The World Gold Council (WGC) has announced that all 33 gold miners it represents globally have committed to reporting their positions and progress on climate-related risks, in line with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

The TCFD recommendations and reporting framework is now widely recognised as the preferred method for embedding climate change into the governance, strategy and risk management systems of organisations, and the means by which they disclose comprehensive and high-quality information on these factors to investors and stakeholders.

This unified approach on climate-related reporting further clarifies the commitments already embedded in the WGC’s Responsible Gold Mining Principles (RGMPs), which require companies to take action to combat climate change and report in line with accepted standards.

The RGMPs, launched in 2019, represent a framework that sets out clear expectations for consumers, investors and industry stakeholders as to what constitutes responsible gold mining.

All WGC members have committed to a three-year implementation timeline, as well as third-party assurance and public disclosure on that assurance.

The new commitment to report through TCFD offers clearer definition of how principles on combating climate change and energy efficiency and reporting will be implemented.

WGC chairperson Randy Smallwood says making progress on climate change is a vital aspect of the gold mining sector’s commitment to responsible mining.

“TCFD-aligned reporting, combined with the implementation of the RGMPs, will further demonstrate to investors, consumers and other stakeholders gold mining’s ability to make a positive and demonstrable contribution to social and environmental progress.”

WGC CFO Terry Heymann adds that climate change is the biggest threat of the twenty-first century and all industries need to show progress in responding to this.

“Investors are keen to better understand how their investments are being made climate-resilient in the face of a myriad of climate challenges and the gold industry is eager to show how it is adapting to these challenges.

“This includes reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Through our own research over the last few years, we have been able to gather substantial evidence that the gold mining sector is in a strong position to reduce emissions in line with Paris Agreement targets.”

The WGC believes there is still much work to be done to reduce the emissions generated by the gold mining industry, but it is making good progress.

“Having our member companies commit to reporting [through the] TCFD will help further demonstrate the industry’s determination to address climate-related risks and report on its progress in a clear and transparent way,” Smallwood concludes.

Sustainability is not a function of compliance but rather a strategic imperative to change the role that mining plays in society and in economies, says Sibanye-Stillwater senior VP and head of sustainability Loyiso Ndlovu.

“We do this by sticking to the knitting in being miners, and then supporting the growth of new economies in a manner designed to build legacies," says Ndlovu, who was speaking on environmental, social and governance (ESG) during the Sibanye-Stillwater Investor Day, covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Ndlovu highlights the three tenets that guide Sibanye-Stillwater’s sustainability strategy as being:

environmental stewardship, which she describes as the promotion of the sustainable use of resources and making sure that the company transitions towards a low-carbon future;

social and impact outcomes, using the company’s societal influence to co-create positive legacies; and

governance integrity and engagement with all stakeholders, undertaken with integrity and involving doing the right thing “even when no one is looking”.

Over the year, the work of the Johannesburg- and New York-listed company, headed by CEO Neal Froneman, has been to ensure the application of these philosophies and to focus on outcomes.

“A shift in maturity has led the company to develop an integrated sustainability strategy, which in the end addresses short-term actions to achieve long-term benefits to society, the global economy, stakeholders and the strengthening of the role of being an extractive industry player,” says Ndlovu.

The approach has been to recognise inter-dependencies by creating value and acting on opportunities.

“The broadening of the application of these themes towards ESG has allowed the company to provide clear paths towards economic benefits that accrue as a result of its operations.

“In particular, due to the areas of our work in transitional economies, we have found an urgent need to not only build long-term sustainable economic strength but to link that economic strength to environmental and social sustainability, and to embed governance in our work.

“Economies enable participatory decision-making and meaningful transitions towards making ESG valuable to our long-term work,” Ndlovu says.

The four areas of focus of the strategy are:

embedding human rights, both inside the business and outside of it;

developing a climate-change resilient business;

entrenching long-term economic sustainability by focusing the work squarely on beginning with the end in mind; and

developing data-driven and considered decision-making.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer unpacks African Rainbow Minerals touting the possibility of an opportunity for manganese alloy production locally; the Nkomati Nickel mine could hold underground opportunity; and the three structural characteristics that South Africa has to possibly become a global green-hydrogen leader.

The board of Lucara Diamond Corp has formally approved the $534-million expansion of its Karowe mine, in Botswana, the Canadian miner announced on Wednesday.

The underground mine construction approval follows the financial closure and satisfaction of all conditions precedent to a $220-million debt package, announced in July.

The first $170-million in funding would be available in mid-September, the company stated.

Lucara noted that the underground expansion, which would extend the Karowe mine’s life to at least 2040, was fully financed.

The capital costs would be met from a combination of the facilities, projected cashflows from the openpit mine during the underground construction period, and the equity financings totalling C$41-4-million - which closed in July.

Reporting on progress at the expansion project, the mining company said that construction efforts had ramped up since the facilities documentation was executed in mid-July.

Ventilation shaft pre-sinking has started with the completion of the first set of cover holes, and a total of four blasts have occurred to date with continued drilling, mucking, and installation of ground support on a 24-hour basis.

The ventilation shaft depth below the shaft collar is currently at about 17 m. Mobilisation to site of the remaining pre-sinking equipment and contractors is under way. Civil work on the remaining ventilation and production shaft infrastructure is progressing well, with mobilisation of temporary generators and civils works associated with the generator pad complete.

Diversified mining company African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) is looking to upgrade its private rail siding from 60 t to 100 t rail wagons so that it can transport manganese ore to the Port of Saldanha in a much more efficient way.

Currently, the private rail siding at the Black Rock mine in the Northern Cape can only take a maximum of a 60 t train wagon.

ARM, through Assmang, which is currently exporting about two-million tonnes of manganese ore through Saldanha and two-million tonnes through Port Elizabeth, is targeting the export of five-million tonnes through the upgrade.

“If you just do that maths, from a 60 t to a 100 t wagon, we’re get very close to our five-million tonnes,“ said ARM Ferrous CE Andre Joubert in response to questions at ARM’s presentation of record financial year 2021 results.

Transnet Freight Rail is also going to do some work on the rail from Hotazel to Sishen.

The Kalahari manganese field contains about 80% of the world’s known high-grade manganese ore reserves.

“On the manganese side, we’ve got to be careful that we don't oversupply the market. But again, in that regard, we’re monitoring the situation very carefully and we’re working again closely with Transnet on this,” Joubert added at the presentation, covered by Mining Weekly.

Assmang has very good grade of manganese ore, which reduces carbon emissions when used in the further beneficiation process.

Because of this greater efficiency, more enquiries are received for its manganese ore. Further upstream in the steel beneficiation process, Assmang’s low phosphorus ore also makes the steel process more effective, said Joubert.

In response to an analyst question on the potential for more direct partnership with Transnet, Joubert said ARM did not envisage going beyond the upgrading of its private siding, working with Transnet to ensure that railing all the way to Saldanha was carried out in a much more efficient manner.

“Transnet will do the same number of trains but every train will take more material down and that will be hugely beneficial to us.

“Just for the record, in Assmang we don't use any road transport whatsoever and we assess the market conditions regularly to make sure that we’re in good balance with what the market demand is,” he added.

WATER SUPPLY FIXING

On the water issues suffered by the company, Joubert described the effort made as being huge.

He said that ARM Ferrous,through Assmang, was taking a major leadership role in water in the Northern Cape area as part of a special project team assembled by Minerals Council South Africa.

“We’re really driving that process hard, having literally daily meetings with the Sedibeng Water Board and through that with the project teams involved in the Vaal Gamagara Water Supply Scheme upgrade.

“We’ve had meetings with the previous Minister, even meetings with the new Minister, and we’re also putting our own skills set in. The Sedibeng Water Board has allowed us to do a full audit of the water pipeline system. In that, we identified critical elements in that water pipeline to upgrade it and fix it. Yes, we did have a very bad run on that water from January, but since June we can see a significant improvement in the water outflow there.

“I think that going forward, water will always be a huge risk in that part of the world. But with the interventions that we’re leading there and in support with Sedibeng Water Board and the Department of Water Affairs, I can already see a turnaround in the water supply and through that process collectively again, like we do with Transnet, we can assist the water board; and we are doing that and we’re seeing the benefits of the improved water supply system.

“We’re also doing a lot of work for inter-mine water. We can already see the improvements that is bringing forward and I believe that we’re going to see a much better supply of water going into our Northern Cape mine, specifically Khumani iron-ore mine and also the Black Rock manganese mine,” Joubert said.

MANGANESE MI...