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Namibia has the potential to become the Pilbara of new age battery metals.

That is the view of AfriTin CEO Anthony Viljoen, who spoke to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

“We've been prospecting and developing tin projects for the better half of 20 years almost and what I must say is that there’s something unique about Namibia.

“Not only is it one of the best destinations in Africa to invest in, but also the geology is just phenomenal, and I think it’s very much an overlooked province that has the potential to become, let’s call it, the Pilbara of new age battery metals,” said Viljoen.

The Pilbara is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia that is known for its vast deposits of particularly iron-ore.

Taken back to first geological principles, Viljoen highlighted how Namibia’s remarkable pegmatite belts extend for hundreds of kilometres, both inland and up the coast – “and they are basically blessed with a smorgasbord of different battery elements, all of which happen to be the flavour of the month”, he added.

London Aim-listed AfriTin has itself got tin, lithium, tungsten and tantalum, all of these elements playing into the new battery hypothesis.

Recent drilling results reinforce the company's belief that its Uis mine is host to one of the largest lithium resources globally.

“The scale of these pegmatite belts is just something that we've never seen before. We've had numerous visitors. One of our directors is a professor of geology at Oxford University, and according to him, these are some of the biggest pegmatites he's ever seen. As we get stuck into the historic data, it just becomes more and more apparent how big this resource can actually get to,” Viljoen emphasised.

As a former mining operation, Uis has been extensively drilled but historic assaying has focused solely on the tin with no regard for the lithium or tantalum in the deposit.

The Phase 2 project now under way is increasing the confidence of the current lithium and tantalum estimates and is part of AfriTin’s strategy to bring these two commodities into production alongside its tin operation.

Preliminary assessment in April pointed to the potential of these by-product elements being potentially game changing. The construction of the new lithium pilot that is scheduled to be completed this year will potentially allow AfriTin to progress to commercial production phases much faster than a new greenfield lithium resource elsewhere.

Mining Weekly: What makes AfriTin better poised to go commercial with lithium than would be the case with a greenfield find?

Viljoen: We took what’s a bit of an unorthodox approach, although if we were mining 30 years ago, it would be a very straightforward approach. Rather than mining on an Excel spreadsheet, we took the historical data and we reconstructed the old Iscor mine. We started getting to grips with the orebody, understanding, firstly, how the tin and tantalum mineralisation occurred, but then, when we were doing the confirmatory drilling programme, we tested for a variety of different elements, and lo and behold, we actually found that associated with this orebody is an incredible blessing of lithium – and this lithium occurs throughout the orebody. What we’re doing now is an infill drilling programme. But what really adds to the value here is that we’re already in production and the lithium is busy reporting to the waste, so we simply need to add a module on to our existing circuit and we can be can start producing lithium concentrate, which is way ahead of just about every other lithium junior out there.

What about your tin discovery, development and now production, we’re not hearing as much about that as we used to?

We tend to gloss over that now, but the thing is that the tin is making great money. Just on our existing operations, we're looking at about a 50% Ebitda margin on a month-to-month basis. The orebody is really fantastic in terms of it...

Diversified mining and marketing company Glencore is to convert surface drills in Chile to autonomous operation as part of the first phase of a digital mining journey.

Glencore's Compañía Minera Lomas Bayas copper mine in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile – which extracts low-grade copper oxide ore – is the first mover. Given its low grade, the mine is seen as a compelling business case.

Glencore operational excellence and technology global GM Cristian Carrasco described the initiative as the first of many expected Glencore copper group technological initiatives seeking to modernise, transform and align the business to stakeholder’s requirements and priorities.

The project is significant as Lomas Bayas will be the first to adopt intelligent drill technology globally in Glencore mining operations. Conversion of Caterpillar drills and wireless network installation is expected to be completed in June 2023.

“Incorporating technology into equipment is our response to constant changes that mining operations face,” said Lomas Bayas GM Pablo Carvallo.

The first phase will be completed using technology provided by US-based Flanders, which has a regional office in South Africa’s Middelburg. The 15-year-old Ardvarc autonomous system, which is agnostic to original equipment manufacturers, is said to enable advanced functionality through interoperability with fleet management systems and other data acquisition platforms.

Glencore technology study manager Enrique Caballero highlighted the mine’s operational vision as being strongly aligned with digital technology that enhances safety, sustainability, and workforce quality of life.

The initial phase will provide information to continue the journey to full automation of mining equipment across the operation, Flanders stated in the media release to Mining Weekly.

“We have high hopes that the results will enable us to continue walking down this path,” Lomas Bayas mine manager Felipe Bunout stated.

Ardvarc is said to typically lift productivity by up to 30%, provide greater drill accuracy and the ability for one person to operate up to eight drills from its remote command centre, improving decision-making by integrating functions across the value chain.

Flanders regional director Martin Schafer pointed to the technology adding a financial dimension as well as environmental gains in the form of the autonomous drills having shown a 7.3% reduction in fuel compared with manned drills – a reduction of about 1 200 litres of fuel a year, the equivalent to 2 966 fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere.

Lomas Bayas produces 75 000 t of copper cathode a year, with its low-grade copper ore processed by heap leaching and converted to copper cathode after processing through a solvent extraction and electrowinning plant.

A top-10 investor in South Africa's Gold Fields on Friday urged the miner to cancel its planned takeover of Canada-based Yamana Gold, saying the $6.7-billion transaction was expensive and did not guarantee growth and profitability.

Shares in the South African miner plunged 20% on May 31, when it announced the all-share transaction that would make it a top four global gold producer, amid concerns over valuation and shareholder dilution. The stock has not recovered since.

Redwheel, which holds 3.38% of Gold Fields, on Friday became the first major investor to publicly call for the deal to be scrapped, saying the share price decline showed that the market believed the miner had made a "serious error" in pursuing Yamana.

"Redwheel has been a significant investor in Goldfields for several years and we believe that the company should withdraw the offer and concentrate on the excellent organic growth options which it already owns," it said in an open letter to Gold Fields' board published on its website.

While the market reaction to the deal has been mostly negative, some analysts believe Gold Fields could benefit from expanding its size and geographical diversification, ahead of the next gold price rally.

"Gold Fields has been unduly punished by the market. They are leaders of disciplined growth in LatAm, hence a bigger platform in the region provides an expanded base for real value creation with a Tier 1 asset in Canada to boot," Christopher Kololian, RBC's Co-Head of EMEA Mining & Metals, said.

South Africa’s exported bulk mineral tonnages have dropped to their lowest level since the Covid-19 lockdown in the first half of 2020, with rail, port and border constraints negatively affecting users of these State-owned services, causing exporters and the country to miss the full benefits of the current high commodity price cycle, industry body Minerals Council South Africa says.

It notes that the constraints on exports of coal, chrome, iron-ore and manganese are a continuation of the difficulties mining companies and traders experienced during 2021, when they experienced an opportunity cost of R35-billion if delivered tonnages are measured against targets set by rail operator Transnet, and a R50-billion opportunity cost if deliveries are measured against the capacity of the rail and port infrastructure and rolling stock.

“If there is no change or urgent intervention to address the logistical bottlenecks, the mining industry is likely to incur similar opportunity costs this year, if not surpassing historical losses,” says Minerals Council chief economist Henk Langenhoven.

Bulk mineral exports in April were at the lowest monthly level since 2016 if the Covid-19-related economic shutdown from March 2020 is excluded.

“The rail and port logistics bottlenecks are having a big impact on South Africa’s mineral exports. This worrying trend, which shows no signs of slowing or reversing, underscores the urgency for high-level intervention on the rail network and our ports to stabilise them, return them to productivity and meet design capacity.

“Only having achieved the latter can we realistically talk about implementing growth projects so the bulk commodity mines can expand,” says Langenhoven.

“Currently, better commodity prices are compensating for underperforming export volumes but the price cycle may reverse, or volumes may deteriorate to such a degree that it negates the price windfall,” he adds.

In the four months to April 30, iron-ore export volumes were 7% lower year-on-year, with the value of sales down by 25%.

Similarly, production was 14% below that of a year ago.

Thermal coal export tonnages were just 8% higher, meaning companies, traders and the fiscus have not fully realised the 150% improvement in coal prices if capacity existed to increase volumes. Production was nearly 3% lower, the council points out.

It adds that chrome export tonnages were flat, at 0.4% below those of a year earlier, while the value of exports climbed by 14%.

Production nudged up 2.2%. Producers continue to use trucks to export chrome through Mozambique’s Maputo port, the council points out.

Manganese exports grew by 6% against a 23% increase in value. Production was down by 2%. Crime has recently started to influence tonnages transported on rail, which the council says is concerning.

The Minerals Council says its leadership is engaged in high-level talks with Transnet’s senior executives and management about the constraints it is dealing with, and how best the mining industry can assist to resolve these challenges.

There are also talks about specific commodities and their associated rail and port links between the council, relevant member companies and Transnet to find solutions in a collaborative manner.

The Minerals Council and Transnet are in regular contact with Cabinet Ministers and the government’s security cluster to address the sourcing of spares for about 200 locomotives and to tackle crime on the rail network respectively, the council says.

It highlights that the coal industry has invested more than R100-million on security interventions that have proved effective in considerably reducing the number of security incidents on the COALlink network.

Chrome, iron-ore and manganese miners are in talks with Transnet about extending the private security and technology initiatives to their rail corridors to combat crime that is disrupting exports, the council says.

Modern technology and global decarbonisation demand is positioning South Africa’s already incredibly well-endowed Northern Cape with big beneficiation bonanza potential, in addition to being a green minerals, green metals and green energy haven.

Rapidly developing clean beneficiation technology coupled with unprecedented demand growth for battery metal salts and specialist powders – precursor battery products –– are giving support to potential on-site production of added value products that attract significant price premiums as beneficiated products.

Calculations point to mining cut-off grades being able to accommodate even moderate-grade ores that contribute what is required in integrated additive manufacturing processes.

Technology and engineering advances have lowered capital expenditure and operating expenditure by removing the need for traditional high-energy roasting and smelting.

These investment-encouraging points were this week highlighted in a presentation to the Resources Rising Stars 2022 Gold Coast Conference in Australia by Orion Minerals, which reports that it is three months away from showing that it can develop very valuable future metallics in a district where it is reviving the Prieska copper/zinc mine and developing the Okiep copper project amid abundant solar and wind renewable energy and planned green hydrogen and green ammonia rollout.

The ASX- and JSE-listed company has signed an agreement for the development of a specialist battery product refining facility in the Northern Cape and signed a term sheet with Stratega Metals to investigate the use of its licensed refining technology to produce specialist battery precursor products locally.

Test work and scoping feasibility assessments are already under way on modified carbonyl and chlorine vapour technology, and modified derivation of process technology already in use at Vale’s Sudbury Refinery in Canada, Norilsk Nickel Refinery in Russia and Jinchuan Metals in China.

Being investigated is the deploying of near-zero-emission technology and zero water technology in low-energy consumption.

All indications point to Orion becoming a fast-tracker of future metals from its two known brownfield deposits of copper, zinc, nickel, cobalt, platinum-group elements, gold, silver, rare earth elements and lithium.

The acceleration of three base metal projects towards first production is at a well-advanced study stage, along with financing and strategic partner engagement in alignment with new market dynamics for future-facing metals.

“Ultimately, we will be producing precursor battery mineral products on site, in the Northern Cape,” Orion CEO Errol Smart told the conference covered by Mining Weekly.

Orion is developing along a path of full integration from exploration to mining and refining.

With precursor battery metal production it has swung to the value-add side, “and this is what’s really exciting s at the moment”.

It has identified a group of chemical engineer producers of precursor battery sulphides, battery metals, battery nickel and battery cobalt from the kind of ore that Orion will be mining.

These engineers have shown how all this can be done with off-the-shelf technology and hardware that is available from the petrochemicals industry.

“We’re busy drilling the first samples now that are going to go into lab test work and within three months we’re going to be able to show that we can develop a very valuable nickel/cobalt metallics producer in this district. That’s the fantastic opportunity that you’ve got in the Northern Cape,” added Smart.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer unpacks Southern Palladium's listing on the JSE; Steenkampskraal's rare earths development; and Rocsole stressing the need for increased efficiency to cut carbon emissions and Kal Tire tackling mine tyre waste through the circular economy approach.

Now is the time to help junior coal mining companies expand or help bring newcomers on board, amid high coal prices and solid existing and incoming demand, XMP Consulting senior coal analyst Xavier Prévost said this week.

He noted, in a lecture hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand on June 8, that South Africa was poised to replace displaced coal supply from Russia, as many markets moved to boycott Russian exports following that country’s invasion of Ukraine.

For example, the European Union (EU) has agreed to a partial embargo on Russian oil, immediately impacting about 75% of Russian oil exports.

“If South Africa can export 25% of what Russia used to export to Europe, we can make a fortune,” Prévost averred.

If the EU is to ban all Russian coal imports by August 10, as planned, coal traders are anticipating a jump in European demand.

Another promising opportunity is that of India’s State-owned Coal India issuing tenders for coal procurement. The country’s coal demand is expected to surge by 48% to 1.45-billion tons a year by 2029/30, from 980-million tons in 2021/22.

About 7 GW of energy generation capacity is set to be commissioned in India over 2022 and 2023, with 39 thermal coal plants being built.

In 2021/22, India added eight thermal coal plants totalling 4.49 GW of capacity.

India imported 219-million tons of coal in 2021, and 47-million tons in the year-to-date.

However, Prévost cautioned that India’s interest in South African coal was limited, as high calorific value 6 000 kcal/kg coal (RB1), which South Africa produced, was too expensive and, conversely, RB3 (5 500 kcal/kg), used in sponge steel production was not in demand in the country, after India imposed export duties on some steel products.

Once international prices start cooling, many consumers, including India, will resume imports. Coal has nonetheless seen a rebound in global demand in recent years.

Apart from high pricing and reluctant buyers in some regions, with no deals for coal having been reported by the Richards Bay Coal Terminal in the last week, there are also the issues of South Africa’s coal stockpiles being low and logistics – railways and ports – being highly inefficient.

Prévost said State-owned freight utility Transnet’s railway lines had been suffering under a scourge of vandalism and theft, while the ports were bearing the brunt of various negative impacts in recent years.

He lamented that although there were huge opportunities for South Africa to continue supplying coal to the world, it needed to bring more coal miners on stream, resolve logistical issues and continue to develop cleaner coal technologies.

“As a result of the current lack of incentives and capital to implement new coal projects, South African production is stagnant and old mines are almost exhausted or dropping production drastically.

“What South Africa needs now is to bring new mines on stream,” he said.

COAL RATIONALE

Prévost advocates for continued use of coal currently and in the future, deeming it critical to the world as it provides affordable, much-needed electricity, as well as builds societies through its use in steel and cement.

About 37% of the world’s electricity is generated from coal, while nearly 70% of global steel production depends on coal, according to World Coal Association (WCA).

“There is not another source of energy more dependable, abundant and cheap that can replace coal. Coal is the only alternative to energy poverty,” Prévost said, citing the WCA and adding that there were still 1.1-billion people globally without access to electricity.

As it stood, China, Russia and the US had 98% of the world’s 860-billion tons of coal resources, but there remained many undiscovered resources around the world. Russia was at risk of having no demand for its 225-billion tons reserve of coal, as President Vladimir Putin has rendered Russia’s economy ‘cancelled’, Prévost noted.

There were enough coal resources to sustain production for 118 more years, whil...

A mine that produced some of South Africa’s best copper and zinc concentrates back in the day is capable of being brought back into production in 19 months after reconstruction go-ahead.

Only a very little portion of equity is still required for the restart of the Prieska copper/zinc mine, which Anglovaal discovered in 1968 and operated for 20 years.

During those two decades it mined 46-million tons of ore to produce 460 000 t of copper and a million tons of zinc.

“This is going to be a big game-changer for us,” Orion Minerals CEO Errol Smart told the Resources Rising Stars 2022 Gold Coast Conference in Australia this week.

“We’re going to be mining that openpit and the pillars for the first three years before getting into the large orebody – a big, lazy slab of 9-m- to 30-m-thick mineralisation that is folded but easily mined in fantastic mining conditions,” said Smart.

“It’s within our means to get under construction within the next six months and be in production 19 months later,” he added.

Anglovaal mined the steeply dipping limb down to 970 m, a point at which the orebody rolls over and flattens.

This resulted in a critical decision having to be made in the early 1980s, which resulted in Anglovaal deciding against investing in new infrastructure at a time of political change in South Africa and opting to move up to the Zambian Copperbelt.

In the asset the now-defunct South African mining major left behind, the Sydney- and Johannesburg-listed Orion has drilled up 30-million tons of compliant resources.

“It’s open in every dimension. Some of the highest grade and thickest intersections that have been drilled on this orebody are on the edges of our current compliant resource. We’ve got downhole electromagnetic surveys which show that the orebody continues,” Smart told the conference covered by Mining Weekly.

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

“We’re going to be able to extract by putting in backfill because all our mining is going to be with cemented backfill.,” he said.

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

The challenge up to now for the $100-million Orion was the initially calculated $500-million to turn the project to account. But this cost has been slashed overwhelmingly 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. Moreover, South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) this week finished its due diligence, which is linked to $20-million from the IDC.

“Now we’ve got a very small little portion of equity that is required to build this mine. It’s within our means to get under construction within the next six months and be in production 19 months later. This is going to be a big game-changer for Orion and it changes the entire economic outlook for Orion.

MAD HATTER

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

At this week’s conference on Australia’s Gold Coast, he began his presentation 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 the South African population.

The area where Orion has its projects, which also includes O’Kiep, has produced more than 2.5-million tons of copper in the last century but currently produces none – not because there are not large volumes of it ...

Platinum group metals (PGMs) miner Northam Platinum is requesting the Competition Tribunal to accept its request to intervene in and assist in the tribunal processes related to fellow PGMs miner Impala Platinum’s (Implats’) proposed buyout of Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat).

As reported by Mining Weekly in May, Implats and RBPlat informed their shareholders that the proposed deal whereby Implats intends to acquire all the shares in RBPlat it does not already own, was likely to be delayed.

The transaction had received the go-ahead from the Competition Commission and Implats and RBPlat had started processes before the tribunal.

However, Northam made an application to intervene in the tribunal process.

Presenting in a hearing to the tribunal on June 8, counsel for Northam indicated that the company had identified several areas where it believes it could be of assistance to the tribunal in making its decision on whether or not to approve Implats’ buyout of RBPlat.

This includes that the commission’s investigation into the proposed merger used the wrong market definition, and the vertical and horizontal effects of the merger, Northam argued.

Northam elaborated that the investigation got both the product and geographic market definition incorrect on this transaction.

Further, it pointed out that the investigation was concluded under considerable time pressure, meaning that it was incomplete.

Northam said this put the tribunal in a difficult position, as it has been presented with a recommendation from the commission that has “fundamental errors, because of market analysis mistakes, horizontal and vertical effect mistakes, and lack of a complete record of relevant information that needs to be addressed”.

Northam also said the merger would be anti-competitive and that smelting capacity may be reduced.

Implats, presenting its side, said there was no evidence to back Northam’s claims.

Rather, it said, there were plans to increase smelting capacity, and without the merger, closures would have happened instead.

Meanwhile, Northam posited that as an intervenor, it can assist and show the limited alternatives in the primary concentrate market, as well as the actual dynamics in the markets, so that these concerns could possibly be conditions that the tribunal could impose on any approval of transactions.

It also mentioned public interest concerns that arise from the proposed merger. The company in its submission to the commission and its appeal to the tribunal identified at least five public interest factors that it believed it could be of assistance to the tribunal with.

This includes the impact of the removal of RBPlat from the industrial sector and on the region in which these resources are located.

Moreover, in terms of employment, it pointed out the adverse conditions of having that much labour concentrated in one area.

It also said the issue of how the proposed employee stock ownership plan (Esop) would be implemented was an employment issue.

Northam said that, as a shareholder with a 34% interest in RBPlat, its ability to understand and endorse any conditionality around changes to who holds the shares and how these are held in the company is an interest that requires the company’s intervention.

The company said that from the tribunal, it is seeking the “full suite” of procedural rights, so that it can provide assistance to the tribunal.

It is also seeking costs of this counsel.

Northam asserted that, as a market participant and miner that provides smelting services to other junior miners, and as a customer of Implats, it is uniquely placed to provide knowledge into the bargaining relationship between junior miners and the big three PGMs companies in the country for smelting services.

Implats, meanwhile, urged the tribunal to be cognisant of the motive behind Northam’s application to intervene. It said that elements of the appeal show that Northam is trying to delay the proceedings so that it can submit a takeover bid of its own.

N...

The first in-person listing of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange since Covid heard the African kudu horn serenade an opening bid of R6.90 a share for platinum group metals (PGMs) company Southern Palladium, which on Wednesday took its place on the JSE’s main board as a secondary listing under the SDL code.

It did so shortly after the JSE recounted its rousing journey from a mining tent 135 years ago to a trading pace that now averages 300 orders a second and 20 million orders a day. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Community members, labour union mineworkers and investors closed ranks below the big screen after JSE CEO Dr Leila Fourie had expressed great excitement at being able to list Southern Palladium, which is chaired by seasoned PGM campaigner Terence Goodlace.

Southern Palladium MD Johan Odendaal highlighted the newly listed company’s tight arm-locking with the admirably persevering Bengwenya community, of the Steelpoort and Burgersfort area, which hosts one of the largest remaining shallow platinum deposits on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex. Bengwenyama-ya-

Maswazi is a major partner with a 30% direct interest and further indirect ownership through a 12.3% shareholding in Southern Palladium.

The timing of the tide-turning listing coincides with a world needing PGMs cleans up its act still further by transitioning to clean and green energy.

Alicia Greenwood, the CEO of JSE Clear – the entity within the JSE group that is responsible for the risk management, clearing and settlement of all transactions in the equity, currency, interest rate and commodities derivatives markets – emphasised the JSE’s deep liquidity – “which means that which means that a lot of people are interested in trading the companies on our exchange”.

JSE trading operations manager Martin Koch spoke of exchange’s trading engine literally functioning as fast as the speed of light and how the R6.90 a share orders for Southern Palladium were being sent across for the rest of the world at a maximum speed of 300 milliseconds.

“We hope that listing on our main board is the beginning of another prosperous chapter in your company’s history and that it serves as a springboard to your next phase. We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial journey,” stated Fourie.

“At the JSE, we remain very committed to creating an effective environment for companies such as Southern Palladium to raise capital and to grow,” Greenwood said at the event covered by Mining Weekly.

While Koch conceded that the JSE was more technology orientated than it was in the tent back in the day, he remains adamant that its main function of facilitating the buying and selling of shares in the best possible manner continues to be firmly intact.

“These are the celebrations that really get to the crux of what we do at the JSE,” said Greenwood, who added that the JSE tam had returned from last month’s Investing in African Mining Indaba “so pumped up and excited by the level of debate and the plotting, planning and activities that the mining community has for its sector” – a sector that is responsible for the JSE coming into existence..

Certainly, us at the JSE were very excited coming away from those forums to play a role in supporting mining to reach those goals, to play a role in providing a platform for mining companies to raise the capital and the money that you need to drive those dreams into realities.

The JSE is a robust exchange, we’ve been around for over 130 years, starting out with the gold mines in the centre of Johannesburg, and we are the largest exchange in Africa, with deep liquidity, which means that a lot of people are interested in trading the companies on our exchange. We’re also a very good venue of choice for companies like yourselves that is seeking a secondary fast-track listing, particularly when those companies already are in jurisdictions such as Toronto, the UK and Australia.

JSE head of origination and deals Sam Mokorosi, who served as master ...