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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...

South Africa is one of only four countries that has more renewable energy available to it than what it needs for itself, which places the country in a very strong position to be able to export energy, with hydrogen in the form of ammonia, hydrogen gas or liquid hydrogen among the best ways of doing so, Anglo American Platinum CEO Natascha Viljoen said on Tuesday.

“If you look at the northern hemisphere broadly, they just don’t have enough renewables for their own needs, which puts us, as a country and as a platinum group metals (PGMs) sector, in a very good position,” Viljoen told a media breakfast in which Mining Weekly participated.

Targeted technology development and deployment were poised, Viljoen told journalists, to help South Africa take the next step in energy technology development.

She cautioned against getting caught up in the fallacy that the world’s decarbonisation challenges would be solved by replacing internal combustion engine vehicles with battery electric vehicles.

The correct approach was to consider the entire value chain, including the mineral intensity required to generate, transport, store and then use renewables.

“When we start to think about that system, which I think we should, it starts to identify the work that we need to do, and it also then helps us to identify the opportunities,” Viljoen emphasised.

Viewing the energy transition holistically prevented one from falling into the trap of depicting it as a one-on-one replacement and then taking the wrong decisions, “both for our climate and our decarbonisation strategy as a globe, but then also for us as a business”.

The company’s highly successful launch of the 510 t zero-emission platinum-catalysed nuGenTM hydrogen haulage truck encapsulates the system, because the truck on its own and the photovoltaic solar plant on its own do not make economic sense, but the full system does, which clarifies the economics of decarbonisation, and reflects the interdependence of many of the energy transition’s aspects.

“It’s a showcase in a small cosmos of what we need to achieve to decarbonise globally. It’s a lesson on how we need to think about all the aspects.

“For that reason, if I look at batteries versus hydrogen, both will have to coexist because there are a couple of important success factors required of both.

“We need to look at mineral availability and intensity and land access and the carbon footprint of each of these technologies. As we start to understand more about what this carbon footprint looks like in this energy transition, it gives us an opportunity to sit back and say some of what we’re targeting might not be the best way to decarbonise.

“I’ve done the work personally because ultimately we need to take decisions for this business and I need to take accountability for some of those decisions and I can’t take decisions unless I’m convinced of what the future of our product will be,” said Viljoen, who highlighted that her bullishness about the future of PGMs was anchored in the huge global momentum behind hydrogen, which had become an integrated part of the hydrogen decarbonisation strategy of the world’s largest countries.

Having collaborated with government very successfully during Covid, Business for South Africa was now looking to play another role in key areas, including energy, in which JSE-listed Anglo American Platinum had a very specific interest.

“In a few key areas, we are uniquely suited, through the skills we have in our business, to continue to support economic development.

“What the hydrogen truck embodies for me are the possibilities we have as a business and the possibilities for our product.

“It is targeting that one area in the industry that we said is more suitable for fuel cells and hydrogen, which is obviously directly related to our product, but it also shows that with the right skill, capability and collaboration, creating that environment for successful technology deployment is absolutely possible,” said Viljoen.

Going forward, combined renewables plans already in place are poised to slash Scope 2 emissions at Exxaro Resources’s Grootegeluk coal mine in Limpopo by up to 90%.

The renewable strategy being executed by coal miner Exxaro’s wholly owned green energy arm – Cennergi – is the key driver of the JSE-listed company’s carbon neutrality ambitions.

Cennergi has 200 MW of solar and wind projects at advanced stages of development, much of the megawattage in Mpumalanga, to help catalyse South Africa’s crucial just energy transition. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Speaking to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview, Exxaro/Cennergi MD Energy Roland Tatnall said of the energy transition: “It's a really critical pillar of what we're doing at Cennergi and it's integral to how Exxaro is approaching the future as well.”

At the same time, Cennergi is talking to a number of third-party customers, large industrials and mining companies, to provide bespoke solutions for them.

“There's a massive demand for the types of solutions that we're offering in the market,” said Tatnall, who described South Africa’s move into the renewable energy space as “a groundswell of change that's only going in one direction”.

Cennergi, which has been designing bespoke non-Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) solutions for several years, combines technologies to match large and small offtakers’ needs.

Earlier this month, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) gave Cennergi the go-ahead to self-generate 80 MW of solar power at Exxaro’s Grootegeluk coal mine, in Limpopo.

Music to the ears was that Nersa granted this registration in a record 47 days.

On local green electron (renewables) and green molecule (green hydrogen) development, Tatnall said: “We really think that this whole green electrons, green molecule revolution could catalyse a significant directional change in South African industry, and be the just transition to enable South Africans to have a new industrial pillar.”

Mining Weekly: What does the approval of Cennergi’s 80 MW Lephalale solar project mean for Exxaro Resources?

Tatnall: It's a major milestone. I think the most important aspect is the 47 days. This is a licensing process that historically would have taken anything up to a year and after the schedule two changes at a governmental level last year, Nersa has managed to bring forward registration processes to under two months, which I think is quite incredible. The 47 days is something that we didn't expect, and in the context of the mine that we’ll be supplying, Grootegeluk, it means that we can advance the reduction in carbon emissions and reduction in costs of that mine.

What role do these kinds of projects have in accelerating Exxaro’s target of carbon neutrality by 2050?

The renewable strategy within Exxaro that’s being executed by Cennergi is very much the key driver at this point for carbon neutrality. A project like the Lephalale solar project, just one project, can reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions within a two-year period by about a third, so it's quite a significant driver for our drive towards carbon neutrality. When we add additional phases, for example, we're looking at wind projects for Grootegeluk as well, we're looking at potentially 60% plus of Scope 2 carbon reductions. Then latterly, we'll be adding energy storage as well, and we could be getting up to 80% and 90% of Scope 2 emission reductions through our renewable strategy.

What plans has Exxaro put in place to begin the just transition journey and what have been the major challenges?

That's not just a topical question, I think it's one of the most pressing questions for the country. When we restarted the Cennergi strategy to help decarbonise our portfolio, but also look at the broader South African environment, we realised that we couldn't just drive renewables with a purely commercial imperative. We are really at an inflection point in terms of the way that ele...

Dual-listed Kore Potash has announced that the capital cost estimation for its Kola potash project, in Congo-Brazzaville, has decreased by $520-million to $1.8-billion, following the completion of an optimisation study on the project.

Sepco Electric Power Construction Corporation undertook the optimisation study on behalf of the Summit Consortium, for which it is an engineering partner.

Kore has a memorandum of understanding in place with Summit Consortium.

An initial capital cost of $2.35-billion, on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis, was estimated in the project’s definitive feasibility study (DFS).

The construction period envisioned by the optimisation study also reduced to 40 months, from the 46 months set out in the DFS.

This while the Kola net present value (NPV) after tax improved to $1.6-billion and the internal rate of return improved to 20%, assuming a potash price of $360/t. On a current price basis of about $1 000/t, the Kola NPV after tax reaches close to $9.3-billion and IRR closer to 49% on an ungeared and after-tax basis.

The project is still expected to have a design nameplate capacity of 2.2-million tonnes of muriate of potash a year, for an initial 31-year mine life.

Kola remains envisioned as a conventional mechanised underground potash mine with shallow shaft access.

The Summit Consortium says an EPC contract proposal for the construction of Kola will be submitted to Kore in August, based on the new capital cost and construction schedule estimates.

The consortium will then provide the financial proposal for the project after Kore’s approval of the EPC proposal.

“The development of Kola is of global importance. The security of the world’s food supply is at risk as a result of disruptions to the supply of fertiliser globally.

“Recent geopolitical events highlight the risks inherent with potash production concentrated within a small number of companies and locations with operations situated long distances inland far from ports and global customers.

“New potash producers are required in locations closer to customers. With low capital intensity and low production costs, Kola is ideally situated to supply high-quality potash to meet growing global demand,” says Kore CEO Brad Sampson.

He adds that the successful completion of the Kola optimisation study moves Kore closer to production and that he eagerly awaits delivery of the construction contract and financing proposals.

The rehabilitation of South Africa’s closed coal mines has long been a source of contention among miners, environmental activists and affected communities.

Numerous old mines were not rehabilitated at all, while many others were rehabilitated to within only the bare minimum requirements of the law, leaving the land looking restored but, ultimately, not suitable for the growing of crops, owing to the plethora of toxic chemicals and metals that remain in the soil and water.

However, amid the rising unemployment rate among South Africans and soaring cost of living, much thought has been given to whether old coal mine properties can be repurposed to provide agribusiness opportunities for surrounding communities.

Several organisations have been researching means and methods for remediating the land beyond basic rehabilitation to making it suitable for sustainable, long-term agricultural use – previously believed to be impossible.

Although research is ongoing, different techniques have already yielded promising results.

The Water

Diversified mining major Glencore partnered with incubator Business for Development, Wonderfontein colliery owner Umsimbithi, socioeconomic change programme Impact Catalyst, the International Council on Mining and Metals, and the Mine Water Coordinating Body to run a winter wheat pilot programme in Mpumalanga.

The province is at the centre of power generation in South Africa, providing more than 80% of the country’s coal resources.

After mining and quarrying – which account for nearly 30% of Mpumalanga’s gross domestic product – manufacturing, power generation, tourism and agriculture are the province’s other major sectors.

Many of the local communities depend on mining operations as their primary economic driver – directly as a source of employment and indirectly through local development and services provided.

However, as these mines close and South Africa transitions away from coal, transitioning the economy to other viable industries is of critical importance.

The pilot programme aimed to investigate whether remediated mine land and mine water could offer sustainable livelihood opportunities for local communities. It was also seen as an opportunity to showcase how different industry stakeholders could work together to achieve common environment, social and governance outcomes, Business for Development Africa operations director John Cook says.

The programme, which ran from April last year to January, successfully demonstrated how remediated coal-mine land and mine- affected water could be used directly in agriculture.

A detailed report on the programme is expected to be released this month.

The land used for the pilot was provided by the Wonderfontein colliery and included two sites next to it that are owned by the community.

Winter wheat was specifically targeted because cereal company Kelloggs believed that the grain could potentially be used in the manufacture of its cereals.

Cook tells Engineering News & Mining Weekly that the pilot was successful, but that it is not yet clear if it is repeatable. Further testing would be required, although plans to extend the programme include roping in a wider array of stakeholders.

“What we’ve proven is that remediated land and mine-affected water do represent very valuable assets for agriculture, which encourages a possible rethink of the regulatory arrangements.”

However, it is important to ensure that further damage to the environment is not inadvertently caused by the farming methods employed in the pilot.

Moreover, it is still not yet fully understood whether the same methodology would work on other rehabilitated mine sites with different soil and water compositions, he adds.

“We now need to do more and investigate the extent to which the learning can be transferred to other locations. We need to engage with regulators and government to see what changes might be necessary to the policy settings to make this available to a large number of people.”

The most...

The commitment of at least six major motor companies to manganese-based batteries for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is elevating the demand outlook for high-purity manganese phenomenally, a Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference has been told.

CPM Group lead manganese analyst Andrew Zemek highlighted high purity manganese’s looming high use in the battery energy market in a special presentation at CPM Group’s 2022 PDAC conference in Toronto.

The car companies that are basing their electrification strategy around manganese produce 27-million vehicles a year, and a significant factor is the weight of the manganese that will be needed, Zemek stated during the presentation covered by Mining Weekly on YouTube.

Eight-million BEVs are likely to be built in 2022 and a projected 150-million BEVs a year will be built by 2030, with some BEV battery packs weighing up to 500 kg and up to 100 kg of that being manganese, Zemek noted.

Manganese, which is mined in 15 countries, is the twelfth most common mineral in the earth’s crust, with South Africa’s long-standing manganese contribution being noted for its high quality and consistent output. South African manganese mining is concentrated in the manganese-rich Kalahari basin of the Northern Cape, which is believed to hold more than 70% of global manganese ore reserves.

At issue is not an absence of high volumes of available raw manganese ore, but rather a booming demand outlook for high-purity manganese, for which there is inadequate processing capacity.

Zemek emphasised that although manganese resources are big enough for the current 20-million tons a year of metal for the next 300 years, limited processing capacity is placing a concerning supply constraint outlook on high-purity manganese.

More than 90% of the world's capacity to produce high-purity manganese is in China, with five projects at feasibility stage likely to deliver new production between now and 2030.

Because of the expected exponential growth in demand, a supply deficit of high-purity manganese metal and high-purity manganese sulphate is expected, with the possibility of manganese sulphate in future being replaced by manganese metal powder.

In addition, moves are afoot to replace as much as half of the iron in lithium/iron/phosphate (LFP) batteries with manganese, which would lift manganese demand still further.

HIGH-PURITY MANGANESE

Ironically, the three main versions of high-purity manganese products currently take up less than 1% of the 20-million tons of manganese mined yearly, but expected growth is phenomenal.

Battery makers require the sulphate pink powder chemical, which is typically mixed with nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate to make cathode powder for batteries.

The cathode powder is mixed with liquid and the slurry used to coat a plastic film, which serves as a cathode, with batteries commonly named after the metals in their cathodes.

The most typical battery for BEVs is nickel/manganese/cobalt (NMC) and other kinds include LFP and nickel/cobalt/aluminum (NCA).

The awareness level of the degree to which these battery types are used in mobile phones, laptops or cars is not high.

Currently, manganese-using NMC batteries account for about half of the lithium-ion batteries produced.

LFP batteries account for about 25% to 28% and NCA for the rest. There are also several smaller chemistries that account for the remaining part of the battery market.

COBALT

From an engineering viewpoint, cobalt, with all the necessary electrical and chemical properties, is an ideal battery metal, but reliance on a single country for 65% of it, along with its high and volatile price, have prompted battery engineers to use more manganese, which has similar physical properties.

In 2021, the average price of cobalt was 15 times more expensive than manganese and earlier this year it rose to 23 times higher in price than manganese.

As explained by Zemek, the manganese content of carbonate or oxide manganese or...

High-purity manganese facing phenomenal growth, PDAC hears

The commitment of at least six major motor companies to manganese-based batteries for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is elevating the demand outlook for high purity manganese phenomenally, a Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference has been told. CPM Group lead manganese analyst Andrew Zemek highlighted high purity manganese’s looming high use in the battery energy market in a special presentation at CPM Group’s 2022 PDAC conference in Toronto.

Next story,

Stage 4 load-shedding extended into weekend as illegal strike disrupts coal plants

Eskom has extended Stage 4 load-shedding – initially implemented at 11:00 on Friday June 24, as an illegal strike led to the loss of more coal production – until Sunday and the utility has also refrained from providing a system prognosis for the coming week. COO Jan Oberholzer said the decision to implement and sustain 4 000 MW of rotational cuts was taken after unplanned unavailability across the fleet rose to above 18 000 MW, partly as a result of a decision to ramp down some coal generator as a result of resource constraints triggered by the labour action.

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Is it possible to convert old coal mines into successful farms?

The rehabilitation of South Africa’s closed coal mines has long been a source of contention among miners, environmental activists and affected communities. Numerous old mines were not rehabilitated at all, while many others were rehabilitated to within only the bare minimum requirements of the law, leaving the land looking restored but, ultimately, not suitable for the growing of crops, owing to the plethora of toxic chemicals and metals that remain in the soil and water.

Also making headlines,

TNPA embarks on ambitious R9.1bn seven-year infrastructure development programme

Further to Transnet National Port Authority’s (TNPA’s) “reimagined” operational model, launched in November last year, and increased efficiency initiatives that are under way, the State-owned utility has announced it will spend R9.1-billion over the next seven years on capital projects in the Central Region ports. The Central Region ports comprise Ngqura, Gqeberha and East London.

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Sibanye's Stillwater mine suspended for 4-6 weeks

The Stillwater mine, in Montana, will remain suspended for four to six weeks to allow for access to the mine to be restored following recent flooding, precious metals miner Sibanye-Stillwater reported on Friday. The Stillwater mine accounts for about 60% of mined production from the group's US platinum-group metals (PGM) operations.

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There are a myriad of opportunities that can be capitalised on in South Africa’s mining sector and there has been notable progress in improving the state of the industry; however, to further enhance this and attract more investment, it is critical that several issues be resolved. This was the message from speakers during the South Africa Mining Investment Forum hosted by Brand South Africa. The South African Mining Investment Forum took place as a precursor to the Investing in African Mining Indaba.

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SPONSORED POST Are you planning on implementing a Drone program, but struggle to justify the cost of obtaining and maintaining an ROC?

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SPONSORED POST Mining and the environment

COURSE AIM: To gain an understanding of the theory, concepts and legislation related to mining and the environment so that the student is able to broadly identify and develop plans to address environmental impacts associated with mining activities.

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Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer unpacks NSDV's deeming provision suggestion for minerals investment; Harmony Gold's renewables plan; and small diamond miners wanting to work with big licence holders to create more jobs in the industry.

The detraction of the South African investment market is the uncertainty around approval timelines and the implementation of a deeming provision could change all that by treating applications as approved after the passing of a set period of time.

Many want to invest in exploration and mining right now but are put off by timeline uncertainties.

A deeming provision has the potential to bring immediate certainty by way of simple amendments to existing legislation.

It could significantly truncate timelines, without any control being lost over the level of compliance.

NSDV advisory head Mark Gilbert drove these points home forcefully in a Zoom interview with Mining Weekly, in which he remarked: “Let's place an onus on the regulator to perform. I don't think it's an unreasonable request. It's a simple amendment to the legislation and it won't be unique, other places have done this.” (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Regulators will have a fixed time to respond, and in instances where they do not, licences are granted – “bang, done. That would bring in an enormous amount of capital,” Gilbert enthused.

The law is very clear. You must be compliant, so no control over the level of compliance is lost, while absolute timeline certainty is gained at a time of commodity demand uplift for not only future-centric metals but also traditional ones.

“People underestimate how valuable our mineral endowment is. There is so much gold still to be mined in South Africa, along with platinum group metals, chrome, nickel, zinc, rare earths.

“We have, with Steenkampskraal, the highest grade rare earths mine in the world. There are five high-quality rare earth deposits in South Africa. We have got lithium deposits here in South Africa.

“What prohibits people from investing are these timeline uncertainties, not a lack of appetite. We can propose a complete rewrite of the legislation which will take an inordinate period of time. We think we are going into a commodity super cycle at the moment and that started probably six or eight months ago. It will be volatile.

“But we saw the platinum miners last year announcing profits up 200%, 300% 400%, absolutely spectacular numbers, the South African gold companies printing money, so our mines are highly profitable, the environment is good. The detraction of the South African market is the uncertainty around timelines to get all of these approvals,” Gilbert reiterated.

“Our laws work, our courts work. The appeal processes work. They may be cumbersome at times and frustrating but if we were to have an absolute deeming provision, it would bring absolute clarity.

“If mining companies submit compliance applications, they know within 120 days or whatever the time period is, they can start mining. That would unlock the vast exploration potential and when I say its vast, as a country, we probably have some of the best exploration data in the world," he said.

“We had massive mining companies here for hundreds of years with trapped capital and a lot of that capital was poured into exploration. That data sits here in South Africa. I don't think there is a significant mineral deposit that is actually not known in South Africa.

“The quality of data is spectacular, so that's not the problem. The problem is unlocking the capital, and people want certainty, but I think we're looking at it the wrong way. It's not certainty of legislation. It's certainty of performance, and that's a relatively easy thing to fix. If I put in a compliant application, and if they don't respond in time, I get my licence, that's pretty attractive.

“It's one of the great frustrations for me, as an economist, that we missed the boom in 2008. Post crises, one tends to get huge uplifts in real assets, commodities in particular. We’re one of the most mineral-rich countries on the planet, and we risk missing out again, simply due to delays,” Gilbert added.

Large South African gold miner Harmony Gold sees R500-million a year savings from Phase 2 on-balance-sheet renewables projects.

This means the estimated R1.5-billion cost of the planned 137 MW second phase solar power projects will be covered in three years.

Meanwhile, ground breaking for the 30 MW Phase 1 off-balance-sheet power purchase agreement (PPA) project is imminent.

Harmony, which would like to progress its Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 renewable energy rollout over the next four years, is targeting a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2026.

Phase 1 is the first step in a far broader picture for the JSE-listed company’s deep-level energy-intensive mines, with an energy split of around 30% renewable energy envisaged by 2027.

This is what Harmony Gold investor relations head Jared Coetzer had to say in a Zoom interview with Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Mining Weekly: Can you please outline some of Harmony’s power project history and why Harmony has chosen sites in the Free State for Phase 1 of the renewable energy rollout.

Coetzer: This is a project which has been a long time in the making. The plans for our renewable energy programme actually started around four years ago. We always knew that there was this necessity to transform our renewables or our energy consumption, so the plans really began quite a while back and obviously it's a long time. It's the new science for Harmony when we are gold mining specialists, not typically renewable energy specialists, so we had to do a bit of work in understanding the science behind renewable energy and we decided to go with Phase 1 and put these sites near our Free State operations, Tshepong and the Nyala plant. Those are two big operations. We've got a lot of hoisting, a lot of pumping there and they’re typically longer life assets. We tried to align the renewable plants with our longer life mines in the Free State, so that we could get maximum utility from the power from these plants. The original plan was to do an off-balance-sheet structure, given we weren't 100% sure exactly how it would work, but we've done the numbers and we’re really happy with what we've seen, and we’re very excited that we will be breaking ground imminently on these on these three plants.

Who will be building and operating these solar projects?

Old Mutual has taken an equity stake in this, along with Mahlako Energy Fund, and they'll be the equity partners and RMB providing the debt financing for this. It's through a third party - we're doing it through a power purchase agreement. After 15 years, the plants will then become Harmony’s. They are being built on Harmony land, but they are being constructed, managed and we will obviously have engineering oversight given they are being used to power up our operations. We've started clearing the sites and were looking forward to putting the panels in and getting things underway within the next few weeks.

What is Harmony’s decarbonisation strategy and how do these contribute towards Harmony’s strategy?

We've got quite a robust decarbonisation strategy. There are a number of factors at play. First of all, we've got a clear plan to decarbonise over the next few years with our ultimate goal of being net carbon zero by 2045. We'd like to have a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2026. We would then like to progress with our renewable energy rollout from Phase 1 to Phase 2 to Phase 3 over the next four years as well. Phase 1 is a 30 MW renewable plant. Phase 2 will see us rolling out an additional 137 MW of solar renewable energy. Phase 1 is really the first step in a far broader picture. We've also got to understand the types of assets we own. They are deep-level energy-intensive mines so what will typically happen is as some of our older assets such as Bambanani and Masimong reach the end of their lives – Bambanani is closing at the end of this month and Masimong will probably close towards the end of the next financi...