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Project development funding for the Prieska Power Reserve Project is being partly sourced from the German Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), South Africa's State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), which has also approved development funding to the project, has outlined in an advertisement.

The green-hydrogen-linked Prieska project, which is located outside Prieska in the Northern Cape, aims to produce 80 000 t of green ammonia a year. It is owned by Mahlako, a women-owned empowerment consortium, and Cenec, a Bloemfontein-based emission energy company that designs and manages solar and wind energy plants. Initiated by Mahlako and Cenec, the project is on privately owned farms of about 1 900 ha, which are sites earmarked for renewable energy generation.

While these generation sites are located outside Prieska, a town on the south bank of the Orange River, the green ammonia chemical processing will be located within the industrial area in Prieska, on land owned by the Siyathemba local municipality.

The 14 500 t/y green hydrogen content will be produced by a 120 MW electrolyser, and renewable energy sources, made up of 180 MWp of solar photovoltaic and 136 MWp of wind power, will power the electrolyser. The project includes a 45 MW battery storage system to ensure continuous 24-hour operation.

Mining Weekly can report that although green hydrogen generation and platinum group metals (PGMs) generally go hand-in-hand and although South Africa hosts most of the world's PGMs, no explicit reference to is made by the IDC to the use of PGM-based proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers and fuel cells.

Interestingly, PEM's global recognition has just been emphasised in a World Platinum Investment Council LinkedIn note, which points out that the US-based clean energy technology firm Ohmium International has opted for PEM, with this observation from Ohmium CEO Markus Tacke: "Our latest Lotus Mark 3 PEM electrolyser system is transforming the economics of green hydrogen production."

In addition. Plug Power president and CEO Andy Marsh has pointed out to Engineering News & Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview that PEM technology is at the heart of everything that Plug Power, a US Nasdaq-listed company, does. Plug Power has been a prime mover in the US's platinum catalysed green hydrogen and fuel cell economy and Marsh points out that the adoption by US business of this planet-friendly way of doing things is because it pays to do so.

Plug Power built and operates the US's largest liquid green hydrogen plant, a 15-t-a-day liquid hydrogen plant that uses 40 MW of Plug's platinum- and iridium-catalysed electrolysers.

Plug Power is involved with more than 80 000 forklift trucks being powered by the 250 hydrogen fuelling stations it has built. Between Walmart and Amazon, there are about 150 sites that use Plug Power's PEM technology to operate around the clock and with the help of Plug Power's technology, these companies talk about moving 8% to 10% more pallets an hour, while also being users of clean energy that mitigates against climate change.

PEM electrolysers generate the green hydrogen by splitting water, including sea water, into hydrogen and oxygen.

Then fuel cells, which are also catalysed by PGMs, convert the green hydrogen into green electricity for mobility or stationary uses.

Moreover, the flexibility provided by liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) technology, which is being developed by the South Africa-linked German company Hydrogeneous, provides the oily skin for green hydrogen to be transported, stored and traded in the same way as oil and gas is currently. Very fortuitously, LOHC ensures that green hydrogen can be transported and stored using existing liquid fuel infrastructure, including sh...

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South Africa has delivered what is described as "an exceptionally pure rare earth product", which has been optimised in a Johannesburg laboratory.

The breakthrough is part of the rare earths recovery project work under way in South Africa, led by Rainbow Rare Earths CEO George Bennett, who on Monday September 1 reported successful results from ongoing testwork for the Phalaborwa project under way in Limpopo province.

This very distinctive project, which has attracted favourable global attention, encompasses the recovery and separation of rare earth elements (REE) from phosphogypsum stacks, a waste product from phosphoric acid production, meaning that many of the costs, risks and long timescales associated with traditional mining projects are eliminated.

Key components of Rainbow's Johannesburg in-house laboratory testwork have been to maximise and maintain overall REE recovery at 65% while achieving impurity rejection through continuous ion exchange (CIX).

The key delivery of a high-grade, low-impurity feed stream to the final separation process to separate rare earth oxides of the desired purity level has been successfully achieved by Rainbow's in-house team. The purification process combining CIX and precipitation steps is a novel combination in REE recovery and demonstrates the special intellectual property in REE extraction that the company has developed.

The incorporation of CIX and simplified final separation of only two products is expected to result in modest capital expenditure (capex) and operational expenditure (opex) for this part of the circuit.

At 65%, the recovery of REE from the phosphogypsum feed to the mixed REE product has been in line with recoveries used in the recent interim economic study. These results have been confirmed further through extensive large-scale repetitive batch testing with solution recycle.

Savings in power, reagent, labour and capital costs are expected to be brought about by trade-off studies to optimise the primary leach circuit.

Moreover, the results of trade-off studies will provide the market with an update as to the potential impact on capex and opex ahead of the publication of the project's definitive feasibility study.

As reported by Mining Weekly last year, Rainbow's advance is regarded as being one of the world's most resilient rare earths projects at a time when these elements are in growing demand for use in permanent magnets to help the world go green.

Moreover, the commercial recovery of REEs from phosphogypsum makes Rainbow something of a pioneer.

The potential to become a very low-cost producer of light and heavy REE, and one of the highest margin projects in development globally, is being increasingly recognised.

The West is finally recognising the importance of REE, used in permanent magnets vital to the functionality of many of the products that underpin twenty-first-century society, as well as to emerging and advanced technologies.

A number of recent initiatives by the US, Australian and European governments are aimed at improving the economics of, and supporting the financing for, REE projects to rapidly build out end-to-end rare earth permanent magnet supply chains.

The recent offtake agreement for neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) between the US Department of Defense and MP Materials utilising a floor price of $110/kg NdPr demonstrated industry acceptance of a floor price significantly above current market pricing required to ensure new sources of supply.

Rainbow calculates that it has a high economic grade of rare earths in the gypsum stacks at Phalaborwa, where the 35-million-tonne resource provides a 16-year life-of-project that will recover four of the world's most sought after REEs.

Some 150 000 t of these rare earths will be produced at a...

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Harmony Gold Mining Company, South Africa's biggest gold mining company, is proving itself to be a great South African asset and it's booming at the moment, not only because the gold price is so high, but also because this Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company has structured itself so well to mine at a depth greater than any other gold mining company on planet earth.

Specifically, South Africa saw a phenomenal performance from the gold mine with the world's deepest shaft - Mponeng - which delivered a wonderfully high grade of 11.27 g/t.

Mponeng's shaft is 3 891 m below datum and more than 2 000 m below sea level and the sequential grid mining method used helps to ensure that mining does not trigger unnecessary seismicity.

Mponeng, which began extracting gold from the Ventersdorp Contact Reef orebody in 1986, is now dishing up a flood of free cash flow, not thanks to Mother Nature alone, but also the result of the human ingenuity that is being applied by Harmony Gold, which is now also moving swiftly into copper in Australia, backed by its success in South Africa.

But for now, it is predominantly South Africa's two big, high-grade, deep-level Mponeng and Moab Khotsong gold mines - which are receiving new double-decade life horizons from strong capital investment under way - that are uplifting this company, amid good support from the very promising Mine Waste Solutions and the other surface projects, optimised assets that have been generating consistent and predictable production, as well as Hidden Valley in Papua New Guinea, where Harmony Gold also has high hopes for Wafi-Golpu, a 50:50 copper/gold joint venture between subsidiaries of Harmony and Newmont.

"But it's the gold business in South Africa, where it all began, that's starting to show the world that gold mining in South Africa is a good business," Harmony Gold CEO Beyers Nel, 48, pointed out in an interview with Mining Weekly this week following the reporting of record high free cash flow of R11-billion-plus and a record final dividend of R2.4-billion. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

The first job of mining engineer and Polokwane-born Nel was as a general underground worker at the Vaal Reefs gold mine as part of a mining graduate programme. This was followed by a linear progression of roles within the gold mining industry, which culminated in his appointment as Harmony's group CEO from January 1 this year.

Nel sees the leading of Harmony's 46 000 "valuable people" as his biggest opportunity.

Green electrons are expected to flow soon at Harmony Gold's Moab as part of a 100 MW project and there is optimism that the Target 1 gold mine will be a contributing mine in 2026 financial year.

In financial year 2025, capital expenditure (capex) rose 32% to R10 998-million driven mainly by the extension projects at Mponeng, the 100 MW renewable-energy project at Moab Khotsong and Mine Waste Solutions' Kareerand tailings storage facility extension, and capex is expected to increase in financial year 2026 to advance growth and sustain mature assets.

Mining Weekly: How widespread is the use of sequential grid mining by Harmony?

Nel: The sequential grid mining method is a method we use at some of our mines, and predominantly in the West Wits area, where Mponeng and our Kusasalethu mines use this mining method, which structures the mining fronts in a V-formation. What it does is it keeps the stresses that trigger seismicity above the normal levels of seismicity ahead of you. It's a structured, rigid and safe way of extracting ore from these deep mines, and we've seen the preventative controls of seismic management and safety management helping us to mine Mponeng and Kusasalethu, not only successfully but also safely, which is priority number one for ...

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses Exxaro and Transnet Freight Rail's service agreement to improve the performance of logistics channels; Master Drilling’s new technology that promises “continuous” rock excavation, even for narrow reef extraction; and Harmony's record

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It's records all round for South Africa's largest gold mining company Harmony, which on Thursday reported record-high free cash flow of R11-billion-plus at a 16% margin and a record final dividend of R2.4-billion.

"We've delivered an unmatched performance with a 54% growth in adjusted free cash flow," an upbeat Harmony CEO Beyers Nel said during the presentation of 2025 financial year results event covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

"We've expanded group adjusted free cashflow margins eightfold over the past four years, whilst sustaining and growing high quality ounces," Beyers added.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed core gold and now also emerging copper producer reported a "phenomenal performance" at its deep Mponeng gold mine plus a solid performance from Moab Khotsong.

Mponeng delivered a remarkably high underground recovered grade of 11.27 g/t and progressing at Moab Khotsong is a "very exciting" 100 MW solar energy project.

While keeping all-in sustaining costs as guided at $1 806/oz, Harmony excelled at the upper end of production guidance with an output of 1.48-million gold ounces.

Harmony's surface operations remain "a quiet powerhouse of low risk and high-margin cash" and R1.4-billion has been invested on the surface mining projects at Mine Waste Solutions and at Hidden Valley, while free cash flow margins remained an exceptional 48%, with R3.8-billion generated in adjusted free cash flow.

The Mine Waste Solutions extension project is largely complete and is delivering 100 000 oz of gold annually.

Moreover, Harmony has a further 5.7-million ounces and resources in old tailings dams in the Free State alone.

The priority in financial year 2026 is the turnaround of the Target 1 gold operation, which is described as 'now showing green shoots" in terms of higher volumes.

In copper, the MAC copper transaction is expected to be closed in October, pending Friday's August 29 shareholder vote.

Later this calendar year, a final investment decision is expected on Eva copper.

"While copper is a near-term catalyst and a structural hedge that enhances portfolio durability, gold remains our core. Our growth plans remain balanced and affordable and designed not to strain the balance sheet or execution capacity. It is focused on value and transforming Harmony into a higher quality global gold and copper producer.

UNDERGROUND GRADE UPWARD STREAK

Underground recovered grade's upward streak exceeded the upwardly revised grade guidance top end with 6.27 g/t on structurally improved portfolio quality and operational resilience.

The main driver of performance has been a combination of high-grade-asset addition and mine extension investment elevated by the sky-high gold price.

All this alongside funding approved for major capital projects as well, with cash not only providing certainty but also strategic optionality.

"It derisks our capital programme, supports a consistent dividend and positions us to fund our various projects," Nel added.

IN EXCELLENT POSITION TO FUND GROWTH PIPELINE

Harmony CFO Boipelo Lekubo described the 2025 financial year as "another standout year", in which net cash on the balance sheet surged by 285% to R11.1-billion.

As a result, headline earnings a share rose by 26% to R23.37. The main items which impacted earnings included a R3.5-billion increase in taxation and a swing of R500-million on foreign exchange and silver derivatives.

Revenue grew by 20% to R74-billion, included in which is a R4.5-billion hedge loss.

"We continue to hedge up to 30% of our gold production over a rolling 36-month period to protect and lock in margins. This prudent strategy provides financial stability and flexibility during a phase of elevated capital investment," Lekubo explaine...

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The new mining technology being advanced by Master Drilling promises "continuous", round-the-clock mining uplift - even when it comes to narrow reef extraction.

On the new technology being developed, Master Drilling director Koos Jordaan displayed a slide that repeated the three words "continuous rock excavation" three times over, whether for shaft sinking, tunnelling or reef boring - and precise reef boring with minimum dilution, to boot.

Popping up repeatedly as well during this Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company's presentation of 399%-higher half-year after-tax profit of $18.1-million was the repeated use of the words "automation, remote operation, robotics, digitisation, artificial intelligence (AI), and virtual reality."

Encouragingly, project after project came with the word "complete", to indicate that the main work needed is already done and dusted.

To prove this were pictures of real rigs, real tunnel borers, real reef borers - and even real screen grabs, one of which showed Master Drillings' mine safety technology providing subsidiary A&R tracking of about 75 000 people underground daily, which gives an idea of the amount of data collected, reported, stored, analysed and AI-augmented, to provide clients with ongoing resource management.

"I think it's safe to say that the world is changing faster and we're looking at how and where we should position ourselves to be relevant and sustainable," added Jordaan during the presentation covered by Mining Weekly.

"In the short term, we're setting up and developing our capability in terms of shaft sinking, tunnelling, reef boring, where we want to offer a solution for quicker underground access. We're also working on solutions to do selective mining, providing higher grade for clients. Then also rig automisation and remote operation," Jordaan reported.

A significant amount of operation would, he explained, be done in an autonomous, remote manner to enable safe and efficient performance.

Regarding exploration, investment has been made into the development of robotics for materials handling for underground and surface core drilling projects. This is also applicable to projects where remote operation is required in opencast mines for delineation, grade control, reverse circulation, and percussion pre-drilling. Outlined was also the role that geophysics could play in gathering data quicker, easier.

The use of AI to make information available quickly was emphasised, with digitisation creating an operational technology platform on which all big data was collectable, processable and integrated to uplift dispatch and everything else.

Technology development and trends around the globe are continuing to be monitored by this Proudly South African drilling and mechanised rock excavation technology company that operates in 28 countries across five continents.

Regarding raiseboring, which represents 80% of the business, factory acceptance testing has been done for the Bluebot rig, and two of the three large capacity RD6 DC low-profile raise-bore rigs manufactured have been deployed to operations.

In addition, a second-generation design for the mobile, smaller capacity slot boring LP 100 rig is scheduled for completion by the beginning of 2026.

In slim drilling, the surface concept validation, testing and commissioning of a surface robotic core drilling rig has been completed, making it available for further field trials.

The experimental sinking of a shaft was completed at the beginning of this year to get down deeper much faster. Funding is being reviewed and design work done on the next phase, for testing during the first half of next year. In parallel, market engagement is taking place for the pursuit of commercial projects for this service.

In tunnelling, a co...

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Three major developments, which are poised to move the needle for South African mining, were outlined to Mining Weekly by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed drilling and mechanised rock excavation technology company Master Drilling, when it reported 399%-higher half-year after-tax profit of $18.1-million on Tuesday, following a partial impairment reversal.

The Proudly South African Far West Rand original-equipment manufacturer, with an order book of $306-million on a revenue pipeline of $515-million spread across 28 countries on five continents, highlighted the first of its three major developments as its ready-made new shaft boring system (SBS) that points to drilling a shaft to depth in half the time.

The second is a mobile tunnel borer (MTB) machine that is paving the way for the third - a narrow-reef rock cutter that will maximise extraction and minimise waste from an orebody that is currently not economically viable using conventional mining methods. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

The SBS eliminates the need for conventional blasting in hard rock material; the MTB is destined to tunnel for some distance at the Bokoni platinum mine of African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) in Limpopo; and the third is a narrow reef cutting advancer with the likely ability to halve the development of a mine, for example ensure that what would conventionally be a 600 000 t mine is a 300 000 t mine - but with the same number of ounces produced.

Master Drilling CEO Danie Pretorius told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview: "Quoting some of the ARM management, dilution in the industry is a cancer, so if we can reduce dilution and get the on-reef cutter on autopilot, I really think that's going to come with a lot of value such as transporting less through the mine, reduced plant size, less energy requirement for the plant, and the list goes on." (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

The contract negotiations have been finalised and operations are expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2025, with hot pursuit to achieve key performance indicators (KPIs).

Mining Weekly: How will you make it possible for the currently inaccessible narrow-reef upper group two - UG2 - reef to be extracted at Bokoni?

We'll tunnel with the MTB for some distance, and then follow with on-reef cutting. No doubt, certain modifications will probably be done as we progress but we see this as our rock factory, and we're not using drilling and we're moving away from explosives, which obviously, for the miners, would mean continuous operation, which we're really excited about. If we can hit those KPIs with the client, it's going to really add a lot of value in the industry.

PUT TO THE TEST

The SBS, which is designed to bore shafts with diameters of 4 m to 11.5 m, depending on client requirements, has bored a 4.3 m shaft to depths of up to 100 m using a cutter head specifically developed to drill through extremely hard rock, such as 320 MPa norite.

What was Master Drilling's top highlight of the six months to June 30?

The successful commissioning of the SBS here at the site, close to our offices. I really think this could probably move the needle for the miners of the deeper orebodies that we need to get to quicker. We need to take the next step here to increase the size from 4.2 m to larger than six metres, which is work in progress. But I think this was probably, in our business, top of mind for the last six months. So, what we're busy with are the SBS, the MTB and the on-reef cutter, that's what the industry needs today.

What was the reversal of the impairment all about?

It's more of an IFRS accounting entry that happened last year. We cleared site at Mogalakwena early last year and unfortunately had no committed mid-year work for the machine....

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Another agreement involving collaboration between the public sector and the private sector in the field of rail transport service has been signed, this time between the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Exxaro Resources and State-owned company Transnet Freight Rail (TFR).

Acting through its operating division, TFR has entered into a formal service agreement under the existing long-term agreement between the parties.

In terms of this agreement, Transnet and Exxaro will collaborate to improve the performance of its logistics channels, including to contribute to Exxaro's Leeuwpan coal mine turnaround plan.

The agreement outlines clear performance expectations and joint planning initiatives to enhance rail capacity and optimise long-term logistics. This aligns with Exxaro's commitment to operational efficiency and long-term sustainability, Transnet's mandate to ensure the security of logistics supply, and supports the national objectives of strengthening South Africa's trade and logistics.

Exxaro CEO Ben Magara expressed the belief that this service arrangement strategically unlocks value for Exxaro and capacitates sufficient strategic levers for the group.

"The agreement is good for the national economy and specifically, Transnet's commitment to assist Exxaro in minimising job losses and sustain mine viability," Magara stated in a release to Mining Weekly, in which he thanked Transnet for the constructive manner in which this agreement had been reached.

Transnet group CEO Advocate Michelle Phillips said: "We're confident that this agreement will unlock significant value not only for Transnet and Exxaro, but for the broader industry and economy.

"It reflects a shared commitment to rebuilding trust and delivering on our respective mandates for the benefit of all stakeholders," Phillips added.

This partnership reaffirms both entities' commitment to restoring and enhancing rail performance, promoting economic growth, and driving competitiveness and long-term sustainability within the mining and transport sectors.

The agreement follows Transnet and Hotazel Manganese Mines signing a ten-year contract under the third phase of the Manganese Export Capacity Allocation framework as well as Transnet and United Manganese of Kalahari signing a ten-year contract for the transportation of manganese by rail from UMK's mine in the Northern Cape also under the Manganese Export Capacity Allocation agreement.

Moreover, Minister Barbara Creecy last week announced that 11 of the 25 private train operating companies that applied to operate routes on Transnet's rail network had met the requirements to do so and would now be entering into contract negotiations to enable them to gain access to the network and begin operating the routes - an announcement that represents a significant step in opening South Africa's freight rail network, which has hitherto been monopolised by State-owned Transnet, to third-party operators.

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There's a wonderful gold-price tailwind behind all gold companies at the moment but it's the self-generation of solar electricity that served as the catalyst of change for Ergo.

Following the company's declaration of a doubled final 2025 cash dividend on 69% higher cash operating profit and earnings, revenue touching R8-billion and strong free cash flow, Mining Weekly spoke to DRDGOLD CEO Niël Pretorius in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

"The self-generation of solar electricity was the catalyst and what the gold price is doing for us at the moment is helping us to make the changes that are necessary to extend Ergo's LoM - and they are very much focused around alternative deposition storage capacity.

"The gold price cycle has prompted a new direction in the thinking of DRDGOLD, in the sense that the initial capital invested was premised on a mining programme of 12 years and it was going to start running out of steam roughly four years ago, when decommissioning would have started.

"But instead, the decoupling and rebasing of gold relative to other economic drivers and indicators pointed to closing perhaps being premature because there were still a lot of resources left.

"It's just that those resources were deemed non-viable, and DRDGOLD had to take a very long and hard look at the cost construct of Ergo.

"One of the things that really got in the way was the uncertainty with regards to the supply and the cost of electricity and if the company could find a solution for that, then many of the other things we'd be able to do by way of engineering solutions.

"So, we decided on the 60 MW solar farm, which was duly built, and that was coupled to the battery energy storage system, which is a 180 MW storage system, which means that we could basically run Ergo and related infrastructure for 12 hours a day on renewable energy.

"It's like a halving of Ergo carbon footprint, and it brought down the risk categorisation. It changed the risk profile of Ergo because electricity moved from number two to a lot lower down in the risk hierarchy of Ergo.

"Brakpan tailings dam, which has been around since 1984, has to all intents and purposes served out its term as a useful facility.

"It's now not quite in a decommissioning phase, although we've reduced deposition onto that dam from 2.1-million tons per month back in 2022 down to 1.65-million tons per month, and it will progressively be reduced even further. The focus point for Ergo is to create new deposition space and to resume deposition on Daggafontein, which is another available deposition facility, that at 500 000 t a month can be used for another 20 years.

"The gold price is helping us to do that. We could spend all of this capital, at Ergo about R4-billion over the next few years, without having to dip into our facility, and the same applies to Far West Gold.

"We've been talking about Far West Gold Phase 1 and Far West Gold Phase 2 since the early days of acquiring Far West Gold and we're now executing on Phase 2.

"We're doubling the size of the plant from a design capacity of 600 000 t a month to 1.2-million tons a month and under way is the construction of the Regional tailing storage facility, the RTSF, which is an 800 ha facility that's going to be fully lined. That's been going since June of last year, and that's going along really well.

"There have been some rain interruptions and so forth, but that facility is going to facilitate a change in throughput profile and change in production profile for Far West Gold going forward, also adding about 20 years of life, so that target we spoke about at DRDGOLD's 130th anniversary celebration earlier this year, and hopefully we'll be here to celebrate our 150th anniversary.

"The gold price is helpi...

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer unpacks DRDGOLD's R7.8-billion investment in its Big Five capital growth projects; Exxaro's spend of R5.2-billion on a coal mine expansion and R4.7-billion on a wind farm development; and the global defence industry stimulating considerable dem