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The reverse listing of Big Tree Copper into SHiP Copper Company on the AltX of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in October is expected to raise between R60-million to R250-million for the ramping up of combined production to 10 000 t of copper a year in the next three years.

SHiP, run by Shirley Hayes, is effectively taking over Big Tree Copper, run by Jan Nelson, resulting in SHiP continuing to operate and develop copper mines and Big Tree Copper continuing to recover copper from hard-rock copper dumps and produce copper plate, with all assets Northern Cape-based

Big Tree Copper has 15- to 20-year life just on the material being processed at current production rates. In addition, it is looking at developing the Carolusberg tailings dam, which has got about 40 000 t of recoverable copper in it that was mined in the old days by Newmont.

“We want to build a company in the next three years to produce 10 000 t of copper per annum. That will that will see us having at least two operations that will be treating or producing copper from oxides and we want to have at least the Rietberg and the Jubilee open pit going so that we’ll be producing copper from those two mines as well. If we can achieve that, it will be a very good outcome for us, our shareholders and also for the communities in the area,” Nelson told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Big Tree Cooper produces and exports one meter by one meter copper plate that is 6 cm thick. Each plate weighs about 38 kg per plate and contains 99.89% copper in an area where the copper is very pure.

“Shareholders will get exposure to a copper company with great growth,” said Nelson, whose company focuses on the restoration of the natural habitat in South Africa’s Northern Cape town of Nababeep, where twentieth century copper mining negatively impacted an ecologically sensitive environment.

Through the development of its own technology, the firm has commenced recycling previously dumped or and mining waste to produce premium grade copper. This is done through a technologically advanced metallurgical process that delivers commercial viability while restoring the original landscape.

Big Tree Copper is also philosophically bound to core principles of the United Nations Development Goals and, after launching operations in November 2021, plans to engage with the community in revitalising aspects the local socio-economic environment, decimated when mining operations ceased a decade ago, on a sustainable basis.

Mining Weekly put these questions to Nelson:

Big Tree Copper has been producing A-grade copper through a solvent extraction electrowinning (SXEW) plant designed and built very innovatively by yourselves. What is your latest level of monthly production and is it meeting your targets?

Yes, it has. We’re currently building up from 30 t of copper production per month to about 90 t of copper production a month in the next two to three months. We're on line with our production targets, so we're quite happy with what we've achieved.

How much power do you consume and do you have any plans to self-generate your own clean power?

Certainly with loadshedding Stage 6 that we've had, our plan is to look at that once we've listed in October to raise money for our own solar plant. We've got currently got three diesel generators that are backup whenever we've got power outages and we’re now loadshedding 10 hours to 12 hours a day and that just isn't sustainable for a small business like ours, so I think we're going to have to go the route of raising money and building our own clean power plant for the future

How green and clean do you intend being?

As green as we can. Wherever we think there's an opportunity to improve, or to make use of clean energy, I think we will. The company is founded on that fact that we clean old mine dumps and restore the old excavations with backfill that’s neutralised, and produce copper plates, that's part of our DNA and wherever we ca...

The newly appointed group director of strategy and business development of diversified mining company Anglo American on Monday singled out mining’s green energy transition in commenting on her excitement at her new appointment.

Helena Nonka, who is currently executive VP of corporate development for Norsk Hydro, takes up her Anglo position from October 1, bringing with her more than two decades of international experience, primarily in the natural resources industry.

Headquartered in Oslo, Norsk Hydro is a global aluminium and renewable energy company with operations across 50 countries.

Nonka spoke of looking forward to helping to shape the evolution of Anglo for the decades ahead.

“It’s a particularly exciting time to be in the mining industry, not least as the green energy transition requires such significant additional volumes of responsibly produced metals and minerals,” Nonka stated in a JSE stock exchange news service announcement that forms the basis of this Mining Weekly report.

“I’m very excited by the opportunity to lead this work to ensure that Anglo American leverages its unique commercial and technical capabilities and partnerships to innovate, grow and create sustainable value for all stakeholders,” Nonka stated.

Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad described Nonka’s deep understanding of the mining industry, its value chains and end markets as “invaluable as we continue to grow the value of our business”.

“The mining industry plays such a pivotal role in enabling how we all live our lives and the need to decarbonise the global economy, while our ability to fulfil those promises is led by the strategic choices we make,” added Wanblad.

Nonka’s global career spans professional services, consulting, and academia across Europe, Asia and North America, including being the global head of new business for natural resources at Switzerland-based SGS, which is active in South Africa.

Several global senior commercial leadership roles, including leading corporate strategy, were held by her from 2007 to 2019 with diversified mining company Rio Tinto.

A dual Canadian and British citizen, Nonka holds a master’s degree in political science from University of Quebec, a master’s degree in law from HEC Montreal and academia experience while studying towards a PhD in international relations.

As a producer of diamonds through De Beers, copper, platinum group metals (PGMs), premium quality iron-ore and steelmaking coal, and nickel – with crop nutrients in development – Anglo is committed to being carbon neutral across its operations by 2040.

More broadly, Anglo’s sustainable mining plan commits the London- and Johannesburg-listed company to a series of stretch goals to ensure that it works towards a healthy environment, creating thriving communities and building trust as a corporate leader.

It is committed to working with its business partners and diverse stakeholders to unlock enduring value from precious natural resources for the benefit of the communities and countries in which it operates, for society as a whole, and for its shareholders.

Encapsulating Anglo’s commitment to green energy is its highly successful 510 t zero-emission platinum-catalysed nuGenTM hydrogen haulage truck, which clarifies the economics of decarbonisation, and reflects the interdependence of many of the energy transition’s aspects. It is seen as a small cosmos of what the world needs to achieve in decarbonising.

Anglo American Platinum earlier this month highlighted South Africa as one of only four countries with more renewable energy available to it than what it needs for itself, which places the country in a position to be able to export green hydrogen in the form of ammonia, hydrogen gas or liquid hydrogen.

When considering the entire value chain, including the mineral intensity required to generate, transport, store and then use renewables, green hydrogen and PGMs are in pole positions, significantly outweighing narrow solutions, some of which are being erroneo...

State-owned rail agency Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) has signed a cooperation agreement with Mozambique State agency Ports and Railways of Mozambique (CFM) to implement an immediate train run-through model that will result in the export of chrome and ferrochrome moving seamlessly from Belfast, in Mpumalanga, to the Port of Maputo.

The agreement will introduce a seamless cross-border export channel for chrome in pursuit of increased efficiencies, TFR says.

This model will see consignments of 50 chrome and ferrochrome wagon loads being hauled by two 43D diesel locomotives from Belfast to the Port of Maputo.

The new model does not require the exchange of locomotives and will thus reduce the transit time by 12 hours over a return trip and improve efficiency and crew requirements. This will allow the current 15 trains a week to be increased to 21 a week, which translates to a volume increase of more than 800 000 t/y.

The current operating model involves four diesel locomotives hauling 50 wagons from Steelpoort to Belfast. From Belfast, the wagons are exchanged for four electric locomotives and then travel to Komatiepoort where they are hauled by two CFM diesel locomotives to the Maputo port. This model requires five crews from origin to destination and results in significant time delays each time the locomotives are exchanged.

“We expect this model will significantly reduce the number of chrome and ferrochrome trucks on the road en route from South Africa to the Maputo port of Mozambique. It is estimated that the increased volume by rail will remove in the region of 200 trucks a week,” TFR said.

“Rail transport is critical in bolstering economic development and this initiative will enable both railways to support the recovery of the region by connecting Africa to the world. This project is another example of a key driver of intra-trade supporting the growth of our two economies,” TFR CE Sizakele Mzimela said.

South Africa holds about 70% of the world's total chrome reserves, is the largest producer of chrome ore in the world and supplies 83% of China’s total yearly chrome ore imports. About 85% of chrome's commercial use is in the production of stainless steel, TFR said.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer South Africa's potential to be an energy exporter; Pan African's definitive feasibility study on Mogale Gold’s tailing storage facilities; and Orion’s capital raise for its copper and zinc mine, Prieska.

If the world were to electrify every mine truck, it would stop 198 000 t of carbon dioxide (CO2) a day from entering the atmosphere, which equates to a single electrified mining truck eliminating what would take 46 000 trees to absorb.

That mammoth disruption-free decarbonisation benefit was driven home firmly this week by ABB regional sales manager mining for Africa and Australia Erik Pretorius, who told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview: “There's a strong business case for electrification whilst also keeping operations going on a daily basis.” (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

A trolley line only 700 m long at the Boliden’s Aitik mine in Sweden saves 830 000 litres of diesel a year and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80%. Mining Weekly understands that this full-on electric and digital project has been visited by South African mining company board members who are keen to replicate what has been done 100 km north of the Arctic Circle.

Moreover, at Canada’s Copper Mountain mine, close to the town of Princeton in British Columbia, a new openpit trolley solution is being developed to take 41 000 t of copper equivalent a year out of the pit and into the plant.

Meanwhile, in South Africa’s Limpopo, Anglo American’s 510 t nuGenTM zero-emission haulage system is attracting global attention by innovatively showing the world that zero-emission haulage solutions and end-to-end integrated green hydrogen fuelling can elevate platinum group metals to a new high level of global respect.

News breaking this week is that Anglo has struck a deal with creative engineering firm First Mode that envisages the decarbonisation of Anglo’s global fleet of 400 haul trucks, as well as providing refuelling, recharging, and facilitation of hydrogen production.

In outlining the ABB Ability™ eMine solution of reducing CO2 emissions, increasing energy efficiency, reducing capital expenditure, improving overall mine performance and protecting mineworker health and safety, Pretorius had this to say: “It does not stop with just electrifying trucks or going electric in the mine. It's a fine-tuning and optimisation around not just haulage, but the complete process.”

Mining contributes roughly 7% of annual global greenhouse gases. At a time when the Paris Agreement and related regulations and legislations are kicking in, mining has no option but to transition.

Contributing to greenhouse gases associated with producing the raw materials required to eliminate them is a paradox that mining companies, often under pressure from shareholders, steer clear of by opting for sustainability.

These are some of the questions put to Pretorius:

Mining Weekly: What benefit has the ABB’s eMine technology brought to your mining clients?

Pretorius: There are three prominent benefits that eMine brings to our clients. The first is health and safety. The second is performance and productivity improvements, and the third is sustainability itself. We cpromote the improvement of miners’ health through better air quality underground specifically and less noise than diesel machinery. Electric trucks run at higher speeds with quicker turnarounds, which improves haulage performance. There is sustainability in terms of lower environmental impact and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. And a fourth benefit, although potentially a softer benefit but a crucially important one and a topic that’s reared its head in Europe that’s certainly spilling over into Africa and Australia is attracting new talent. We have a younger generation that want to work with companies and for companies that have a purpose, that think about future generations, that consider climate change. These are not nice-to-haves as far as they’re concerned. These are actually licences to operate and they want to work for companies that are modern digitalised, 4.0 companies.

How complex is it to retrofit ABB Ability™ eMine to existing mining operations?

We need to be sensitive to the fact that ABB Ability™ eMine ...

Finnish lithium company Keliber has negotiated a financing arrangement with South Africa-based Sibanye-Stillwater that will enable its lithium project in the Ostrobothnia area to progress to the construction phase.

The two-phase arrangement will see Sibanye-Stillwater increase its shareholding in Keliber to 80% for a total investment of €250-million.

Sibanye, which bought an initial stake in Keliber in February last year for €40-million, will exercise its preemptive right to achieve 50% plus one majority shareholding for new Keliber shares to the value of €146-million.

In a second arrangement, Sibanye will make a voluntary offer to minority shareholders, except for State-owned group Finnish Minerals Group which intends to participate in the financial arrangement, to the value of €104-million.

"The proposed arrangement is significant for Keliber because it enables the lithium project to progress to the construction phase, from a financing point of view. Keliber's board of directors considers the negotiated financing arrangement to be a good solution for all parties,” says chairperson Mika Seitovirta.

The negotiated equity funding makes it possible to get loans on competitive terms, Keliber states, adding that loan negotiations will be carried out with banks during the next few months.

The estimated current capital investment in the Keliber lithium project is "several hundreds of millions of euros".

The company still requires some outstanding environmental permits before it could start full-scale construction work.

Keliber is aiming to be the first fully integrated lithium producer in Europe with full production of about 15 000 t/y of lithium hydroxide and direct market access to European markets from the Port of Kokkola where its lithium chemical plant is based.

“Over the next two years, our construction sites will employ up to 500 professionals, and, once production has started, there will be about 250 people working at Keliber sites. Skilled labour is in high demand, and we have been very satisfied with the local educational co-operation in Central Ostrobothnia,” says Keliber CEO Hannu Hautala.

The company aims to start lithium hydroxide production in 2024.

“This is a further significant step in our strategy to build a unique global portfolio of green metals in a value accretive manner. We look forward to partnering with our Finnish stakeholders to build the Keliber project, which will be the first mining and metallurgical operation in Europe to deliver high quality, low-cost lithium hydroxide with a low carbon footprint and will be ideally placed to deliver critical metals into the growing European battery industry," comments Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman.

Diversified miner Anglo American is in exclusive negotiations with specialist engineering technology company First Mode Holding and has agreed nonbinding terms to establish a combined business to accelerate the rollout of Anglo's nuGen hydrogen-powered Zero Emissions Haulage Solution (ZEHS).

The transaction with First Mode, which had partnered with Anglo and other companies to develop the nuGen ZEHS, will include a capital investment by Anglo in the combined business and is intended to accelerate the development and commercialisation of the nuGen ZEHS.

The new combined business will retain the First Mode name as an independent business and prioritise developing the nuGen ZEHS, building on three years of extensive development by Anglo and First Mode.

Anglo in May launched the prototype of its nuGen ZEHS hydrogen-powered mine haul truck at its Mogalakwena platinum-group metals mine.

Mining Weekly reported at the time that the 2 MW hydrogen-battery hybrid truck is the world's largest hydrogen-powered mine haul truck. It is capable of carrying a 290 t payload and generates more power than its diesel predecessor.

The truck was designed to help Anglo meet its 2040 carbon emission goals.

Along with the truck, the partners had developed an entire ZEHS ecosystem to generate and store hydrogen at the Mogalakwena mine. This includes a 3.5 MW electrolyser, comprising two compressors, and hydrogen storage tanks with 800 kg of capacity at 500 bars of pressure.

The hydrogen is not converted to a liquid but stays in a gaseous state and is transported at a high pressure.

The hydrogen dispenser is capable of moving 4 kg of hydrogen a minute at 250 bars of pressure.

The agreement with First Mode envisages that Anglo will enter into an agreement with First Mode to decarbonise its global fleet of ultra-class mine haul trucks, of which about 400 are currently in operation, as well as provide critical supporting infrastructure such as refuelling, recharging and facilitation of hydrogen production.

Anglo plans to retrofit the mine haul trucks at all its operations to run on hydrogen. In May, it said it would convert 10 to 20 trucks a year, with the full fleet conversion expected to take three to four years to complete.

Anglo also recognises its role in supporting broader decarbonisation objectives outside its own business and says the technologies and capabilities that it has been developing as part of the nuGen project with First Mode present opportunities beyond its own haul truck fleet, including across other industries that rely on heavy-duty transport, such as rail.

In addition to accelerating the development and commercialisation of the ZEHS technology, the new combined business is expected to allow strategic third parties to co-invest in the business alongside Anglo and First Mode, offering the opportunity to accelerate their own decarbonisation and participate in the potential offered by the clean ZEHS technology.

Fast payback, low costs, big production uplift, long life, high ungeared return and a lot more is contained in the definitive feasibility study (DFS) on the Mogale Gold tailings storage facilities published by gold mining company Pan African on Thursday.

The Mogale Gold tailings storage facilities form part of Mintails SA’s assets, near Krugersdorp, to the west of Johannesburg.

Payback of the construction capital expenditure of R2.5-billion is estimated to be within 3.5 years after commissioning, with a forecast all-in sustaining cost of $914/oz and an operating cost of R78/t over the initial 13-year life-of-mine.

“As originally anticipated, the Mogale Gold DFS has demonstrated a compelling project, both operationally and financially,” Pan African CEO Cobus Loots commented in a release to Mining Weekly.

The remining of the Mogale gold tailings storage facilities has the potential to add 50 000 oz/y of production over the 13 years, which is equivalent to an increase of 25% on current group production.

The project’s economics involve a pre-tax net present value of more than R1-billion, and an ungeared internal rate of return of 20.1% at a gold price of $1 750/oz.

The project is targeting production within 18 months to 24 months from the start of construction.

Comprising various individual dams, the Mogale gold tailings storage facilities contain a probable mineral reserve of 123.6-million tons of re-mineable material at a head grade of 0.29 g/t for an estimated content of 1.14-million ounces of gold.

Further production upside potential arises from the addition of Mintails SA’s Soweto Cluster resource extending mine life from 13 years to 21 years and further increasing yearly gold production.

The proven technology involves low unit cost hydro mining with low project execution risk at 800 000 t a month through a carbon-in-leach plant, similar to London- and Johannesburg-listed Pan African’s Elikhulu operation, which processes 1.2-million tons a month.

Funding options being considered for the project include offers of debt finance from financial institutions and other third-party financiers.

The project builds on Pan African’s record of bringing surface re-mining operations into production while also ensuring that environmental rehabilitation and socio-economic initiatives for local economic development run concurrently with job creation and skills development in host communities.

Extending the group’s solar renewable energy photovoltaic footprint in line with its decarbonisation strategy and strategic production cost reduction initiatives is also made possible.

Pan African currently operates three surface tailings retreatment operations which assist with environmental remediation.

“We look forward to working with all stakeholders to further progress the project in the months ahead,” added Loots.

Pan African announced that it had entered into conditional sale of shares agreements to acquire the share capital and associated shareholder loans and other claims of Mogale Gold and Mintails SA's Soweto Cluster In November 2020.

Both gold assets are 100% owned by Mintails SA, which was placed into provisional liquidation in 2018.

The deadline for fulfilment of the conditions to conclude the Mintails transaction was extended to August and included the completion of a fatal flaw analysis, prefeasibility study and the DFS.

The fatal flaw analysis was completed on the Mogale Gold tailings storage facilities in July 2021.

Both studies were led by DRA. Further technical work on the Mintails’ SA Soweto Cluster is in progress.

To improve mineral resource confidence a light detection and ranging survey of the entire project area was undertaken to ascertain tonnages, grades verified by twinning 25 of the historical holes, and 82 new boreholes drilled in areas with sparse data.

The combined drilling totalled 2 761 m resulting in 1 877 samples and 187 control samples, resulting in the remodeling of all available resources.

Minerals Council South Africa legal deputy head Mxolisi Ngubane says that, although the prevalence of illegal mining is not new, the brazenness and evolving nature at which operations are taking place, is becoming increasingly concerning to the wider mining industry and especially to miners in hotspot or sensitive areas.

Illegal mining continues as an “unprecedented crisis” for the legitimate mining industry and especially mines in hotspot areas in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, reports Minerals Council CEO Roger Baxter.

Attacks on legitimate mining operations are being handled with military-like precision. “They [are] highly skilled, highly trained, highly armed. At times, they even use booby traps . . . aimed [at] their rival illegal miners, [as well as] at some of the [legitimate mining] employees, where they take over [operational] shafts,” adds Ngubane.

“As much as the focus of illegal mining has been on abandoned and derelict mines or shafts that are no longer in use, there are instances where the brazenness is to such an extent that there are attempts to take over [existing] operations,” he explains.

Recent examples of the violence meted out on mining sites include an armed attack on a Harmony Gold operation about two months ago, as well as a four-hour-long assault at Sibanye-Stillwater’s Cooke shaft, where 150 armed men attacked the mine’s security using an assortment of heavy weapons, including AK47s, R1s, R4s, R5s and 9 mm pistols, says Baxter.

He notes that there is a growing trend of illegal miners infiltrating operational mine sites and stealing minerals, as well as other items, such as copper cables and key infrastructure, as they pass through.

“On mine sites, we have a significant amount of theft taking place. That is through a degree of illegal mining . . . infiltrating mostly large-scale operations, and increasingly smaller-scale operations,” says Baxter.

The presence of illegal miners at legitimate mining operations is leading to extortion and violence at mine sites, which is in addition to disruptions caused by community protests. “Many of the community protests and unrest disruptions are caused by the ‘procurement mafia’ – the same concept as the ‘construction mafia’,” says Baxter.

This procurement mafia intimidate a mine’s management to redirect procurement contracts to them, using threats of violence, and/or destruction to property and/or the ability to operate.

He adds that there have also been a significant number of armed attacks, particularly on precious metals mining facilities, as well as on logistics infrastructure such as railways.

On rail theft, Baxter says Transnet is facing the unprecedented crisis of copper cable theft, “losing [about] 60 km of copper and signalling cable a month.”

Theft of rail infrastructure has a “huge impact” on local miners’ ability to sell commodities to the international market, he says. “Last year, we saw bulk commodity exports from South Africa down by R35-billion because of the challenges that Transnet [is] facing”.

As for mining illegally, he says this trend is also experiencing a significant increase, with estimates of as much as 10% of South Africa’s chrome production being illegally mined and exported.

“Just imagine the criminal syndicates that exist to facilitate the transporting of that to the coast.”

However, Baxter says the Minerals Council is not “sitting on [its] hands”, and is involved, with its security team, in significant engagements at a Ministerial level, on a security cluster level and even through to engaging with the National Joint Operational Centre of security forces.

INTOLERABLE

Nonetheless, Ngubane says the illegal mining industry cannot be tolerated because such miners have a concerning and significant disregard for safety among themselves, while their haphazard use of explosives undermines the structural integrity of mine shafts, as well as the health and safety of miners working in those operations.

“There are instances where supplies to ventila...

An opportunity to subscribe for new shares in parcels starting from R20 000 to a maximum of R330 000 is being offered to eligible shareholders by Orion Minerals.

The capital raise is being undertaken to fund the Sydney- and Johannesburg-listed Orion’s Prieska copper/zinc mine, as well as other copper and battery precursor projects in the Northern Cape.

As reported by Mining Weekly earlier this month, only a small portion of equity is still required for the restart of the Prieska copper/zinc mine, which the former South African mining house Anglovaal discovered in 1968 and operated for 20 years.

Orion is targeting more than R250-million, with the share purchase plan offer expected to close on August 5.

It involves a three-tranche capital raising made up of the issue of up to 1 000-million ordinary shares at an issue price of 22c a share in the first two tranches, and the issue of up to 151-million free attaching options, along with a share purchase plan to raise up to $3-million.

The issue price represents a 13% discount.

Capital raised will be used for mine dewatering and the completion of feasibility studies for Prieska’s early production initiative, as well as to progress Okiep’s copper project feasibility study, and battery precursor product production test work relating to Jacomynspan nickel/copper/cobalt/platinum group element project.

For the first three years, openpit and pillar mining will take place before getting into the large 9-m- to 30-m-thick mineralisation that is folded but easily mined in favourable mining conditions. Anglovaal mined 46-million tons of ore to produce 460 000 t of copper and a million tons of zinc to a depth 970 m.

Earlier this month, Orion CEO Errol Smart told the Resources Rising Stars 2022 Gold Coast Conference in Australia that the mine is capable of being brought back into production in 19 months after the go-ahead is given for its reconstruction.

Some of the nine-million tons of remaining pillars contain more than a million tons in orebody thicknesses of up to 49 m.

A full bankable feasibility study of the fully permitted project is complete and Orion could go on site immediately to start building the Prieska project.

Thirty-million tons of compliant resources have been explored, with downhole electromagnetic surveys showing that the orebody continues.

The challenge up to now for the $100-million Orion was the initial calculation that $500-million would be required to turn the project to account. But that capital cost has been slashed to $200-million by opting to mine the openpit and the pillars ahead of going full tilt into virgin orebody, slowing dewatering plans, which allowed for the plant to be half-scaled to 1.2-million tons a year.

Lining up the $100-million company to finance the now $200-million project has been considerably easier, with the first $140-million already secured through a streaming arrangement and giving up 4.5% of revenue over 12 years to secure another $87-million.

In addition, South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has completed its due diligence, which is linked to $20-million from the IDC.

EXCEPTIONAL NORTHERN CAPE OPPORTUNITY

The first job of Smart, 55, a Boksburg-born University of the Witwatersrand geology honours graduate, was as a geological stope observer at Vaal Reefs Gold Mine, on the Far West Rand.

Smart began his presentation at the Gold Coast conference by emphasising the exceptional opportunity of working in South Africa’s Northern Cape, which makes up 30% of the surface area of South Africa while hosting only 3% of South Africa’s population.

Although Orion’s OKiep is currently not producing any copper, it has a record of producing more than 2.5-million tons of copper in the last century.

The Northern Cape is in a prolific renewable energy belt and Orion has access to existing renewable energy, water, and facilities in a brownfield development area with known mineral deposits able to be fast-tracked.

Abundant solar and wind energ...