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The board of directors of Vedanta Zinc International (VZI) has approved a R7-billion investment into the Gamsberg Phase 2 expansion project in the Northern Cape, which will double the mine and plant capacity from four-million tons to eight-million tons a year.

In metal terms, it will increase output from 300 000 t to half-a-million tons of metal a year.

This will make VZI and South Africa the largest zinc producer in Africa, says VZI executive director and CFO Pushpender Singla. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Vedanta is committed to producing ‘green’ zinc from this expansion to make the province emission free and the company is at an advanced stage of locking in a renewable energy contract, to ensure greenness and decarbonisation.

Singla, who spoke to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview, says construction of the project will take 18 to 22 months and bring significant socioeconomic benefits to the Northern Cape, including 2 000 to 2 500 jobs during construction and 800 to 1 000 permanent jobs upon completion. This is in addition to the 2 700 people already employed at the mine.

It will form part of the Namakwa Special Economic Zone, which government is expected to approve soon, and contribute to secondary industries and downstream beneficiation.

Apart from the Gamsberg Phase 2 investment, which starts immediately, VZI last year also approved a magnetite project investment of around R600-million.

“We are trying to convert our tailings into one of the best quality high quality magnetite. So, on the one side we will reduce the impact on the environment, on the other side we will create another product line and employment for another 250 people in the Northern Cape,” said Singla.

Of the company’s R21-billion investment pledge of three years ago, it has reached beyond R12-billion investment level.

Phase 2 will require 18 months of construction and three months of commissioning and ramp-up.

“So, 21 months from now, we’ll have first production,” says Singla.

“In terms of funding, we always believe that we must earn the money to invest the money, so our first focus is to fund this project from internal funds. But we always want to ensure that we have enough flexibility, so all the South African banks, together with RMB and Nedbank, are working closely with us on this project,” he adds.

A prefeasibility study is under way for the setting up of a smelter and refining in Namibia remains on the cards, with the cost of power being key.

Underground and opencast mining activities currently require 45 MW and Phase 2 will require another 25 MW, taking the complex’s total power requirement to 70 MW. A smelter would require another 130 MW, which would take the requirement to a new total of 200 MW.

Logistics to the Port of Saldanha, which is 600 km away, are described as being very good. In the absence of smelting, concentrate is moved to the Middle East, China and Europe, with transport having to be expanded to match growth.

Vedanta Limited is reportedly the world’s sixth largest diversified natural resources company and the largest natural resources company in India. With a market capitalisation of $20-billion, Vedanta Limited operates in India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Namibia, Australia and Dubai.

BIODIVERSITY AGREEMENT

Unique succulent Karoo biodiversity covers 83 000 km2 of arid South Africa and Namibia and contains the largest number of succulents for a region of this size.

Conservation and nursery work have thus been under way to ensure that all plants are replaced during the rehabilitation process.

VZI, which has signed a biodiversity agreement with government, prides itself on being fully compliant.

Vedanta Group chairperson Anil Agarwal is an adviser to President Cyril Ramaphosa on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Investments in South Africa.

In July 2015, Mining Weekly reported on the first blast taking place to signal the start of VZI’s Phase 1 at Gamsberg. Phase 1 involved the development of the 250 000 t/y opencas...

Independent precious metals authority the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) and gold authority the World Gold Council (WGC) plan to collaborate to develop and implement an international system of gold bar integrity, chain of custody and provenance – the Gold Bar Integrity Programme.

Over time, this pilot-phase project – which will comprise LBMA and WGC global gold supply chain representatives – will ensure consumers, investors and market participants can trust that their gold is genuine and has been responsibly and sustainably sourced.

This initial phase will see two distributed ledger companies – aXedras and Peer Ledger – demonstrate how their technology can best deliver a global ecosystem that will create an immutable record of a gold bar’s place of origin and chain of custody. This blockchain-backed ledger will register and track bars, capturing the provenance and full transaction history.

LBMA CEO Ruth Crowell says the international trade in wholesale, physical gold depends on confidence. “The initiative announced today underlines the confidence that all participants in the market can have in the integrity and accountability of the gold they trade, and the gold they buy.”

She adds that this is a major advance in improving transparency for the common good of the gold industry.

As the project progresses, all major participants in the gold industry will be encouraged to adopt this technology, and add to the global ecosystem, so that all gold bars are registered and tracked across the entire supply journey from mine to vault, and ultimately to end-consumers such as jewellery manufacturers. This will effectively digitise the global supply chain of gold bars.

WGC CEO David Tait says the “transformative” project is the first step towards a more aligned gold industry, where role-players work together to ensure a more accessible and transparent market.

“Consumers and investors want to know their gold has been responsibly and sustainably produced and tracing the origin of gold bars will help enforce the highest standards across the entire supply chain,” he adds.

Tait explains that the WGC is committed to addressing barriers to investment, such as trust and provenance, which are key to unlocking increased demand for gold.

Financial derivatives exchange CME Group global metals head and MD Jin Chang says the group welcomes the introduction of the Gold Bar Integrity Programme, which will help to further strengthen the integrity of the physical gold industry, as well as its investment and trading communities.

“We are committed to helping our clients navigate the evolution towards a more sustainable future and these initiatives help provide more clarity to the industry and our clients around how their sustainability goals are being met,” she says.

China’s importation of platinum has shifted platinum’s supply balance into deficit, says independent precious metal consultant Dr David Davis.

Supply-and-demand forecasts presented to the market are not giving the complete picture, Davis contends in a 17-page analysis published by Singapore-based Auctus Metal Portfolios.

This has led to the contradiction of global markets reporting significant surpluses while exhibiting distinct tightness, he points out.

When taking China’s imports into account, global above-ground stocks are significantly higher than the level reported, according to his calculations.

Above-ground inventory in China is globally immobile in that it is imported but not exported, and Davis finds that recognition is not being to the correct equation to calculate stock, namely that stock equals imports minus demand, minus exports.

The contention that China’s platinum imports are continuing to run well ahead of identified demand dovetails with the comment of the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC), which put ‘excess/unexplained’ 2021 imports at about 1.3-million ounces, a number well in excess of the estimated 2021 global platinum surplus of 769 000 oz. WPIC stated further that while the flow of excess imports into China had not been captured in its supply/demand analyses, elevated lease rates as well as the reduction in New York Mercantile Exchange stocks suggested that China would continue to import more than it used – “a very big driver that puts a ‘bit of a contradiction’ into a market that’s in massive surplus, yet the market is tight”.

Moreover, additional autocatalyst loadings, rapid hydrogen fuel cell development and green technologies are poised to add to demand for platinum group metals, as is the price mismatch between palladium and platinum, which is driving original equipment manufacturers to substitute palladium with platinum in petrol-driven combustion vehicles.

Under these circumstances, Davis expects China to likely continue to add still further to its platinum inventory, particularly when its price is down.

In doing so, he anticipates the likelihood of likelihood of it becoming an upside price risk in the medium to long term, “as China would literally suck platinum out of the system, which would, in turn, further contribute to a tightening in the platinum market, which would put upward pressure on the price of platinum”.

Global platinum mine supply is heavily dependent on supply from South Africa (72%) as well as Russia (12%). Supply from North America (6%) and Zimbabwe (7%) is small by comparison.

“This distortion in regional supply distribution becomes strategically important should the supply of platinum from the South African platinum mining industry decline and platinum and palladium exports from Russia to the West be blocked by British, European and American sanctions,” says Davis, in noting that South Africa’s platinum industry has in the past faced electricity shortages, increased costs, prolonged industrial action and heightened community action.

In 2021, platinum mining companies began to invest in reserve replacement but Davis describes the quantum of investment as being unlikely to stave off the overall decline in platinum supply, or return the platinum markets to surplus any time soon.

Davis’ research relies on an audited global trade database compiled by the United Nations Comtrade International Trade Statistics Division, which provides yearly information on imports and exports of platinum by country, as well demand data published by a range of other recognised providers of demand data.

The green hydrogen footprint being developed by Anglo American could be extended to provide low-cost and efficient energy to local communities.

Anglo, which is advancing towards using green hydrogen to replace diesel in the huge haul truck it is building at Anglo American Platinum’s Mogalakwena mine in Limpopo, has presented a well-received strategy of spreading its hydrogen footprint in support of local people.

Using the water in unused mine shafts as batteries is being earmarked to help with the generation of diesel-replacing green hydrogen over the long term. Such water batteries, which operate on a similar principle to Eskom’s large pumped storage schemes, come within a hair’s breadth of being as efficient as lithium-ion batteries.

Embracing these opportunities forms part of Anglo’s much larger and further-reaching partnership with global renewable energy company EDF Renewables to generate 3 GW to 5 GW of green electricity.

Know-how to bring about these value-enhancing possibilities has been developed against the background of Anglo opting to spend close to 10% of its gross revenue on technology, innovation and research and development in recent years, compared with only 2% in 2013.

This comes atop mining expenditure’s major positive economic knock-on effects, highlighted by every R1-million spent on mining production, adding R1.3-million to South Africa’s gross domestic product, and providing the government with R330 000 in revenue.

The capital intensive nature of mining, which requires support for a wide range of local goods and services, renders feasible the target of creating five jobs outside of the mine gate for every one job created inside of it.

Moreover, the green hydrogen technologies emerging open the way for South Africa to become a springboard of new technology into Africa, and work is being done at the highest level to bring about local industrialisation and local procurement.

Community job creation could also be enhanced by the provision of energy, water and road infrastructure to facilitate agricultural production, improve crop yield and streamline the transport of product to market, which generally saps up close to a third of the revenue generated.

These are among the very many points highlighted by Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani during an interview with Mining Weekly on the 8th floor of Anglo’s impressive new ‘green’ corporate offices at 144 Oxford Street, Rosebank, Johannesburg.

Cutifani, who will be handing the Anglo baton to CEO-designate Duncan Wanblad at the end of June, elaborated on the wide range of subjects that were raised at last week's South Africa Investment Conference, where Anglo announced that it would be investing R100-million in South Africa over the next five years.

As revealed during the interview, Anglo is poised to spend even more than the R100-billion, owing to it not taking into account the upcoming capital outlay that the EDF Renewables partnership will engender.

The partnership with EDF will centre on the development of a network of on-site and off-site solar and wind farms to provide around-the-clock renewable energy to Anglo's operations. In itself, it will stimulate the development of new economic sectors, local production and supply chain activity.

Much of Anglo’s innovation step up has been made possible by spending something like $1.5-billion a year since 2013, compared with $300-million to $400-million prior to Cutifani taking office.

Mining Weekly: Has this investment helped to advance energy transition?

Cutifani: Absolutely. It’s the key. The renewables, the new battery concept, using the deep-water unused shafts. It will help us with the trucks to get rid of diesel over the long term. It touches on all of those points.

Mining Weekly: What are the benefits of the regional renewable energy ecosystem approach in your partnership with EDF Renewables?

Cutifani: Very simply put, if you ask how South Africa can build an energy system that gets best efficiency out of renew...

Coal miner Exxaro’s pledge at the 2018 South African Investment Conference (SAIC) to invest R19.54-billion in projects led to it completing seven megaprojects at operations in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, with as much as 98% of its capital expenditure having been spent with South African suppliers.

In turn, this empowered 6 712 people who were directly employed by Exxaro during the construction phase of these projects, while also indirectly impacting as many as 70 000 others who received indirect work in South Africa as a result.

Of the 6 712 people Exxaro employed, 57% were recruited from within the communities where the projects were established, while the remaining 43% were recruited from elsewhere in South Africa.

This was particularly the case with Exxaro’s digital Belfast mine, as implementing modern technologies required skills not necessarily available in the remote Mpumalanga region. At this project, 44% of those employees involved with the construction were recruited from local communities, while 56% came from elsewhere in South Africa.

Nevertheless, 78% of those involved with the Grootegeluk (GG) 6 expansion project were recruited from local communities, while 96% came from local communities for the thermal and metallurgical coal Leeuwpan life extension project.

In 2018, the miner pledged to complete nine major projects, of which it has completed seven, totalling R13.24-billion, and opted not to proceed with one project. The only outstanding project is the life extension of its Matla mine – an Eskom-funded project which remains on schedule and budget of R3.5-billion.

Exxaro projects and technology executive head Johan Meyer says that because of the maturity of the Mpumalanga-based Matla mine, the working face was significantly advanced, thereby requiring miners to travel vast distances underground before arriving for work. This presented a safety hazard and was tiring on mining personnel, as well as making mining at Matla inefficient.

To remedy the situation, Exxaro proposed establishing a new shaft nearer to the working face that would enable miners to quickly and safely reach their zones of work.

As such, Exxaro shut its Mine 1 in 2014 when it started plans to build a new shaft.

In the process of extending the life of the Matla mine, Exxaro is awaiting additional funds from Eskom, which will take the mine to 2048 and ensure it meets the Matla Power Station coal supply agreement requirement of ten-million tonnes a year. This project is likely to be completed by 2025.

Meanwhile, putting a R2.8-billion dent in its overall R19.5-billion investment pipeline announced in 2018, Exxaro exited its proposal to build the 630 MW Thabametsi independent power station in Limpopo.

“The independent power producer journey was stopped because of financial constraints that we have in building new coal-fired power stations,” he says.

COMPLETED PROJECTS

Since Exxaro’s 2018 SAIC pledge, the miner has spent R5.3-billion on expanding its GG operation – through the GG6 expansion project – to increase its production of semi-soft coking coal by converting its existing GG 2 plant single-stage beneficiation plant to a double-stage beneficiation complex.

For its newest addition – the Mpumalanga-based Belfast mine, Exxaro spent R3.3-billion on building a fully-digital mine that produces A-grade thermal coal for the export market, as well as low-grade power station coal over a seven-year life-of-mine.

“For the life of Belfast, it contributes [about] R2-billion [a year] into that community, whether it is paying taxes, salaries [or] partners that work together to make Belfast work,” says Meyer.

The miner also invested R1.9-billion on extending the life of its Mpumalanga-based Mafube thermal coal joint venture operation with Anglo American, R1.3-billion on commissioning a rapid load-out rail station at GG, R600-million on backfilling the openpit mine at GG and R500-million on extending the life of its Leeuwpan operation by 12 years.

In terms of health...

The Bokoni platinum group metals (PGMs) mine being acquired for R3.5-billion by African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) hosts South Africa’s second largest PGMs resource, with ready-built mining and processing plant infrastructure on site.

Bokoni provides greater exposure to palladium and is close to ARM’s Modikwa and Two Rivers PGM mines. It lifts the JSE-listed company’s combined PGMs resource base by 135% to 266-million ounces of four-element (4E) PGMs.

In addition to moving ARM’s PGMs portfolio down the cost curve, it also boosts attributable production and life-of-mine by 137% to 636 000 oz of 6E PGMs production a year from 2026.

“Bokoni is a large high-grade opportunity,” was the headline of a slide ARM flashed on to computer screens during its presentation of dividend-yielding half-year financial results covered by Mining Weekly.

It followed an opening slide, which displayed this comment from ARM executive chairperson Dr Patrice Motsepe in bold type: “We are pleased to have signed the agreement to acquire the Bokoni Platinum Mine. Development of the mine will allow us to scale our PGM portfolio and create value for shareholders and other stakeholders.”

Completion of the transaction is expected during 2022 after obtaining regulatory approvals including South African competition authorities approval and consent in terms of Section 11 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act.

In the six months to the end of December, PGMs contributed 46% of the diversified mining company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda), followed by iron-ore’s 42% to Ebitda and manganese’s 10%.

Regarding Bokoni, Motsepe added: “It’s a mine that hasn’t been operational but it’s an exciting opportunity and we’re committed to growing Bokoni in the medium term.”

In the short term, the focus will be exclusively on Bokoni’s high-grade upper group two (UG2) reef, said ARM CEO Mike Schmidt. The mineral resource is 64% UG2 and 36% Merensky, with the UG2 prill split being 49% palladium and 8% rhodium.

As of December 31, 2020, Bokoni’s measured, indicated and inferred mineral resources totalled 153-million ounces of four-element (4E) PGMs, at a grade of 5.87 g/t, with the UG2 grade of 6.56 g/t 4E considerably higher than the Merensky grade of 4.94 g/t 4E.

A new wholly owned subsidiary of ARM Platinum has been established to acquire 100% of the shares and claims in Bokoni Platinum Mines Proprietary Limited – Bokoni Mine – from Anglo American Platinum Limited and Atlatsa Resources.

ARM Platinum will ultimately own 85% of Bokoni Mine. Acquiring 5% each for a nominal price will be:

a local community special purpose vehicle;

an employee share ownership plan special purpose vehicle; and

a black industrialists' special purpose vehicle.

The financial statements show ARM as having more than enough cash to settle the total purchase consideration of R3.5-billion, but it was stated during the presentation that ARM was being advised on this.

A 23-year sale of PGMs concentrate between Bokoni Mine and Rustenburg Platinum Mines Limited on commercially agreed terms has been finalised.

A definitive feasibility study (DFS) is expected to be completed in 12 months, with R5.3-billion of development capital in real 2021 terms being spent over three years.

The DFS parameters involve the deployment of a mechanised on-reef mining method utilising existing proven technology, targeted steady state operational costs of less than R12 000 per 6E ounce (in 2021 terms), steady state production target date of 2028, steady state production of about 300 000 oz of 6E PGM contained in concentrate a year, and steady state production of 255 000 t of chromitite concentrate a year.

Schmidt said ARM would initially focus exclusively on Bokoni’s high-grade UG2 reef, where the combined palladium and rhodium accounts for 57% of the UG2 prill split, which provides for a favourable basket price.

The plan is then to preserve the current Merensky infrastructure at Br...

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the potential for 60 000 new jobs through green hydrogen development; Merafe Resources putting focus on renewable energy; and World Parliaments being urged to use their constitutional powers to tackle climate change.

Platinum group metals (PGMs) mining and marketing company Impala Platinum (Implats) affirmed at the South African Investment Conference on Thursday that it would commit close to R50-billion to its Southern African capital investment programme over the next five years.

The investment capital would be targeted at the group’s mining and processing assets, across stay-in-business operations and new growth projects, the JSE-listed platinum major, headed by CEO Nico Muller, stated.

“Southern Africa is the world’s largest source of primary PGMs supply, and Implats’ investment in increased beneficiation capacity and extended life-of mine (LoM) development at several of our operations will position the country more competitively as a global mine-to-market PGM producer,” Muller said in a release to Mining Weekly.

Implats has committed up to R12-billion over the next five years to expand its South African and Zimbabwean smelting and refining facilities, which would, it said, benefit the region’s production, reduce its environmental beneficiation capacity footprint, and bolster increased local beneficiation.

An initial $521-million (R8.2-billion) would be invested in the expansion of existing Zimbabwean smelting capacity and the construction of a sulphur dioxide abatement plant to mitigate air quality impacts.

Access to hydropower would be supplemented by electricity provided by a 35 MW solar plant, which would be expanded to 185 MW in a phased approach. This would improve the environmental footprint of the Zimbabwean smelting facilities.

This expansion will accommodate an additional 600 000 oz of six element (6E) PGM ounces a year, which post-smelting would be transported to Implats’ South African processing facilities for further refining and in support of local beneficiation.

Muller said that this investment would benefit South Africa by opening up additional smelting capacity at Implats’ South African facilities to accommodate new production growth opportunities in South Africa.

The extra smelting capacity would service new Implats projects and provide additional treatment capacity for third-party customer requirements. In addition, the increased concentrate production from Implats’ Zimbabwean operations would be brought to South Africa to refine at the group’s Springs refineries, in Gauteng, thus contributing to South Africa’s beneficiation of precious metals.

Moreover, Implats would invest a further R4.4-billion into improving its South African processing facilities. Some R500-million, the release stated, had already been approved to expand treatment capacity by 10% in the medium term at its base metal refining facilities in Springs.

In addition, feasibility studies into further capacity expansions at Implats’ South African base and precious metals refineries were well advanced.

LIFE-OF-MINE EXTENSIONS TO SUPPORT ENDURING BENEFITS FOR ALL STAKEHOLDERS

Implats also confirmed that it would invest more than R8-billion across its South African mining operations over the next few years – including attributable capital at its joint venture.

This investment would extend the LoM at existing producing mines and secure employment, entrenching South Africa’s status as a stable and sustainable global PGMs producer and supporting enduring benefits for all Implats’ stakeholders.

In partnership with African Rainbow Minerals, Implats had committed R5.7-billion to the construction of a new Merensky project at the Two Rivers’ Platinum Mine.

Implats has a 46% stake in Two Rivers, but 100% of the 180 000 oz of the 6E PGM project's production will be treated through the groups’ smelting and refining facilities.

A R5.1-billion investment at Implats’ Marula mine will increase the operation’s LoM by about 17 years and expand capacity by 40 000 6E PGM ounces a year.

Together, these projects will increase local beneficiation by about 220 000 6E PGM ounces a year from 2028 onwards.

Together with several other LoM extension projects at the group’s Impala Ru...

The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has called for an expansion of the organisation’s mandate and membership to enable it to support the global transition to a “clean and secure” energy future and to ensure that the world’s climate goals do not become “another victim of Russia’s aggression”.

Addressing a gathering of energy Ministers in Paris against the backdrop of ongoing market turmoil precipitated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, IEA executive director Fatih Birol said the organisation needed to adapt to a fast-changing energy environment.

Set up in 1974 to provide an oil security umbrella to a narrow base of developed countries (a role reinforced recently when IEA members released an initial 63-million barrels of oil stocks to alleviate the tightness in oil markets that followed Russia’s incursion into Ukraine), the IEA partially opened its doors in 2015 to eight emerging economies, including South Africa, which were now associate members.

“I now hope we can launch ‘IEA 3.0’, that is an IEA oriented in the right direction to help address both energy security and tackle climate change,” Birol said.

The IEA would require an expanded mandate to do so, including allowing it to play a role in ensuring a reliable and sustainable supply of the critical minerals needed for the transition to renewables-based systems, including lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel and rare-earth elements.

Speaking from the same platform US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said it was vital that the world did not trade one energy supply chain vulnerability for another.

“I'm talking about minerals and critical materials that are powering so many of our clean energy technologies.

“We have to source these materials responsibly; we have to process them sustainably and we have to minimise the carbon footprint from manufacturing these at the scale needed to meet the demand,” Granholm argued.

In addition, Birol said the IEA should be empowered to support the accelerated energy investments required to place carbon emissions “in rapid decline this decade” by allowing the agency to bring all of its “expertise and tools to bear to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and methane”, including by making its data freely available to energy decision-makers.

Thirdly, he said the IEA needed to facilitate deeper relationships among its current 31 members and grow the “IEA family further”. In 2015, China, Brazil, India, South Africa, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Morocco were made association countries and Argentina and Egypt are set to join soon.

Birol cautioned, however, that as governments moved to ensure that they kept the lights on in the current difficult energy environment, they could also not “turn off” their efforts to tackle climate change.

“I am very worried that our climate goals may be another victim of Russia's aggression,” he said, noting the published figures showed a worrying increase in global emissions, which climbed at their fastest pace in history last year.

Highlighting the dramatic changes that had already arisen as a result of Russia’s military action, Birol revealed that the focus of the Ministerial gathering was meant to have been on progress made at the COP26 climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland, at the end of 2021.

“But Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has changed the world, including the energy world, and it has given energy policymakers an even more complicated range of challenges to confront,” he said, while also suggesting that Russia was set to lose its status as an energy superpower.

Granholm argued, meanwhile, that the energy transition could represent “our version of the Marshall Plan for clean and secure energy in 2022 and beyond”.

“Even as we seek to stabilise fossil energy . . . we have to act upon the urgent signals that the world is sending us, that Mother Nature is sending us, a big flashing ‘Code Red’ on humanity, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said.”

Quoting Ireland's Environmen...

Green hydrogen development in South Africa has the potential to generate up to 60 000 new jobs in the next ten to 15 years, said Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) director-general Dr Phil Mjwara during a televised interview on SABC News.

Mjwara expressed confidence that the R15-million to R20-million a year that has been invested in hydrogen development since 2009/10 will pay off. This payback would come about through eventual exportation, employment and taxes from companies that become involved in the fast-developing hydrogen economy.

“We haven’t done the full economics, but we think that we’ll be able to contribute between 1% and 2% to the GDP,” said Mjwara.

The DSI has been spearheading the use of platinum-linked green hydrogen as an alternative clean energy source since 2008.

In opening, the TV presenter made the point that South Africa has already made great strides in the hydrogen field and is now on the brink of commercialising the technology that has been developed around hydrogen, an abundant gas with immense potential as a clean and reliable energy source.

South Africa, with its bountiful sun, human innovation capacity, and platinum group metals (PGMs) endowment, was described by SABC News’ Mariska Botha as providing an ideal setting for the generation of renewable energy to produce green hydrogen, which, she pointed out, could be derived from any water source, including the ocean, through the process of electrolysis.

The hydrogen could then be converted into green electricity to power taxis and buses, with the help of PGMs-catalysed hydrogen fuel cells. South Africa is endowed with the world's largest PGMs resources and reserves.

Hydrogen South Africa Infrastructure facility manager Dr Neels le Roux drew attention to the far-reaching hydrogen investments under way in European Union countries and Japan and described hydrogen as the perfect response to South Africa’s long-distance transport needs. Hydrogen’s environment-friendliness is emphasised by that fact that the only byproduct of its use is water.

It was reported that, as part of South Africa’s Hydrogen Society Roadmap, research is under way at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) to develop storage technology for hydrogen.

A row of hydrogen fuel cell scooters that have been developed were televised, and UWC senior researcher Dr Wafeeq Davids drew attention to the UWC’s role in the development of a forklift and a hydrogen refuelling station that are in commercial use at the Impala Platinum Refinery in Springs, Gauteng.

“We have all the raw materials in the country, we’ve built up the skills for the past 15 years, and we really now have the critical skills to take this technology to the next level,” Davids enthused.

One of the big projects under way is the establishment of a hydrogen corridor from Kwazulu-Natal through Gauteng to Limpopo, along which hydrogen fuel cell buses will travel.

South Africa is seen as having the potential to become a global hydrogen hub, with innovation and new technology being continuously developed on home soil.

The broadcast by SABC News followed a briefing of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation by the DSI.

GREEN HYDROGEN DEVELOPMENT IS SURGING GLOBALLY

Significant reports are emerging regularly on the development of mobility and power generation with the use of green hydrogen and fuel cells.

Following successful laboratory tests in the US, Anglo American’s hydrogen power plant module that has arrived in South Africa has replaced the diesel engine in one of the haul trucks. The world’s largest hydrogen-powered haul truck will be used at Mogalakwena PGMs mine in Limpopo.

BMW iX5 Hydrogen has been undergoing testing throughout the winter, in a process involving some of the coldest places on the planet, only to confirm that the fuel cell vehicle can hold up even in the lowest temperatures that could be thrown at it.

Japan is trialling its first-ever hydrogen-powered train as ...