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Coordinated industry intervention is required to create sustainable platinum group metals (PGM) markets, with hydrogen key for platinum in the long term, said outgoing SFA Oxford head Stephen Forrest in a swansong address.

“Promote PGMs heavily as platinum’s structural surplus helps adoption and will unlock mission critical iridium and ruthenium supply too,” Forrest told the 2022 PGMs Industry Day covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Other key points highlighted by Forrest in his keynote address included:

Africa’s solar energy potential providing the continent with a great opportunity to adopt a low emissions policy and be the model to the world;

non-negotiable net-zero policies being implemented regardless of cost, and despite their impact on gross domestic product (GDP);

the essential need to address, on a global scale, the pressing issue of deteriorating air quality and decarbonisation;

the overall number of internal combustion engine vehicles being poised to continue to increase over the next decade, with corresponding growth in PGM demand;

platinum, ruthenium, iridium being highlighted as the mission-critical metals for hydrogen production and fuel cell deployment, but ruthenium and iridium are not at the forefront of mine planning, which raises the question of whether there will be sufficient supply of these metals in the future;

rising global data storage requirements, such as cloud storage at data centres, being poised to lift demand for hard disk drives, and thus platinum use in electrical devices;

longer-term platinum demand being projected to increase steadily to 2050, with expanding silicone production in China, and the rest of the world continuing to raise catalyst requirements in the chemicals sector;

the huge uncertainty around the rate and speed of penetration of electric vehicles and potential growing demand for hybrid vehicles requiring PGMS begging the question of whether there will be sufficient rhodium to service the hybrids;

rhodium supplies being on the way towards halving by 2050, when it is estimated that there will still be 44-million vehicles requiring PGMs;

even with lower hydrogen market demand than expected, the platinum market still being potentially in deficit, owing to the decline in production;

many of today's PGM mines being exhausted by 2050, with implications for associated processing infrastructure and jobs;

South Africa’s northern limb of the Bushveld Complex and Russia being poised to make up tomorrow's PGM’s supply base, given the high palladium content of their ore; and

Russia becoming the largest producer of all PGMS by 2050.

SFA Oxford has been able to draw on its 20 years of in-depth industry experience to identify the important future trends, which enabled the company to state that, from the middle of this decade, unless new projects come on stream, mine depletion means that primary supply will contract and secondary supply from recycling will be insufficient to avoid a significant deficit by 2050.

AUTOMOTIVE EMISSIONS

Automotive emissions legislation was described as remaining positive for PGMS in the nearer term. Tightening emission standards will be key to the continued acceptance of the internal combustion engine and hence the use of PGMS in autocatalysis. In the mid to the late 2020s, the catch up in emission standards in some of the less well-developed regions, offers some cushion for PGM-based autocatalysis against the migration from the internal combustion engine to electric vehicles. Globally, there is a clear timeline to roll out tighter emissions legislation as much more stringent future emission standards are now under discussion, a reference to Euro 7. Whatever the outcome of legislation, personal mobility will continue to be a non-negotiable requirement across all regions of the world. Looking further out at the types of vehicles that we will be driving, helps us to see the future shape of PGM markets. To address the pressing issue o...

London- and Sydney-listed base metal explorer Castillo Copper has identified multiple copper-potential drill-testing targets at its Mkushi project in Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer.

Castillo stated in a release to Mining Weekly on Tuesday that the formulation of a drilling campaign would be the next step towards further developing Mkushi, one of Castillo’s four projects that cover about 1 100 km2 in Zambia’s renowned copperbelt. The other three are Luanshya, Lumwana North and South and Mwansa.

With multiple primary test-drilling targets having boosted the exploration potential of Mkushi and Luanshya materially, the Castillo board has decided to seek a strategic partner to develop its Zambian assets additionally.

The fully-owned Mkushi surrounds the licence area of the Shi Yan Group, which reportedly hosts high-grade copper. (Also see attached graphic.)

Castillo’s findings are those of a final geophysicists report that interpreted the results of an induced polarisation (IP) survey against three areas of known copper soil anomalies, with strike lengths ranging from about 4 km to 7 km.

Castillo Copper MD Dr Dennis Jensen described Mkushi’s IP survey results as being outstanding, “especially as they throw off numerous potential targets to test-drill for copper mineralisation”.

More significantly, he stated that they complemented the results from Luanshya, where 14 identified primary targets had been identified.

“Moving forward, the board is now actively seeking to align with a strategic partner to fully develop the Zambian assets,” Jensen added.

The geophysicist’s interpretations point to disseminated copper sulphide mineralisation.

Forty pre-selected IP lines across 54 km were utilised to test soil geochemical anomalism for potential disseminated copper mineralisation across three target areas, with the report noting a major fault that cuts across Mkushi, which could potentially be the source of mineralising fluids in the region. This, the release added, was consistent with earlier findings that identified two parallel shear zones that originate in Shi Yan Group’s contiguous mining lease, one in ground where copper mining is taking place.

ZAMBIAN MINING SECTOR

As reported by Mining Weekly in December, Zambia Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Chipoka Mulenga, the MP for Chingola, a copperbelt area, said during a visit to South Africa that Zambia was targeting the regaining of its once pre-eminent copper-mining position.

Mulenga was speaking at a spotlight-on-Zambia event hosted by Webber Wentzel and Musa Dudhia & Co.

The event took placed against the background of the government of Zambia, under president Hakainde Hichilema – who is known as HH – taking steps to introduce investment and economic policies to enable business and investment.

While Zambia was intent on also diversifying its economy, Mulenga emphasised that copper remained a major contributor to Zambia's national treasury, and by regaining ground in copper, the country would earn substantial foreign exchange for the benefit of the Zambian people.

The Zambian government had thus set targets to produce three-million metric tonnes of copper a year by 2026. “We want to hit three-million metric tonnes of copper and beyond,” Mulenga enthused.

GREEN ENERGY

Mulenga also outlined the new government’s ambition to advance the generation of green energy.

This would be assisted, he said, by the country's new Green Ministry, which had been established to advance sun and wind energy, in addition to the development of more green hydropower in areas not prone to drought.

Zambia’s copper tailings on surface in waste deposits are also being targeted as a means of recovering copper at comparatively low cost. This is part of the world’s new circular economy thinking, with copper-containing waste removal also uplifting the environment.

Despite the significant energy intensity required to mine metals, the commodities are still “essential for the energy transition to succeed”, says BHP market analysis and economics VP Dr Huw McKay.

He says that, although having a common goal of limiting global warming to below 2 °C of pre-industrial levels by the end of the century as set out in the Paris Agreement, there is no single, common or accepted path for how to get there.

“There are as many ‘pathways to Paris’ as there are climate scenario models. In the more than 100 Paris-aligned scenarios that we have looked at, there is a lot of variety. Yet there are some points on which most models seem to agree,” explains McKay.

In this regard, it is commonly agreed that radical change to the world’s energy and land use systems is required; and that the battle to limit and reduce emissions will be won or lost in populous emerging markets, where energy supply must grow to meet increasing demand while these markets simultaneously transition to low-carbon sources.

In addition, he says it is commonly agreed that action must be taken as soon as possible, as it will be significantly less costly in monetary and socio-environmental terms than delayed action.

“Policy must address all fundamental elements of the transition to allow the demand and supply sides of the system to adjust as required,” says McKay, adding that carbon pricing is a core ingredient of any effective policy framework.

However, these factors present a dilemma for investors. “Metals are essential inputs for the hardware of decarbonisation – there will be no energy transition without a very large increase in the production of critical minerals,” he says.

Yet, McKay notes that the production of minerals can itself be a greenhouse-gas (GHG) emission-intensive process.

To tackle these dilemmas, BHP partnered with Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), through which it developed a report. The report finds that there are two clear roles for investors in respect of this dilemma – to engage constructively with the resources industry to help drive down operational greenhouse gas emissions, and to mobilise the capital that will be required to ensure metal supply does not become an obstacle in the race towards meeting the Paris Agreement.

“We believe investors must be a part of the transition through engagement, focusing efforts on creating an environment where companies, governments and allocators of capital work together to build the ecosystem where clean energy alternatives compete with and beat the incumbent GHG-emitting technologies,” he says.

A successful transition will require a vast capital reallocation and will generate material risks and opportunities, placing investors and global capital markets at the “very centre” of the challenge, adds McKay.

As such, yearly average energy capital investments would rise from about $2-trillion in current terms (2.5% of gross domestic product [GDP]) to about $5-trillion for the period from 2021 to 2050 (4.5% of GDP in 2030, falling to 2.5% of GDP by 2050) as per the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero 2050 scenario.

Total investment requirements in energy supply and infrastructure over the next 30 years could range from $92-trillion to $173-trillion, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

CRITICAL MINERALS

Nonetheless, he says, if the world takes the actions required for decarbonisation in the coming years, cumulative demand for metals is expected to grow substantially.

In the 1.5 °C scenario that BHP described in its Climate Change Report 2020, cumulative demand for primary copper may double in the next 30 years, and for primary nickel it may almost quadruple, in each case compared with the prior 30 years.

“Steelmaking raw materials do a little better than one might think in the scenario – with an uplift over traditional crude steel ranges due to additional demand from extra wind turbines and carbon distribution pipelines assumed,” says McKay.

This, he says, should...

South Africa’s first green finance taxonomy will help investors and financial institutions make more informed decisions on ‘green’ projects, say Webber Wentzel’s Patrick Heron and Joon Chong.

Heron and Chong describe the taxonomy, launched by National Treasury last Friday, as an official classification of what is eligible to be defined as ‘green’, while also listing the standards that define economic activities as ‘green’.

The environmental friendliness that the taxonomy embodies is seen as being critical for attracting future international investments and capital flows.

In addition, it is poised to provide access to a deeper pool of liquidity at competitive prices, Heron and Chong state in a release to Engineering News & Mining Weekly.

It will, they say, also be critical for promoting transparency and thus serve as a robust bulwark against ‘greenwashing’ – deceptively holding up something as being environmentally friendly when it is not.

In 2021, Treasury’s paper entitled ‘Financing a Sustainable Economy’ called for a taxonomy for green, social and sustainable finance initiatives, to build credibility, foster investment, and enable effective monitoring and disclosure of performance. ‘Financing a Sustainable Economy’ focused on addressing climate risk and the opportunities for the financial sector to support a just transition to a low-carbon, socially inclusive, and resilient economy.

Key speakers’ main points listed by Heron and Chong include:

recognition of climate change as the world’s greatest current threat;

the shift of global finance and capital flows towards projects that embody the principles of environmental, social and governance;

the Johannesburg Stock Exchange seeing sustainable finance is one of the fastest-growing forms of finance on the international stage;

the significant increase in the issuance of green bonds, especially on the African continent; and

the rise of investment in sustainable equity.

LIVING DOCUMENT

Treasury states in a media release to Engineering News & Mining Weekly that the taxonomy is intended to be a living document, to be updated and expanded over time through a governance process.

The Intergovernmental Sustainable Finance Working Group, which will provide oversight and governance, will consider emerging international best practices and approaches, including work led by the International Sustainability Standards Board to deliver a global baseline for sustainability disclosure standards.

These will provide investors and other capital market participants with information about companies’ sustainability-related risks and help them make informed decisions.

South Africa’s taxonomy takes account of the model adopted by the European Union, and is described as providing:

clarity and certainty in selecting green investments in line with international best practices and national priorities and standards;

help to unlock large-scale capital for climate-friendly and green investment in South Africa by increasing the credibility and transparency of green activities;

lower financial risk through enhanced management of environmental and social performance;

reduced costs associated with the labelling and issuing of green financial instruments; and

the regulatory and supervision oversight of the financial sector.

TAXONOMY’S DEVELOPMENT

The taxonomy’s development has been overseen by a working group under South Africa’s Climate Risk Forum, a multi-representative group drawing from the national government, financial sector regulators and the financial services sector. It is chaired by Treasury and hosted by the Banking Association South Africa. Support for the taxonomy’s development has also been provided by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), through IFC’s Green Bond Market Development programme, in partnership with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. Technical support was provided by the National Business Initiative and t...

The Mandela Mining Precinct (MMP) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) to establish a “test mine” at RBPlat’s Maseve mine, 50 km north of Rustenburg, in North West.

The test mine will be developed as an industry site for research, development and innovation, allowing for technology demonstration and testing to take place.

MMP programme manager Jurgens Visser says a test mine for research purposes will deliver value to mining companies, original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and other stakeholders, all while contributing to the South African mining industry’s sustainability.

At the moment, research organisations, Mining Equipment Manufacturers of South Africa and other OEMs rely on the goodwill of mining companies to provide test sites for the evaluation of individual components or items of technology.

However, this has limitations in that these mines are often remote and difficult to access and these processes are often perceived by staff members as disruptions to production processes.

The test mine will provide a facility for the testing and demonstration of locally and internationally manufactured mining equipment; research and development activities aligned to the South African Mining Extraction Research Development and Innovation mining research programme; synergistic opportunities for research projects being undertaken by the Mine Health and Safety Council to be trialled and tested; and research work in mining conducted through universities.

Moreover, the test mine will provide facilities for undergraduate and postgraduate students to conduct vacation work, research and vocational training; the opportunity to conduct practical training for government certificates of competency; a site for establishing a practical technology incubator; and a site to enable local industrialisation and start-up companies to be incubated.

All these initiatives will be coordinated through the MMP and its partners.

RBPlat says it is delighted to offer its Maseve mine to be used as an industry test mine, since it is currently under care and maintenance.

“The mine offers a drive-in methodology of entering the mine by means of a decline and the access to the mine's underground infrastructure will not interfere with production activities, as the test area is dedicated to the test mine,” states RBPlat CEO Steve Phiri.

Precious metals mining company Sibanye-Stillwater on Friday highlighted the quality elevation of its price-discounted nickel sulphate crystals to price-premium battery grade through the introduction of the Thakadu Battery Materials operation into the Base Metal Refinery in North West province.

The Thakadu process, Sibanye-Stillwater pointed out, also recovers cobalt, previously lost to the crude nickel sulphate crystals.

Thakadu sources crude nickel sulphate crystals from Sibanye-Stillwater and shares in proceeds in a profit-share arrangement. In a nutshell, Thakadu adds value to what was being disposed of at considerably lower value.

Presenting on its South African platinum group metal (PGM) operations during a Bank of America conference virtual site visit, the Johannesburg- and New York-listed Sibanye-Stillwater displayed a slide on Thakadu under the heading of “other metals contributing to the bottom line”.

Mining Weekly can report that Thakadu, operating as an independent startup, succeeded in turning a PGMs-linked nickel solution into sought-after battery material that is helping to make the world a greener place.

Crude nickel sulphate crystals were previously sold at a discount to the London Metal Exchange (LME). That has been reversed with the Thakadu-processed higher-priced battery grade nickel sulphate now adding to revenue generation.

Sibanye-Stillwater described the battery grade nickel sulphate as forming part of its green metals strategy.

Mining Weekly reported in April 2021 that the Thakadu team of local battery material achievers were planning first-mover advances into new geographies.

At that stage, Thakadu, headed by CEO Ruli Diseko, had a pipeline of new projects in place that would involve the use of locally developed intellectual property, proven process technology and first-mover advantage to fast-track other assets under development in Southern Africa and North America.

In what is a story of world-class local innovation, Thakadu created its own proprietary process at Mintek, working with a team of scientists.

Thakadu identified an opportunity at the bottom of the cycle, borrowed money and succeeded in building its plant while facing considerable headwinds.

When Thakadu began investing that borrowed money in its plant in Marikana from 2016, its counterparty, the then Lonmin Platinum, was in the midst of major financial strain.

Thakadu at the stage of the Mining Weekly report, had an installed capacity of 30 000 t/y of nickel sulphate and was targeting an average steady state of about 25 000 t/y.

The nickel sulphate solution piped for processing from the BMR was formerly crystalised and sold as lower intermediate.

As a producer of high-quality, high-purity battery-grade nickel, Thakadu receives a business-to-business price, with customers in China, Japan, Korea, Europe and Latin America giving a price premium over the LME’s nickel price.

Thakadu has extracted advantaged economics out of processing at source, within a long-standing PGMs processing environment.

When the cathode-focused product gets to export destinations, development into precursor materials requires even more advanced chemistry. Depending on the chemistry, it could become, for example, nickel-cobalt-aluminium oxide, or nickel-cobalt-manganese, at the different combinations used in different batteries.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses PGMs supply on a hiding to nothing; Anglo American touting the idea of providing green hydrogen energy to local communities; and Vedanta's R7-billion investment into the Gamsberg expansion.

Platinum group metals (PGMs) mining company Northam Platinum displayed graphs during Thursday’s presentation of half-year results, which indicate that PGMs supply is on a hiding to nothing on the way to 2040.

“There’s a systematic global primary supply problem and the scarcity of both new PGM resources and new mining projects will bite hard,” Northam Platinum CEO Paul Dunne warned during the presentation of results covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

The graphs focus on primary mining supply of platinum, palladium and rhodium across the next 18 years.

“For platinum, we forecast continuing contractions in supply over this period,” he said. (Also see attached image.)

“For palladium, we forecast essentially flat supply through to 2027, and for rhodium, we forecast a very similar profile to that of platinum.

“This bottom-up analysis has been constructed on a shaft-by-shaft, half-level by half-level basis, from resources through to reserves and then finally through to final production, and includes all announced projects,” Dunne said.

In displaying the slides, Dunne highlighted that Northam’s view of the future of PGMs differed from what is understood to be the current market consensus, contending that the dearth of mining investment over the past decade would have supply consequences.

He did so in the same week as 17-page analysis by independent precious metals consultant Dr David Davis pointed to China’s importation of platinum having shifted the platinum’s supply balance into deficit – even though a platinum surplus continues to be assumed across a broad front.

Speaking to journalists during a media roundtable in which Mining Weekly participated, Northam expounded what it also described as a non-consensus view: “We do not hold the view that internal combustion engines (ICE) will be replaced by battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Let me say it absolutely bluntly. Internal combustion engines of one form or another will be around across the world for many decades to come.

“On that basis – it’s like a double-edged sword in a way – we acknowledge that BEVs have a role to play. However, we do not believe they will completely replace the ICE. What that means is, if you do produce an ICE, or a hybrid ICE, it must be clean. The public and the social environment across the world will not accept less than optimal exhaust solutions,” he said.

He spoke of one hybrid vehicle range “literally running on thin air” of five litres of fuel per 100 kilometres travelled.

“It’s incredibly efficient, and I think the list price is somewhere around R420 000. It’s a very, very cost-effective motor car, both from a capital point of view and on running costs.

“On that basis, we do not believe that we’re at peak PGM, as some people have portrayed. In our analysis, hybrids will do very well, and on that basis, PGMs are absolutely essential. We see strong demand into the future for the automotive metals – palladium, rhodium and platinum.

“The hydrogen metals – platinum, ruthenium, iridium – the same, and you’ve seen our graphs on depletion. The body of work behind those graphs is extensive,” Dunne said (These are shown in the attached Creamer Media video.)

Mining companies could only produce PGMs from the assets they had and those not reinvesting in mining would consume what they had rapidly in view of expected demand.

Meanwhile, during the long period of underinvestment by PGMs mining companies, costs had escalated substantially.

“When you don’t do things for ten years, you forget what it costs, and then when you wake up one morning and decide to build something, the cost of it is going to hit you in the face. It inhibits the decision to do a new build because of what it now costs to replace some of these PGMs assets.

“We have depleting mining assets. We have a lack of capital investment, a lack of build for at least a decade. The cost of that build today is difficult to swallow. In turn, that means that the existing asset b...

The green energy transition presents an “unparalleled” opportunity for Zambia, but for it to work, the mining sector needs a fair, predictable and stable regulatory framework, law firm Herbert Smith Freehills partner and Africa co-chair Peter Leon said during an address at the Chatham House Conference, in Lusaka, Zambia, on March 30.

The administration of President Hakainde Hichilema has previously stated its intention to increase the country's copper production from about 800 000 t/y to about three-million tons a year within the next decade to meet the surge in demand for materials that enable the green energy transition.

Mining is currently Zambia’s dominant industry, accounting for 10% of gross domestic product, more than 70% of foreign exchange earnings, 30% of government revenue and 8% of formal employment.

Despite the prominent role the mining sector plays in Zambia's economy, to achieve the ambitious production targets, Leon believes Hichilema should seek to reinvigorate Zambia's mining sector.

This would require increased production at existing mines and the establishment of new mines, which can only be achieved by attracting foreign investment back into the country.

Zambia is home to vast reserves of copper and cobalt and is the second-largest producer of copper in Africa, after the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Although copper and cobalt are both strategic metals which play an important role in the green energy transition, Zambia's cobalt reserves remain largely unexplored and unexploited, principally owing to investor uncertainty, Leon explained.

“Green energy technologies require an enormous quantity of minerals to construct, including copper and cobalt. At this juncture, there is a two-thirds gap between current production rates and future demand for minerals needed for the green energy transition,” he pointed out.

Leon said the production of minerals such as graphite, lithium and cobalt could increase by nearly 500% by 2050 to meet the growing demand for clean energy technologies, while the demand for copper had resulted in an exponential price increase.

“Rapid growth in the Zambian mining sector cannot be achieved unless it is underpinned by a fair, predictable and stable regulatory framework which is implemented and administered by competent government officials in an open and transparent manner,” Leon enthused.

In addition, he said the regulatory framework and the manner in which it was administered would establish an investor-friendly business environment that would attract foreign direct investment and stimulate growth.

Zambia’s government has made some efforts to increase the attractiveness of its mining sector through fiscal incentives. For example, it reduced the corporate tax rate for all companies from 35% to 30% and it reintroduced the tax deductibility of mineral royalties against corporate income tax. This has undone the double taxation practice which was greatly affecting recapitalisation efforts, Leon said.

Moreover, the government announced that it intended to operationalise the Mining Appeals Tribunal, the aim of which was to enhance transparency and provide governance in dispute resolution.

However, Leon said these steps were not enough.

“Foreign investment – and therefore copper and cobalt production – will not increase unless the government reforms the mineral law regime to better accord with international best practice, and implements mechanisms to ensure that the law is administered in an efficient and effective manner,” he said.

Leon noted that the need to revise the mineral law framework to better accord with international best practice was emphasised when considering that, despite the introduction of business-friendly mining policies within the last year, copper output for the start of this year was weaker than production in the first quarter of 2021.

He indicated that the new mineral law framework should stipulate clear substantive and procedural requirements with which applications f...

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 on March 30.

Bushveld Minerals CEO Fortune Mojapelo said the energy transition offered considerable opportunities for South Africa’s mining industry and its resources, and the question now would be how to take advantage of that and build a strategy for the country’s commodities that maximised its share of the energy transition value chain.

In this vein, he highlighted that vanadium, the space in which Bushveld operated, hosted considerable potential for the country, as South Africa held the largest primary vanadium resource base in the world.

Bushveld was bullish about the outlook for the vanadium market, Mojapelo said, owing to demand being very robust, with this demand growing owing to vanadium redox flow batteries, catalysed by the energy transition.

Moreover, he noted that vanadium supply was very concentrated, and nearing capacity.

Therefore, with demand increasing, Bushveld said South Africa, as a primary producer of vanadium, was well-positioned to meet the growing demand.

Industrial Development Corporation Mining and Metals SBU head Thabiso Sekano, meanwhile, touched on the critical issue of infrastructure, noting that this needed to be improved upon to ensure the country’s minerals got to market.

This is especially the case for operator Transnet’s rail infrastructure, with issues on the rail network impacting, for example, resources being transported to port for export, as well as considerably reducing the amount of coal being transported.

While there had been some efforts to improve in areas such as a lack of locomotives and increasing cable theft, more needed to be done, Sekano emphasised, with government needing to assist further.

He said it was counterproductive for mining companies to invest in projects if there was no way for them to get their product to market.

Sekano also suggested the country should do more to promote itself as a mining investment destination, with it boasting supportive legislation, infrastructure that could be upgraded and mineral resource wealth.

Echoing Mojapelo’s sentiments around opportunities presented by the energy transition, he said the country could present a competitive advantage owing to its vast land reserves that could be used to build green power projects to power mining projects.

Also, Mojapelo said the move by government to encourage high energy users to generate their own power was welcome, with Bushveld taking advantage of this by developing its own minigrid solution, and other mining companies also making similar announcements to enter this space.

Meanwhile, Menar MD and co-founder Vuslat Bayoglu, called for a one-stop shop for mining licensing, where there was one government department dealing with mining rights, water-use licences and other regulatory requirements for proposed new projects.

He expanded that one of the biggest issues facing the country’s mining industry from developing further, and creating much-needed jobs, was the red tape around environmental licences – rather than the mining right itself.

Bayoglu said mining projects were often held up by various appeals against them on environmental grounds, especially from nongovernmental organisations.

While the environment was a key issue, Bayoglu pointed out that these appeals take a very long time to resolve.

He said the country’s current process for mining companies to secure rights was already very stringent, and took cognisance of environmental and water issues. Therefore, he called instead for more engagement with NGOs, instead of resorting to appeals.

JSE Primary Markets business development manager Patrycja Kula-Vers...