refining copper strategy in Zambia.

The development phase has commenced with upscaled continuous pilot runs to confirm the "encouraging" results achieved to date, which was how Jubilee described them in an October 11 release to Mining Weekly, which coincided with the company's publication of audited results for the 12 months to June 30 and an integrated annual report.

An investment programme has been implemented to diversify and expand chrome, platinum group metal (PGM), copper and cobalt operations.

In the 12 months to June 30, record production was achieved across Jubilee's PGM, chrome and copper operations with 42 433 oz of guidance-exceeding PGMs up 2% year-on-year, 1 289 890 t of chrome concentrate tonnes up 7%, and 2 923 t of copper tonnes up 29%.

In South Africa, its expanded processing of PGM tailings and ores previously regarded as waste has a production capacity of 44 000 oz of PGMs a year, and in Zambia, some 300-million tonnes of copper and cobalt tailings have been secured for upgrading and refining.

Back-up power units installed at chrome facilities in electricity-short South Africa ensured continuous operations and advancements were achieved in Zambia through the formulation of process flow sheets for the treatment of mixed and transitional copper reefs as part of a 14 000 t/y Southern copper strategy.

At the new Roan concentrator in Zambia, water and power infrastructure development has been provided.

"We've demonstrated our ability to navigate through some challenging infrastructure conditions," stated CEO Leon Coetzer, who pointed out that the drop in the PGMs basket price had been countered by expanding chrome operations into higher-margin offtake agreements.

Cash from operating activities, supported by increased contribution from operational expansions, totalled $37-million, down on 2022 financial year's $42-million. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation were $29.8-million, down on the $48.9-million of the previous corresponding period. Gross profit fell to $38-million from $60-million prior.

Going forward, new processing partnerships in South Africa are expected to enhance margins and growth is on the cards in Zambia.

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist.

Copper 360's mining school in the Northern Cape is attracting attention from international mining schools and global agencies wanting to partner with it.

"We've received a lot of requests," Copper 360 executive director: human capital development Quinton Adams told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

JSE AltX-listed Copper 360, headed by CEO Jan Nelson and chaired by Shirley Hayes, is intent on not only catering for the skills needed for its own mining and processing but also the needs of the Namaqualand area, where there are close to half a dozen mines.

In addition, a strategic partnership with Sol Plaatje University of Kimberley is envisaged, talks have begun with the Camborne School of Mining of the UK, a mining school in Poland made contact last week, and requests are being received from African countries regarding involvement with what will serve as an incubation centre for mining-related skills, amid the wave of mining growth sweeping through the Northern Cape.

Facilitators training the 30 students are working according to the Vygotsky theories of zone of proximal development to 'scaffold' these students towards the required levels of skill.

"What I like most about these facilitators - and they are stunning, and very dynamic - are their personal stories, their own journeys that they are sharing with the students, to broaden their perspectives and horizons," said Adams.

The students are learning about mining in a mining environment. When they open their doors after receiving theoretical instruction, they see that theory being carried out in practice.

"It is theory combined with practical. We take them from the bottom and we move them up," said Adams.

The three non-accredited courses that have been offered thus far are on basic geology and sampling and the development of ore reserve technicians. Simultaneously, future jobs that will be done at the copper operation are being mapped.

The flotation plant being built requires a higher level of skills, for which non-accredited courses are being developed.

"We want to be the leading mining school in the Northern Cape and to build partnerships with Sol Plaatje University, other mines, and, very importantly, the education department so that young people who are living in the area can become part of mining development," said Adams.

To what extent will students obtain modern exposure to exploration, resource development, copper mining and copper beneficiation?

The 'scaffolding' approach is being used as a core fundamental principle. We start at the bottom and we 'scaffold' students through all these different programmes. The last programme will be introduction into mining law, drone technology and surveying. After that, we'll start to focus next year on underground geology. A very interesting aspect is the digital skills that students are lacking. Before we can talk about artificial intelligence and mine optimisation, we first have to start at the bottom and that's why we are working with the schools because robotics and artificial intelligence need to start at an early age and that is the long-term plan to take students from the bottom and develop them to where they can understand and partake in beneficiation and exploration techniques.

More than 200 curriculum vitae were received for the initial 30 places, which is an indication of the eagerness of the people of the area to be trained.

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist.

Circularity is already practised at many mine sites, which use circular principles to reduce waste and conserve water.

But to achieve full circularity for products - from production to consumption to reuse - requires collaboration between designers, policymakers and industry, the FT Mining Summit heard this week. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

As the circular economy grows in importance, many miners are also starting to look more closely at recycling operations, it was stated during a panel discussion covered by Mining Weekly.

Financial Times commodities correspondent Harry Dempsey, who moderated, referred to the apparent exponential rise of recycling and the circular economy as demand for critical minerals rises for the global energy transition.

Panel participants were Glencore global recycling head Kunal Sinha, Norsk Hydro EVP corporate development Trond Olaf Christophersen, International Copper Association material stewardship global director Louise Assem, and Circular CEO Douglas Johnson-Poensgen.

Cross-portfolio upcoming demand for critical minerals is roughly calculated to be six times greater than current supply, pointing to the need for as much responsible mining production as possible between now and 2050.

"Even if you ramp up all the responsible production you can between now and 2050, we think there's still a gap. It's hard to quantify, but there's still a gap. So, how you meet that gap is through what we would like to think of as responsible consumption, which essentially your circular economy," said Sinha.

"The circular economy is not just recycling. It's product life extension, repair, reuse, all of that, and the very last step is recycling, so it's not a competition with primary mining because you need as much mining as you can responsibly do, but you also need to consume more responsibly and have a circular ecosystem.

"Every mining company is different. Your portfolio is different. I can only speak for Glencore. From my point of view, our vantage point comes down to three things from our portfolio. Once is assets. We have two types of assets. We have assets that have been recycling for a long time. These are very complex metallurgical assets, so what you can do is operate at a massive scale where you blend both the primary feeds and the recycled feeds, very difficult to process materials," said Sinha, who added that Glencore also has other built assets that can be repurposed, exemplified by lead refinery outside London, parts of which are being repurposed for electronics recycling and potentially also battery recycling.

"So, instead of building greenfield, you can pivot and use these existing assets to do it much faster," Sinha noted.

Then there is risk management: "From our experience to do recycling properly, the risk is very high. To manage that risk, you need the same skills as commodity trading because you're not sitting on a deposit of copper and know exactly what it is in there and you're mining it and you have a plan. You have to buy this feed across hundreds of suppliers. You don't really know what you're getting, so you have all kinds of risks in terms of financial risk, counter-party risk, a lot of these risks, which is the same as in commodity trading, so our trading DNA helps with the recycling.

"In a world where you have a lot of primary production into the energy transition, as we have, and a history of recycling, you can easily combine those two to close the loop," added Sinha.

ALUMINIUM

When it comes to aluminium, Christophersen reported that the circular economy is already in place, with roughly one third of the total aluminum metal supply being recycled material.

In more mature markets such as in Europe and the US, 40% to 45% of the total metal production is based on aluminium scrap.

"A significant share of the total metal supply is secondary aluminium and part of the circular economy," Christopher...

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist.

If the 5 066 outstanding mining and exploration permits were approved, South Africa could begin to see a shift in the economy within 12 to 18 months, new Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane told this week's Joburg Indaba.

In response to questions put to him by ENSafrica COO Otsile Matlou during a panel discussion on reviving South Africa's shrinking mining industry, Mthenjane highlighted the importance of the implementation of a solid economic plan for the overall benefit of South Africa and its people. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Expressing both the unhappiness of the South African mining sector as well as its hope, Mthenjane said: "We are unhappy about the state of the nation. We are unhappy about the conditions under which we operate, and, as an industry, we receive a lot of demands from various directions.

"But that unhappiness is coupled with hope because if you look at the suggestions coming through and the actions that are being taken, it's not just whinging and sitting back, but it's actually doing something about it," Mthenjane said, citing participation in the National Electricity Crisis Committee and the National Logistics Crisis Committee initiatives as indications that the mining industry has not given up, despite the challenges.

"But I think it is important that we express ourselves in really normal terms about unhappiness, in terms of the state of the economy. That's our agenda as an industry in so far as engaging with society is concerned," he explained.

Regarding the need for well-functioning infrastructure, he recounted South Africa's witnessing of high demand for its mined materials during demand upcycles.

"We've seen how the mining industry goes into a boom when China is hungry for materials. Well, infrastructure provision is something we've got to do for ourselves, as an Africa continent and as South Africa, in terms of our economic plan.

"It's not infrastructure for its own sake, it's infrastructure because we need it. We need the roads and railways, and we need to encourage more in terms of the green transition such as fuel cell electric vehicles that are going to have an impact on platinum group metals demand.

"The whole green transition is going to have a huge drive for our own mining but also for the rest of the African continent.

BUSINESS, GOVERNMENT ALIGNMENT

Mthenjane emphasised the importance of initial overall economic alignment between business and government, and then, within that, the provision of "a very special and specific location for mining", to facilitate South Africa's short-term economic advancement.

"I'd like to call it a low-hanging fruit and easy pickings, because within 12 to 18 months, you could begin to see the shift in the economy if we had an approval of the outstanding 5 066 mining and exploration permits," he stated during the panel discussion covered by Mining Weekly.

A summary of Fraser Institute issues was also provided. "We did quite an in-depth assessment of the most recent report of the Fraser Institute for our members and key takeaways for me are that the 15 elements of the Fraser Institute cut across environment, social and governance, as well as economic issues.

"Secondly, the 15 elements are rated in such a way that participants will rate an issue as either encouraging investment or deterring investment. What's interesting is, of the 15 elements, the top nine are the most critical issues that we must solve - security and infrastructure, amongst others.

"Interestingly, the issue of a geological database and the cadastre system comes in the bottom half, so it's not a major issue and solving that is not going to solve all the problems in terms of what we need to do to encourage mining.

"But the most important ones are administration, interpretation and enforcement to remove uncertainty. An exploration company has a budget that has to take care of administrat...

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses Anglo American CEO's belief that South Africa still has untapped potential that it is under-explored. What did he have to say about exploration; Jane Goodall's warning that a business-as-usual approach to conservation will doom the planet; and Southern Palladium’s submission of a mining right application for its 70%-owned Bengwenyama PGMs project.

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist.

South Africa, with its incredible mineral's endowment and extraordinary untapped potential, is definitely under-explored, Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad said in response to questions after virtually presenting on day-two of the Joburg Indaba.

Wanblad was responding to a question posed by Joburg Indaba chairperson Bernard Swanepoel on what the London- and Johannesburg-listed Anglo can do to revive exploration in South Africa. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

"Anglo, as many of our majors, have abandoned exploration in South Africa. I'll point a finger and say all our major mining companies have used the opportunity to internationalise, to go to other jurisdictions, perfectly legitimately. Have you contributed as Anglo to the fact that there has been zero exploration in South Africa, and I'm overstating, in the last 20 years?

"Are you part of the problem and what can an Anglo do to revive exploration in South Africa?"

Wanblad conceded that statistics show that not a lot of exploration has been done in South Africa and that Anglo had not prioritised exploration in South Africa for a while, not because of South Africa as such but because of prioritisation of areas most prospective for commodities being sought.

"We also have to structurally look at the way the system is set up for exploration in South Africa. It doesn't feel to me that exploration in South Africa is in any way incentivised, so I'm not sure that any one company is to blame for the current situation.

"But perhaps more systemically, if we wanted exploration to occur and ultimately be able to exploit the resource base that was there, South Africa would have to set up an environment that was more accommodative of investment into exploration, which is a multi-year investment.

"It takes an extraordinary long time and a lot of money to get to the point of understanding the security of the resources you would have, what the level of ownership is of the resource, and I think these are things that would need to be solved," said Wanblad.

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist.

World-renowned conservationist Jane Goodall reminded hundreds of scientists present at the twelfth Oppenheimer Research Conference in Midrand that if the world carries on with a business-as-usual approach to conservation, the planet is doomed.

"Forests, wetlands, peatlands, grasslands, all of which store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, are being destroyed, and habitats lost or fragmented," Goodall told the conference covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

"Humanity is standing at the precipice. Given the crisis of climate change as well as the loss of biodiversity and escalating pollution, our environment is being destroyed and this threatens the sustainability of our planet," International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor commented.

Oppenheimer Generations chairperson and former De Beers and Anglo American mining luminary Nicky Oppenheimer emphasised the need for a new way forward to be found amid these sobering clarion calls.

It would appear from this year's G20 meeting that the world is going to see beyond $80-billion made available for responses to climate change.

"So, we're coming close to that $100-billion target, yet it's not a sufficient response to what we need to do. All our ambitious targets will be meaningless if they're not backed with enabling means of implementation, particularly for developing countries and more especially for mega-diverse developing countries such as ours," said Pandor.

Strong pleas were made for the world to take on the global climate crisis in tandem with science.

"Progress is being made in many countries but we can't afford to be complacent. We need to do much more. We need to collaborate and form partnerships so that together we can be even more effective in creating positive change," added Goodall.

"Despite the huge amounts of money being thrown into conservation, the relationship between humankind and nature, in my view, is broken and my hope is out of this conference will come the beginning of a new answer," said Oppenheimer.

Pandor spoke of the South African government confronting the policy questions related to the conservation domain.

"We're working hard at finalising the Draft White Paper on the conservation and sustainable use of South Africa's biodiversity. We're very worried that our biodiversity is threatened not just by climate change but by habitat loss, invasive alien species, over-harvesting and illegal harvesting.

"We must take action that will secure ecological sustainability into the future and promote justifiable economic and social development to reduce poverty, inequality and unemployment, particularly for our rural communities," said Pandor.

Over the dozen years of the conference, there has been a clear nexus between community development, sustainable responses, and action on research in the conservation area.

"As we address matters of sustainability, if we can find a way of addressing these triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment simultaneously, it will be a significant contribution to world development," said Pandor.

The Draft White Paper, she added, emphasised the need for targeted research to address knowledge gaps and rapid biodiversity assessments.

"The White Paper gives emphasis to the importance of research and partnerships that highlight the value of indigenous and traditional knowledge and practices, providing localized solutions to biodiversity conservation.

"I'm really thrilled that the White Paper has recognised that science should inform policy and I think this is a very important inclusion," said the former Science and Technology Minister.

South Africa's foreign policy approach at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and as a signatory of ensuing Multilateral Environment Agreements is that solutions to share the challenges should be collective, based on equity and involve the best av...

This audio is brought to you by Wearcheck, your condition monitoring specialist.

The past year has seen a regression in performance and shareholder returns for South Africa mining companies, professional services firm PwC South Africa's '2023 SA Mine: Adapt to thrive' report states.

This fall off from record levels experienced since the post-Covid-19 economic rebound is owing to several changes across the industry, including productivity and infrastructure constraints, decreases in the prices of certain minerals and increases in input costs.

"The amalgamation of these factors has resulted in a decrease in profits and operating cash flows experienced by South African mining companies. However, strong balance sheets have enabled miners to increase investment into operations and pay dividends," PwC Africa Energy, Utilities and Resources leader Andries Rossouw says.

Revenue in rand terms decreased by 5% between June 2022 and June this year.

Platinum group metals (PGMs) continued to be the biggest contributor to the total industry revenue, followed by coal. PGMs revenue decreased by 33%, followed by iron-ore, which decreased by 22% and coal by 12%. Chrome experienced a good year with a 38% increase in revenue.

The results of PGM producers have been adversely impacted on by feed and yield problems, as well as the fact that PGM prices are under pressure.

The South African mining industry failed to maintain production levels from the previous year as the government searched for a solution to the country's persistent power shortages. Year-on-year, overall production dropped by 5.4%.

Total market capitalisation decreased to R1.09-billion from R1.31-billion as at June 30, 2022. This was mainly attributable to the decrease in market capitalisation of companies within the coal and PGM sectors.

Outlining the results of the report in a virtual briefing on October 3, Rossouw averred that the weak rand provided bolstered revenue for mining companies, adding that, without this, the challenges facing the industry would have resulted in mining companies being in severe strife.

However, he pointed out that the weak rand did negatively affect input costs of key chemicals, materials and equipment required for operations.

Operating expenses, excluding metal purchases, increased by 11%, reflecting the above-inflation increases in energy costs (electricity and fuel), as well as chemicals and labour costs.

As plans and executions towards net zero unfold, PwC South Africa Energy, Utilities and Resources partner Vuyiswa Khutlang pointed out that there was concern by certain mining companies about the viability and sustainability of their operations.

However, she noted that, for South Africa, the opportunities could be found in the greater emphasis on securing critical minerals for global decarbonisation efforts.

"Southern Africa has some of the critical metals needed, and it is important for the region to look at opportunities and take advantage of them. To take advantage of these opportunities will require significant cooperation between public and private stakeholders," she emphasised.

The report shows that the global economy's pursuit of carbon neutrality hinges on specific minerals such as copper, PGMs, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earths.

The rising demand for these 'Big Six' energy metals poses a supply challenge on a global scale. To mitigate this risk, increasing the production of critical energy metals in Southern Africa can enhance global supply diversity, while growing the local and regional economy, PwC said.

Rossouw added that beneficiation held opportunities for the country, with the value to be derived from this considerably higher than that of only mining the input materials used in the production of finished products.

However, he pointed out that this was also challenging, as it required electricity and the requisite skills.

Therefore, this also required partnerships to unlock the value, he noted.

Other important points from the re...