This audio is brought to you by Astec Industries, a Global Leader in manufacturing equipment for infrastructure, including asphalt production, construction, and material processing, driving innovation and sustainability.

Whereas every mineral is found to be critical for various reasons, the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources' (DMPR's) Critical Minerals and Metals Strategy has identified platinum, manganese, iron-ore, coal and chrome ore as "high-critical minerals" for South Africa, based on their criticality.

In a briefing regarding Cabinet's approval of the strategy, as well as the approval for the publication of the Mineral Resources Development Bill (MRDB) of 2025 for public comment, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe explained that the drafting of the strategy had started with adopting a robust methodology to determine the aspect of criticality of minerals.

This methodology was based on eight indicators including, among others, export potential, employment indicator, supply risk, export sales, domestic sales and substitutability.

The strategy further identifies mineral commodities such as gold, vanadium, palladium, rhodium and rare earth elements as minerals with "moderate to high criticality".

Meanwhile, minerals such as copper, cobalt, lithium, graphite, nickel, titanium, phosphate, fluorspar, zirconium, uranium and aluminium were identified as minerals with "moderate criticality".

Mantashe said this list would regularly be reviewed and updated owing to the fact that the criticality classification mix is dependent on underlying market conditions, exploration, technological advancement, substitutability, recycling and geopolitics, among other factors.

He explained that the approval of the two new policy documents was aimed at ensuring policy and regulatory certainty to advance the country's potential in the global market for minerals.

"Although the term critical minerals has been used by various nations for a considerable period, there has been no universal consensus on the definition of critical minerals, as several countries have interchangeably used and defined 'critical, strategic or future minerals' according to their importance in economic growth and industrialisation, technological advancements, energy transition, geopolitical considerations, supply chain vulnerabilities, environmental and social concerns and strategic importance.

"It is within this context that in 2023, we resolved at the African Critical Minerals Summit, that Africa should develop a clear roadmap on how to maximise the exploitation and monetisation of these resources for value addition to our economies.

"At the centre of this roadmap is a shared vision for the critical minerals with which our continent is endowed and thereby foster regional cooperation and economic growth," Mantashe said.

He explained that, to realise this shared vision, the DMPR assigned Mintek the responsibility of coordinating the development of South Africa's Critical Minerals Strategy with the intention to foster investment into exploration, beneficiation, building resilient local value chains, research and development, skills development and strengthening regional integration and international partnerships to position the country as a major player in the global critical minerals market.

"This focus ensured that minerals with the highest potential to drive economic and industrial growth are prioritised, which then provided guidance in determining the criticality of specific mineral commodities," Mantashe said.

At least 21 commodity studies were undertaken in parallel with the work of determining the criticality of minerals. These commodity studies help to provide a clearer picture of the state of the mining industry in South Africa, as well as the contribution of each commodity to the country's drive for inclusive economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation.

Mantashe noted that valuable inputs into these studies were also obtained...

This audio is brought to you by Astec Industries, a Global Leader in manufacturing equipment for infrastructure, including asphalt production, construction, and material processing, driving innovation and sustainability.

A leading branded jewellery retailer in Beijing is including platinum investment bars in its offering amid platinum bar sales being launched on TikTok for the first time by a World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) partner.

Chinese buying of platinum investment bars smaller than 500g have grown 140 % year-on-year to a record 31 000 oz, with overall first-quarter bar and coin demand up 17% to 70 000 oz.

Investment demand has been driven by a sharp rise in exchange-held platinum stocks as tariff-related uncertainty and a widening location premium encouraged higher platinum inflows into the US.

"We're also seeing very strong jewellery demand, particularly in China," WPIC research director Edward Sterck highlighted to Mining Weekly in a comprehensive interview that coincided with the publication of WPIC's latest first-quarter Platinum Quarterly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Overall first-quarter platinum jewellery demand increased 9% to 533 000 oz and platinum is the big beneficiary of the many jewellers in china wanting to have investment products on offer.

Overall first-quarter platinum investment demand rose 28% quarter-on-quarter to 461 000 oz and the WPIC-linked Shanghai Platinum Week the second week of July is likely to elevate platinum demand still further.

Stores of value are being sought and platinum fits that bill, particularly at this time of exceptionally high gold price.

Full year bar and coin investment is forecast to strengthen by 30% to 252 000 oz, driven by 48% growth in China and a return to growth in the North American market at a forecast 18%. Growth in bars of or above 500g in China will continue its upward trajectory to reach a 15%-higher 186 000 oz.

Despite capacity constraints and increasing competition In the first four months of this year, WPIC partners have achieved record-breaking sales, positively influenced the sweeping resurgence of platinum jewellery demand in China.

Quarterly gains in green hydrogen hit the 159% mark and overall global first-quarter demand lifted 10% to 2 274 000 oz on the strong investment demand, driven principally by a sharp rise in exchange held platinum stocks. Full year hydrogen is expected to rise by 35% to 59 000 oz.

At the same time, first-quarter mining supply fell 13% year-on-year to 1 086 000 oz, the lowest since the second-quarter of 2020 and a first-quarter deficit of 816 000 oz emerging as the largest single quarterly deficit in six years.

"I think the deficit is embedded. It's structural, and we're likely to see a series of deficits come through in future years as well," Sterck noted.

On top of the ongoing robust global demand for PGMs, these amazing metals are becoming increasingly diverse, with the four core automotive, industrial, jewellery and investment demand segments combining to provide a beneficial degree of resilience, even as the US government's new approach to tariff policy starts to take effect.

"Platinum's diversity of end uses is to its benefit. A lot of those end uses are quite price inelastic, so ultimately, you've got to get down to the product level for things really to change," Sterck pointed out.

This beneficial diversity enabled strong first-quarter investment demand growth to counter balance declines in automotive and industrial demand, which took place in the thick of platinum supply falling 10% to 1 458 000 oz and which could not be offset by a modest year-on-year recovery in recycling.

Automotive demand remained resilient despite market uncertainty and the strategic importance of platinum group metals (PGMs) to the US automotive industry has so far spared the metals from US tariffs and even the broader impact of trade restrictions is highly unlikely to materially reduce the deficit of 966 000 oz of platinu...

This audio is brought to you by Astec Industries, a Global Leader in manufacturing equipment for infrastructure, including asphalt production, construction, and material processing, driving innovation and sustainability.

Strengthening South African mining is key to strengthening South Africa's domestic economy as well as its geopolitical standing, which is all-important at this time of global economic disruption.

South Africa's mineral reserves are among the most valuable in the world and making mining strong again cannot go unheeded any longer, especially amid South African Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources and the US Geological Survey statistics, which indicate that South Africa possesses ore reserves amounting to more than $2.5-trillion, with 16 commodities ranked in the Top 10 internationally.

Despite headwinds of lower commodity prices and constrained export channels, South African mining still managed to turnover R1-trillion last year from a diversity of minerals, including precious metals, bulk commodities and industrial minerals that are fundamental to modern life, providing the foundation for industries, sustainable communities, and social progress, mining industry interest group ICMM points out.

Very importantly, South Africa also has more than a century of mineral extraction experience, along with the crucial processing, beneficiating, marketing and value chain essentials that go with it.

Interestingly, mining brings benefits to every bit of economic activity, but it has a finite horizon unless there is the ongoing replacement of mineral reserves through growth, which has not been happening at greenfield level owing to insufficient new exploration.

"We believe that the industry has the potential to grow, and by so doing taking along many other industries such as construction, manufacturing, financial services, transport and manufacturing, not forgetting agriculture, business tourism, skills development and further education. The mining industry is the uncontested catalyst of South Africa's economy," Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane emphasised at this year's Investing in African Mining Indaba.

The mining cadastre must put South Africa on a par with other mining jurisdictions, encourage exploration and lead to mining, which can in turn help South Africa in so many ways.

Self-generation of electricity has been softening the effect of Eskom's high power tariffs and Transport Minister Barbara Creecy is reportedly working with the Treasury to find ways to enable the private sector to bring rail logistics up to speed in the short term.

On the geopolitical front, Menar MD Vuslat Bayoglu had this to say to Mining Weekly this week: "If we can manage to strengthen our mining economy, that will actually be converted into geopolitical strength." (Also watch video at https://www.miningweekly.com/article/menar-hopeful-us-sa-trade-relations-will-be-normalised-soon-to-avoid-dual-adversity-2025-05-13).

South Africa must return to adding value to its chrome and manganese deposits to regain the employment that was lost as ferrochrome and ferromanganese market shares were lost because of 500% higher electricity tariffs imposed int he last decade by State-owned utility Eskom.

There is also a fortuitous opportunity to produce every possible additional ounce of gold at this time of high gold prices.

Government support for mining is a must, particularly in view of how the industry has contributed on the socioeconomic front in recent decades. Mining has gone well beyond compliance, and the upcoming Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) Amendment Bill must reflect this by introducing a legislative context that allows mining to grow fast.

There is no more time to waste. The MPRDA Amendment Bill simply has to bring investor-friendly change to local mining and prospecting.

Results show that mining companies achieved 39% weighted average of empowerment shareholding against the 26% that was promulg...

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the major green hydrogen advances being reported in China, but also California; Menar's warning that the US and South Africa face adversity if trade relations are not normalised soon; and the need for cable theft to be declared an act

This audio is brought to you by Astec Industries, a Global Leader in manufacturing equipment for infrastructure, including asphalt production, construction, and material processing, driving innovation and sustainability.

London-listed and South Africa-active Petra Diamonds has sold its entire shareholding in Williamson Diamonds of Tanzania, plus all shareholder loans owed to it, to Pink Diamonds Investments, also of Tanzania.

Pink diamonds are known for their pink hue, ranging from light to deep rose.

The up-to-$16-million transaction has obtained Tanzanian Fair Competition Commission approval for Williamson ownership now vesting entirely with Pink, a Taifa affiliate, which is viewed as possessing the technical and financial capability to conduct operations for the benefit of stakeholders.

With more than three decades of mining-related experience, Taifa's working relationships extend to mining majors such as De Beers, Barrick and AngloGold Ashanti, and the company is now entering a phase of exclusive ownership of an asset where about 1 100 people are employed, most of them Tanzanian.

The mine's reserves and resources as of June 30 were reported as 37.17-million carats. With liquidity challenges continuing, further capital investment will be required.

Twenty per cent of any distributable cash generated annually by Williamson will be payable by Pink Diamonds to Petra until the selling price is met, Petra joint interim CEO Vivek Gadodia outlined in a release to Mining Weekly, in which he wished Pink all of the best as its takes over the mine, the kimberlite pipe of which was discovered by Canadian geologist John Williamson in 1940 and which led to ongoing operation since then, making it one of the world's oldest continuous operating diamond mines. Its yield of 19-million-plus diamond carats includes a 54.5 ct Williamson pink diamond that was presented to British royalty in 1947.

Meanwhile, Petra, with the Cullinan and Finsch underground diamond mines in South Africa, is focusing on value rather than volume at a time when diamond-mining headwinds are tending to dominate the headlines and the usual sale of rough diamonds at acceptable prices is reportedly proving difficult.

This has resulted in the stockpile of rough diamonds held by De Beers, for example, rising to $2-billion, which, according to a report in the Financial Times, is the biggest hold back of rough diamonds since the financial crisis of 2008.

Mine production is being reduced and, in the case of De Beers, Anglo American is advancing towards setting it free as a standalone independent business, which De Beers CEO Al Cook reportedly sees as a considerable positive.

"As we go independent, we have the freedom to focus on marketing as hard as we focused on mining," he is quoted by the Financial Times as saying. "This feels to me like the right time to be driving marketing and getting behind our brands and retail, even as we cut the capital and the spend on the mining side."

De Beers' planned closure of its laboratory-grown diamond jewellery business, Lightbox, is reinforcing the belief of this company, created in 1888, in natural gem diamonds, and there is an industry-wide position to request governments, particularly the US government, to exempt natural diamonds from import tariffs as failure to do so would be negative for the US jewellery industry, which generates more than $117-billion of economic activity and supports 200 000 jobs.

What has always had the potential to undermine the diamond business is dishonesty, which is occasionally exposed, as it was this week by reports in The Namibian, which quoted Namibian Police as confirming arrests in connection with an alleged diamond heist, which involved the suspects exchanging the diamonds for money in South Africa.

Last month, the Namibian Sun reported that Namibian Police were working with South African police to solve a separate diamond theft.

This audio is brought to you by Astec Industries, a Global Leader in manufacturing equipment for infrastructure, including asphalt production, construction, and material processing, driving innovation and sustainability.

While South Africa's latest green hydrogen development is a request for information (RFI) by the East London industrial development zone for a greenfield green hydrogen project, major green hydrogen advances are being reported in particularly China, but also California.

China's green hydrogen industry experienced explosive growth in April, Fuel Cells Works reports on LinkedIn, with new capacity exceeding three million tonnes. The industry covers the entire value chain of hydrogen production, storage, transportation, and application, breaking through large-scale development bottlenecks through diversified approaches and achieving benchmark applications in transportation and industrial sectors.

China's green hydrogen sector is reportedly on the cusp of rapid development, potentially blossoming into a $1.64 trillion emerging industry as the country strategically prioritises hydrogen as a cornerstone of its future energy system.

At the same time, platinum-catalysed hydrogen fuel cell trucks are reportedly about to hit the road in a big way at one of the busiest port areas in the US - Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Backed by a power trio of companies, this new wave of clean transportation aims to move goods while cutting back on pollution in a region that really needs it.

Also interesting in China is that buyers in Shenzhen's over-the-counter market are paying 5 yuan to 6 yuan per gram or $24/oz above the Rong Tong Gold (RTG) price to secure platinum.

Getting back to the latest South African green hydrogen development in East London, information is being requested for work packages including a 10 MW electrolysis platform, hydrogen refuelling dispensing, and three 1MW hydrogen fuel cells, which are generally platinum catsalysed. While the project will assess a 20 MW solar system as a separate work package, participants may propose solutions for this package as well.

RFI participants will be supplied with the formal invitation to bid pre front end engineering design (FEED) document from which the FEED study will be compiled.

The project is described as being currently at the FEED stage, with the environmental impact assessments in process for the green hydrogen production plant and solar photovoltaics.

The project will encompass the complete green hydrogen value chain. Proven desalination technology will be used to treat seawater to produce water suitable for electrolysis, while surplus water will be supplied to commercial customers.

Electrolysers powered by renewable-energy sources will be used to split desalinated water into green hydrogen and oxygen. Infrastructure will be installed to compress, store and deliver the green hydrogen reliably to identified offtakers.

The green hydrogen produced will support the decarbonisation efforts of various sectors in proximity to the hydrogen production plant, enabling industrial players to remain globally competitive as the world moves to adopt carbon border adjustment mechanisms that will price carbon into production costs.

Meanwhile, Hydrogen Energy reports that China's green hydrogen electrolyser orders in first four months of this year exceeded the total for whole of 2024.

More than 2.4 GW of electrolyser orders from 31 projects were publicly announced between January 1 and April 30 and some expect this number is to nigh double in the coming months.

In the UK, Wrightbus reports that the cost of hydrogen bus ownership will be on par with battery-electric, but with the added advantages of considerably shorter eight-minute refuelling and a 50% longer range, making platinum-based hydrogen fuel cell buses a scalable solution for operators with demanding duty cycles.

"As the UK's leading zero-emission bus manufacturer, we welcome the plan to scale up domestic hydrogen productio...

This audio is brought to you by Astec Industries, a Global Leader in manufacturing equipment for infrastructure, including asphalt production, construction, and material processing, driving innovation and sustainability.

Mining company Menar is very hopeful that trade relations between South Africa and the United States are normalised very soon, and points out that if they are not, the United States will also be adversely affected and not South Africa alone.

Menar MD Vuslat Bayoglu emphasised this dual adversity outcome when he spoke to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Menar is a private investment company with a portfolio of diversified minerals that include anthracite, coal, manganese and ferromanganese in South Africa, gold in Kyrgyz Republic and nickel in Türkiye.

"It is critical for the US to quickly settle the dust to prevent farmers, for instance, starting to look for alternative markets. The US and South African farmers have for years built this supply chain successfully, and they don't want to waste this relationship. The same applies to the mining industry.

"For ferromanganese, it's critical for us to be able to supply product to the US, but if we can't, then we need to look at alternative markets, maybe in the Middle East or maybe to some East European countries that are growing in steel manufacturing.

"Because China created its own capacity on ferromanganese, South African production will have no option but to go to either US or Europe or the countries that are that are trying to push their steel production.

"So, it's a critical relationship and we're watching it very carefully and hoping that the relationship goes back to its normal position," Bayoglu outlined.

Menar is trying to bring Khwelamet, formerly Metalloys, back into production in Meyerton, Gauteng, and sees that its market is going to be mainly United States.

"We're talking to potential customers to make sure that when we're back into production, we'll be able to move our products," added Bayoglu.

US is an important trade partner for manganese and ferromanganese, and Menar's awareness of that is why the company is watching what is happening between South Africa and United States very closely.

"But the US relationship is critical for South Africa in the same way as South Africa's relationships with Japan, China, Germany, France, and the UK are critical.

"They're all critical because we're living in a global village, and we can't afford to have a bad relationship with another country, and especially with United States, the biggest power in the world.

"We need to have the right relationship so that our business people are not affected, because we've got other challenges in South Africa to solve. This is a man-made challenge, and we can fix this problem, and then we can move on.

"We can move on addressing unemployment challenges, Eskom challenges, Transnet challenges, and the gap between rich and poor. All these things can be addressed, once we have smooth relationship with all of our trading partners, and United States is one of the important ones, because it's a massive market for our products, because they the consumption rate is high, the GDP per capita is high. From those perspectives, we can't afford to lose the US as a partner.

"But on the other hand, the Trump Administration also knows that if they push this too hard, then at the end of the day South African producers are going to look for alternative markets, and that would be bad for the US as well, because, let's say, if I am producing ferromanganese, and if they don't want to buy ferromanganese from me, then what am I going to do?

"Then I'll go and try to sell my products to East European countries, be it Romania, be it Poland, be it the Czech Republic. Then when Americans want to buy ferromanganese, I'll have to say, sorry, guys, I don't have ferromanganese, and then the US will have to go to China.

"Again, it will create more dependency for them o...

his audio is brought to you by Astec Industries, a Global Leader in manufacturing equipment for infrastructure, including asphalt production, construction, and material processing, driving innovation and sustainability.

The Waterberg platinum group metals (PGMs) project in South Africa's Limpopo province is poised for a $1.8-billion funding uplift as part of a private placement being conducted by Toronto- and New York-listed Platinum Group Metals.

Planned is the selling of 800 000 shares at $1.26 each to Hosken Consolidated Investments, to enable the South African company to return to being a to return to being a 26% beneficial shareholder.

Net proceeds of the private placement are earmarked for pre-construction site work, engineering and preparation costs on the project, as well as for general corporate and working capital purposes.

The private placement is subject to customary closing conditions, including stock exchange approvals and completion of the definitive agreement.

Platinum Group Metals operates the project as a majority owner of what is a bulk underground platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold deposit.

A prefeasibility was completed in 2016, with results of a definitive feasibility study (DFS) announced in 2019.

A mining right was granted in early 2021 and an update to the 2019 DFS was completed in 2024.

Proven and probable reserves were calculated to be 246.2-million tonnes at 2.96 g/t four element (4E) or 23.41-million ounces 4E on a 100% project basis.

The life-of-mine is 54 years and 2 000 jobs are expected to be created during construction and 1 425 permanent jobs as steady-state mining is achieved.

The orebody is being jointly developed with Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Impala Platinum, Mnombo Wethu, and HJ Platinum Metals, a company established in 2023 by Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security (Jogmec) and Hanwa as a special purpose entity to hold and fund their aggregate future equity interests in the project.

The shallow project, on the Northern Limb of the Bushveld Complex, facilitates mechanised production with the potential doe moderate cost.

The initial exploration of this section of the Bushveld Complex in November 2011was funded by Jogmec.

In October 2017, Impala Platinum purchased its interest for $30-million and acquired a right of first refusal for concentrate offtake and Hanwa has the metal marketing right.

BATTERY PGMS

To support the use of palladium and platinum in lithium battery applications, Platinum Group Metals has the Lion Battery partnership with Anglo American Platinum, which is opening up the possibility of creating additional demand for platinum and palladium in the battery technology space.

In turn, Lion Battery's agreement with Florida International University is targeting the potential of PGMs uplifting the discharge capacities and cyclability of lithium air and lithium sulphur battery chemistries.

The agreement with Florida gives exclusive intellectual property rights to Lion, which is looking at developing several next-generation battery technology using platinum and palladium.

Considerably higher energy density reportedly enhances the performance of the lithium air and lithium sulphur batteries by orders of magnitude in mobile and stationary applications.

This audio is brought to you by Astec Industries, a Global Leader in manufacturing equipment for infrastructure, including asphalt production, construction, and material processing, driving innovation and sustainability.

The electricity pricing agreement for Hillside Aluminium in KwaZulu-Natal reflects the South African government's policy to support strategic industries that create value for the nation, South32 stated on Friday.

"It helps the smelter to remain internationally competitive so it can continue to deliver significant benefits to South Africa," a South32 spokesperson pointed out.

Eskom outlined its rationale for the pricing agreement in a publicly available submission to National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), in February 2021. In its submission, Eskom noted Hillside's role in supporting stability of the electricity grid.

When it publicly outlined its rationale for supporting the agreement, Nersa stated there was a "net benefit to the rest of the customer base in putting this agreement in place".

Mining Weekly put questions to South32 following a report in Currency on the pricing arrangement, which Michael Marchant as head of investigations at Open Secrets says should be made public for scrutiny in that it is estimated to be potentially worth R92-billion over ten years.

South Africa's Hillside Aluminium in Richards Bay is a significant contributor to South Africa's national economy and a major employer.

It employed over 2 300 employees and contractors in South32's financial year (FY24) and supports a further estimated 27 400 indirect employment opportunities in the economy.

"It has played a key role in South Africa's domestic aluminium industry as a supplier to local companies that manufacture products for sale domestically and abroad.

"Hillside plays an important role in keeping the South African electricity grid stable and helps to manage loadshedding through the suspension of power to potlines at critical times. Despite limited loadshedding across South Africa during the past year, suspension of power to potlines at Hillside has continued during this period in order to support Eskom in managing South Africa's electricity grid," the South32 spokesperson added.

It is understood that without the pricing agreement, Hillside could not operate and Eskom would lose its largest paying customer.

NEED TO DECARBONISE

Already under scrutiny for remedying is Hillside's value-lowering 'high-carbon' status. The carbon-intensive description given to Hillside stems from its use of coal-fired electricity, but the good news is that competitive decarbonisation is continuing to be intensively investigated for what is the largest aluminium smelter in the southern hemisphere and the producer of a good percentage of primary aluminium for South Africa's value-adding secondary aluminium product producers.

As has regularly been pointed out by Mining Weekly, it would be a major advantage if optimum public-private attention were to be given to 'greening' Hillside, which is responsible for a 94% of South32's total Scope 2 emissions.

Hillside contributes nearly R10-billion to South Africa's GDP and every public-private effort should be made to ensure that the aluminium it produces can benefit from the green price premium that is being paid for aluminium that is not carbon heavy.

Engagement with government regarding operational and value chain decarbonisation is reportedly positive and emphasised by South32 COO Noel Pillay in past interviews is that technical studies have concluded that Hillside could be made to work with solar, wind, and backup investment.

At the time of going to press, Eskom had not responded to the questions put to it by Mining Weekly, but it is known that discussion with Eskom has centred on the study of various options, which take in nuclear and renewables, and potential one-stop-shop collaborative efforts.

In FY24, nearly 90% of Hillside's employees were historically disadvantaged individuals; a third were ...

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses Barrick leading the industry in replacing and growing reserves; DHL urging coordinated action to realise green hydrogen ambitions; and the revenue of DRDGOLD increasing on strong gold pricing.