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South Africa is drafting a green hydrogen position statement for the upcoming twenty-seventh United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), which is scheduled to take place in Egypt from November 7 to 18.

Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) divisional executive for mining, metals, energy and infrastructure Reginald Demana revealed this in response to EY Parthenon Africa executive director Paul O’Flaherty during the Hydrogen Economy Discussion. The other participating panelists were European Investment Bank regional representation deputy head Nadege Hopman, Norfund investment manager Rivatshiny Mandavha, and International Finance Corporation (IFC) Climate Business market research officer Elizabeth Minchew.

Demana described the IDC as the leading government agency developing South Africa’s hydrogen commercialisation strategy and drew attention to the IDC’s Mahandra Rooplall, who was in the audience and who is presently developing the national hydrogen commercialisation strategy, key objectives of which are to secure global export market access, develop the domestic market to help to decarbonise the South African economy, and to secure long-term energy security.

With the macro strategy accepted by Cabinet, developing regulations and publishing projects as well as infrastructure requirements are seen as the next steps that need to be urgently taken.

“There are already a number of projects covering the entire country. We need to mobilise enough funding to fund the development of these projects and hopefully in a month or two, we should be coming up with a package.

“That will then allow people to openly start applying for funding but if you look at the pipeline of projects already there, it covers the full spectrum across the entire country,” said Demana.

“These are massive projects – the multi-billion-dollar Boegoebaai project, for the port, rail and renewable energy production plant and the Sasol project.

“If you look at the Hydrogen Valley, spearheaded by Anglo American from Mogalakwena platinum group metals (PGMs) mine, and then the logistics and mobility involving buses and long-distance trucks all the way to Durban, these are massive projects.

“What we’ve decided to do is pick some of the top 20 catalytic projects that cover different products, be it ammonia, aviation fuel, hydrogen itself, so that we can see what’s doable, what’s bankable,” Demana added.

Under way is a review of the policy and regulatory environment to ensure that the appropriate legal framework is adopted.

Existing frameworks are being reviewed to see whether they can be realigned to fit in hydrogen and under scrutiny are green ammonia, methanol, aviation fuel, green steel – in Saldanha Steel, for example – and mobility, particularly relating to trucking, busing, railing and shipping.

It is estimated that South Africa’s share of the export market could be in the region of six-million tonnes to ten-million tons of green hydrogen in 2050. Meanwhile, the German government is talking about possible offtake two to three times the market size originally contemplated to counter gas reduction.

“We see a lot of opportunities for South Africa. We have ports. Most of the projects that we are sponsoring are located around the coast. We can access that infrastructure and export to Germany, alongside the Namibians.

“Domestic demand is very interesting. Although it’s small and the development of the domestic market will lag export, it’s an important aspect for decarbonisation.” said Demana.

The likes of Sasol, Eskom and many other high emitters will not be able to decarbonise without the help of green hydrogen and projects, such as Anglo American’s nuGen truck, require that green hydrogen production is co-located on site.

“Those projects will run ahead of most others, maybe even ahead of export, so we’re supporting that,” said Demana during the discussion covered by Mining Weekly.

"The way we look at funding opportunities is across the value chain, from PGMs min...

Platinum group metals mining and marketing company Implats is planning to introduce 520 MW of renewable power as part of an ambition to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by 2030 and become carbon neutral in 2050.

The current carbon generation of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company is about 3.3-million tons of carbon a year, which it aims to reduce to 2.2-million tons, a saving of 1.1-million tons.

Of that, its aspiration is to reduce its carbon footprint in South Africa by 780 000 t and its carbon footprint in Zimbabwe by 280 000 t.

“The carbon is primarily generated through carbon-fueled energy consumption. When we project our total energy demand in 2030, it amounts to around 710 MW of power. To effect the saving, we have to install around 520 MW of renewable energy,” Implats CEO Nico Muller said in response to Mining Weekly.

That has been divided into different projects. In Zimbabwe, the group is aiming to produce 185 MW of renewable energy and Zimplats CEO Alex Mhembere is already executing Phase 1, which is 35 MW of solar photovoltaic power.

In Rustenburg, the aspiration is to generate 290 MW of renewable energy, 170 MW of it solar and 120 MW the subject of a wheeling arrangement.

“This also then provides us with an opportunity to collaborate with the local communities in order to get localisation off the ground in the North West province,” said Muller.

The 290 MW would, Muller said, be made up of several individual projects, typically aimed at supporting mine shafts that have lives sufficient to support a renewable energy project ­– or shafts close to smelters, so that power supply can be rerouted to smelters with the least effort in the event of shaft closure.

At the Marula mine, the generation of 30 MW of renewable energy is envisaged, also in the form of solar power.

At Springs, the aim is to receive 15 MW of renewable energy as part of a wheeling arrangement as Implats has insufficient property in Springs to erect a solar or wind project.

“All of these projects have been scheduled to culminate in 520 MW by 2030 but I do not have a conclusive answer in terms of the capital cost or the potential that will be generated by these projects, which are mostly in the study phase.

“As soon as we conclude the studies, we will start reporting back on expected financial returns and benefits.

“The only areas where we’ll probably be an owner-operator of the installations is probably in Zimbabwe. Generally, I think we’ll probably enter into an offtake agreement with an independent provider. Again, the outcome of the studies will determine the most efficient outcome, but that’s generally how I see it working,” Muller added.

Original-equipment manufacturer Sandvik on September 5 officially unveiled its 65-t-capacity zero-emission battery-electric truck, the Sandvik TH665B, at Electra Mining Africa in Johannesburg.

The group notes that this is the world’s largest-capacity battery-electric truck for underground mining.

It will enable miners to have a fleet of vehicles with zero emissions, enable a greater workload per tonne and engender better power on an incline.

Testing on the machine is under way and almost complete in Australia.

Speaking at the launch, Sandvik VP Jakob Rutqvist said Australia and Africa were likely to be the biggest markets for this machine.

He added that Africa was especially suited towards electrification, because diesel was relatively expensive in many countries on the continent and Africa was host to many hot, deep, ventilation-constrained mines, which made the battery electric vehicle (BEV) business case stronger.

Rutqvist explained that the truck, when in operation, generated about 85% less heat than a diesel truck, which helped considerably if the mine was ventilation-constrained.

He said Sandvik was at the forefront of electrification in the underground mining industry, poised to meet the needs of many companies’ commitments to net zero over the next several years.

He pointed out that in an average underground mine, 50% to 60% of emissions came from the mobile fleet, with considerable amounts from the primary haulage equipment; therefore, electrifying this made a big difference.

“Sandvik is very proud to be introducing the world’s largest underground truck and very happy to be doing that in Africa,” Rutqvist said.

He outlined that the truck would remove between 1 t and 2 t a day of carbon dioxide (CO2) when in operation; therefore, the impact would be “quite significant”.

In terms of the design principles for the truck, Rutqvist said Sandvik adhered to three main ones when developing the truck.

Firstly, it was aligned to its mandate of “rethinking the machine, not the mine”.

The group did not want to introduce technology that requires customers to redesign their operation and undertake considerable infrastructure investments. In this vein, Rutqvist said the truck could be very easily implemented at an existing operation and maintained with existing infrastructure.

Moreover, the machine boasts battery swapping technology. It does not require any big fixed infrastructure to turn on, nor would the operator need to exit the cabin to handle the battery. Rather, the battery swap is fully automated.

There is also a charging setup for this machine, which is 100% mobile and does not require extra ventilation on the mine, with existing capacity generally enough, Rutqvist explained.

In terms of the battery swapping technology, one battery is on the machine while it is in operation, while the other is charging, which Rutqvist said reduced the peak stress on the grid.

He outlined that, when the machine was doing very heavy work, on a steep ramp, it had about an hour and a half to two hours of runtime. Work on a level that does not require as much energy, would enable about two and half to three hours before requiring the battery to be swapped, which takes about five minutes.

The second design principle is that the truck needs to be fit for mining. The battery is rugged with safe chemistry, Rutqvist said, adding that the machine and battery had been designed to handle the terrain of mining operations.

The battery had also been specifically designed for mining and mining needs, Rutqvist said, rather than repurposing other battery technology. Moreover, both the machine and battery were designed with serviceability in mind, with easy accessibility, to allow these to be serviced on the mine.

The last design principle was to “expect more”, highlighted Rutqvist.

“We haven't compromised anything, we're not expecting customers to accept lower performance, just because you want to lower emissions,” he averred.

Therefore, he outlined that it...

Platinum remains significantly undervalued. That is the key takeaway from the 30-page Platinum Quarterly published by the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC).

“Why I say that platinum remains undervalued is that we've got a situation where the opportunities for platinum look good.

"Supply is expected to be down by 8% this year. We've had jewellery and industrial very strong, very robust under the circumstances, and automotive particularly strong,” WPIC research director Trevor Raymond told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

“If you look at the automotive demand, despite all the headwinds that we've seen in the global market regarding economic growth and inflation, we've got automotive demand higher than it was in 2019.

“That’s largely to do with loadings and some substitution for palladium, so you've got this very interesting supply-demand balance, yet we have a price that remains almost range-bound, and it looks pretty weak”, which Raymond attributed largely to metal that has flowed out of both exchange traded fund (ETF) holdings and exchange stocks, for different reasons.

Factors favouring platinum include:

platinum lease rates remaining at almost record highs, pointing to a tight physical market;

total supply forecast being down 8% in 2022;

recycled supply being 20% down year-on-year;

a second-quarter surge pointing to China repeating last year’s importation of an extra 1.2-million ounces above identified demand;

Europe’s replacing 20-billion cubic meters of natural gas with green hydrogen;

new US legislation lifting demand for green hydrogen;

both European and US decisions being ideal for platinum-based electrolysers, which adapt better to solar and wind change; and

automakers still unlikely to meet demand, despite it being lower on rising inflation and declining economic growth.

Mining Weekly: High platinum lease rates have persisted throughout 2022. What does that indicate?

Raymond: That's the rub. You’ve got this unusual situation. When we spoke in May, we were forecasting a surplus for 2022 of about 627 000 oz. In today's report, we're forecasting a surplus of nearly a million ounces, 974 000 oz. Yet we've got a lease rate in the market that is ridiculously high. We know that when there's unavailability of platinum in the spot market, more people are forced to lease metal and that puts pressure on the lease rates and in May this year, we saw the lease rate higher than it was even at the peak of the pandemic, when understandably, it was very difficult to get metal. So, we've got this very high lease rate and then a sustained rate, which is still about 4%. That might not sound like a lot, but for the ten, 12 years before Covid, that rate sat at about 0.1% to 0.5% in the market. Obviously, financing costs would be added to that between counterparties but you've got a rate that is four or five times what the historic norm is. The real reason for that is that there's been huge imports of platinum into China. Last year, we saw that China imported an extra 1.2-million ounces above their identified demand. If we project the quarter-two surge, it looks like the same thing will happen, and that will almost entirely absorb the surplus that we're publishing, so it is a bit of a paradox in that you've got an indication that there's tightness in the market, extreme tightness, yet we’re publishing a surplus and I think what it is, is part of that metal going into China certainly is of a speculative nature. People that understand this market, see the point I raised in your first question, the fact that platinum is undervalued. They’re prepare to increase the stock holdings, but we also do believe a lot of that metal is being used either in industrial applications, or certainly in higher loadings on heavy duty trucks, so I think that lease rate does tell a lot about what's currently going on in the market.

To what extent are constrained mine and recycled supply adding to platinum suppl...

In what is a major boost for platinum group metals (PGMs), a new trade and technology centre dedicated to the growth of the PGMs market is being established in China, already the single largest consumer of PGMs, accounting for more than 25% of total demand.

Anglo American, Honeywell and the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) were among close to 70 organisations that signed strategic cooperation agreements with the Lin-Gang Group and other related parties in support of the Platinum and Precious Metals Centre or PPMC, which is being established in the Lin-Gang Special Area of Shanghai. The Lin-Gang Group is a state-owned developer of industrial parks.

PPMC is made up of a PGM research institute, venture capital fund, industrial park and offshore trading market, which will be developed in sequence to support new PGM applications and to grow an industrial cluster.

As part of its commitment to PPMC, WPIC will move its Asia Pacific headquarters to the Lin-Gang Special Area, where, from 2023, the annual Shanghai Platinum Week which it co-sponsors, will take place in the Lin-Gang Special Area. WPIC will also join the proposed PGMs research institute as a founding member and participate in a joint venture to oversee the development of the industrial park.

Commenting on WPIC’s involvement, WPIC CEO Paul Wilson described PGMs as remarkable metals with exceptional physical and chemical properties which are used in applications that improve the world on a daily basis.

“In particular, PGMs are at the forefront of technologies that are helping humankind to tackle climate change, and their use benefits us all,” Wilson stated.

Platinum, along with other PGMs, plays a critical role in proton-exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers, which generate green hydrogen from water, and PEM fuel cells, which power fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), that are emission-free, Mining Weekly can report.

Green hydrogen and FCEVs have received strong support from the government of China, amid its commitment to carbon neutrality by 2060.

Several enterprises from the fields of law, logistics, financing and insurance among others have agreed to set up the Lin-Gang Trade Cross-border Communication group to provide support services to international traders, including those involved in the PGMs supply chain.

Looking forward, more PGMs are expected to be imported and traded for use in technological applications as a result the establishment of the PPMC in the Lin-Gang Special Area. These include green hydrogen production, fuel cell electric vehicles, bio-pharmaceutical end-uses and environmental protection - all sectors that are critical to achieving China's economic and net-zero goals.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer unpacks African Rainbow Minerals's pledge to combat climate change; Implats's committent of R4.3-billion for the next five years towards energy security and decarbonisation; and DRDGold’s broad-based livelihoods initiative, which has had more than 8 000 participants.

Diversified mining company African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) on Thursday paid higher dividends, reiterated its full commitment to climate change mitigation, and outlined the start of its intended shift towards the implementation of renewable energy.

In affirming the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company’s alignment to climate change mitigation and meeting the challenges confronting the environment and humankind, ARM executive chairperson Dr Patrice Motsepe told the presentation covered by Mining Weekly: “As a company, we’re committed to combating climate change.” (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

ARM is a member of the International Council of Metals and Minerals (ICMM), which Motsepe highlighted as an outstanding association of the world’s largest mining companies with world-class commitments to environmental protection and climate change mitigation – “and we’re very happy with the progress that’s being made there”, Motsepe added after declaring a final dividend of R20 a share to bring the total financial year (FY) 2022 dividend to R32 a share, up on the R30 share of FY2021. The amount to be paid is R4 493-million.

“We’re committed to paying dividends while pursuing quality growth and maintaining a robust financial position,” Motsepe added.

Following a significant increase in operating profits at the ARM Coal operations amid cash generated from operations rising by R706-million to R8 508-million, ARM Coal loans owing to Glencore Operations South Africa have been fully settled, with Motsepe describing ARM’s transitioning out of coal as being “part of the responsible and really focused transition to clean energy . to make the world a better place”. Significantly higher export coal prices drove a R1 178-million increase in ARM Coal headline earnings to R928-million, compared with a R250-million headline loss in FY2021.

ARM CEO Mike Schmidt told the presentation that ARM’s commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters were aligned with the principles as set out by ICMM.

“In terms of climate change, ARM aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. We are currently busy with a number of initiatives and introducing various pathways to deliver on these commitments,” Schmidt added.

In response to Mining Weekly’s question relating to ARM Platinum signing an agreement for the supply of 100 MW of solar energy, ARM Platinum CE Thando Mkatshana said the 100 MW would address 33% of the division’s total electricity consumption in the next three years.

“We are also considering further upgrades in terms of other options to look at reducing our power supply from Eskom to renewables,” said Mkatshana.

ARM Ferrous CE André Joubert added: “In our operations in the Northern Cape, we’re well advanced with a feasibility study in terms of also supplying our mines with solar power and collectively we’re looking at just over 80 MW.”

Environmental impact assessments are underway to open the way for the building of the solar plant.

“Ours will be slightly different. They will be what we call ‘behind the meter’ installations because currently the Eskom distribution network in the Northern Cape doesn’t have capacity to yield power at the moment, but we’re making very good progress in that regard,” said Joubert.

Schmidt said a big component was reducing ARM’s dependency on diesel. “Over the next five or seven years, we will look at alternative trucking methods, because of the prohibitive cost of diesel and also from a carcinogenic point of view.”

In that regard, battery electric frontend loaders and battery electric haul trucks had already been deployed at the group’s Black Rock mine in the Northern Cape’s Kalahari manganese field.

“We’ve got three of each of those already deployed underground and we’re testing them to see how efficient they are, and they are going to save diesel and also the heat that diesel trucks generate underground, which ultimately then would require less ventilation and through that more energy savings as...

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.”

Platinum group metals (PGM) company Implats, which generated free cash flow of R28.8-billion in the 12 months to June 30, said on Thursday that it had allocated R4.3-billion over the next five years to energy security and decarbonisation.

Gross profit totalled R41.3-billion at a gross margin of 35% with earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of R53.4bn at an Ebitda margin of 45%.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company, headed by CEO Nico Muller, declared a final dividend of 1 050 c a share, bringing the total dividend for the 2022 financial year to 1 575c a share.

The company closed the period debt free and with net cash of R26.5-billion excluding leases.

A suite of organic growth projects have been advanced and value-accretive acquisitive growth pursued amid rising input costs, constrained supply chains and labour market tightness particularly in Canada, the impacts of which were compounded by extended safety stoppages, intermittent power supply and periods of community unrest.

Implats is committed to a five-year, R50-billion capital investment programme to extend life-of-mine development at several of its operations, increase beneficiation capacity, strengthen energy security and ensure the group meets its decarbonisation targets.

Of this capital investment, R9-billion is earmarked to expand its South African and Zimbabwean smelting and refining facilities.

In addition, around R8-billion will be invested across managed and joint venture South African mining operations over the next few years to extend life-of-mine at producing mines, secure meaningful employment and entrench South Africa’s status as a stable and sustainable global PGM producer, to support enduring benefits for all stakeholders.

Added to several other life-of-mine extension projects at the Impala Rustenburg operation, Implats is confident of sustaining and growing total refined six element (6E) PGM supply from its southern African assets over the next decade.

Projects under study and in implementation at integrated processing assets will benefit the Southern African region’s production, reduce the group’s processing environmental footprint, and directly increase local beneficiation, positioning the region more competitively as a global mine-to-market PGM producer.

Regarding the R4.3-billion allocated to ensure each operation has renewable energy in the mix to meet decarbonisation targets and strengthen energy security, Impala Canada is already 95% powered by renewable hydropower (5% natural gas), and Zimplats’ energy mix is 50:50 thermal to renewable hydropower.

Zimplats has obtained a 185 MW power generation license, with the first phase of a solar photovoltaic (PV) project (35 MW, $37-million in progress. This is the first large-scale project towards meeting the short-term (2030) decarbonisation target of a 30% reduction against the 2019 baseline, and it supports Implats’ stated ambition of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

In addition, several studies are underway — 33 MW of solar PV generation is at feasibility stage at Marula, and pre-feasibility studies were completed at Impala Rustenburg and Impala Refineries — to establish additional renewable energy capacity of around 300 MW by 2030, with additional capacity possible. These studies are conducted in parallel to Implats’ programme to purchase electricity from independent power producers.

PROPOSED RBPLAT ACQUISITION

In November 2021, the proposed acquisition of Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) was launched, a transaction with the potential to transform the outlook of its key Western Limb assets at Impala Rustenburg, while ensuring long-term sustainable PGM production and continued economic benefits for the greater Rustenburg area and its communities.

Implats is pursuing the conclusion of the offer process associated with its proposed acquisition of RBPlat, with a key focus on securing outstanding regulatory approval from the Competition Tribunal.

Near-term oper...

–The livelihoods initiative introduced by surface gold mining company DRDGold has to date attracted more than 8 000 direct participants at a time when boosting jobs and livelihoods in South Africa has never been more important

The broad-based livelihoods (BBL) programme of the Johannesburg- and New York-listed company headed by CEO Niël Pretorius has been directed at communities on the East Rand and Far West Rand where DRDGold recovers gold from mine waste dumps.

More than 780 households are already able to earn a minimum of R10 000 a year from growing food.

“The answer to South Africa's poverty issues lies in developing the informal economy, and that's where 100% of our focus lies,” Pretorius told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Younger people are scripting their own lives, with more than 180 MyFuture learning sessions delivered in the 12 months to June 30.

The focus of the BBL urban farming programme is to be able to grow food for a family of four on a piece of land the size of the door, and to do it sustainably going forward.

The next step from there is a slightly bigger tunnel, or shade cloth shaped in the form of a tunnel – a hydroponic tunnel.

Eventually, it can also become a business, which has happened in quite a number of cases.

The slightly different MyFuture programme that goes beyond agriculture in outlining economic opportunities within the communities themselves and attracts younger people.

MyFuture participants also then go into agriculture, or pursue MyBusiness, which is more micro-business focused and teaches budgeting, money management and market analysis. Then there is MyLivestock, which has two components, one being rural, which mine employees from rural areas can take back home, and the other being urban and involving yard chickens and eggs and other livestock aspects.

Mining Weekly: Why is it important to integrate the environmental, social and governance aspects of in the ESG thrust?

Pretorius: It's essential. If you don't do that, your ESG is going to be an ESG parade. It's like marching through town and then afterwards, when people start losing interest, they move on to the next big thing. It will just disappear. We knew that sustainability and sustainable development was core to business success because we were doing business in close contact with communities and the environmental impacts would be felt by those communities, and unless they were dealt with properly, it was going to bring a premature end to our business. But because of where we are from – and remember not many years ago our market cap was less than the transfer fee of a good soccer player in the European league – we had to develop sustainability on a shoestring. We didn't have the funds to go and build independent silo initiatives.

We simply had to do it on an integrated basis also because of the size of our footprint, and this is maybe more where the social development aspect came in, we were convinced, and we still are, that unless you improve the quality of life, or assist in improving the quality of life, of people in your areas of influence, then you're going to have a disgruntled and unhappy community, within which you need to operate the business – and remember, we're right in the middle of Johannesburg. But we couldn't build schools and infrastructure, hospitals and so forth. The only thing that we could do really was bring knowledge. So here's the knowledge, here's a bit of incentive, maybe a little bit of seed capital, but ultimately success depends on yourself.

On the environmental side, we knew that because of the size and the scale, if we didn't include the environment into our business plan, if it didn't become integrated as part of the business, it was going to become unaffordable. On the water side, for example, our grey water is more abundant, so better security of supply, but it's also cheaper. The same is now also going to apply in terms of the solar power that we inten...