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Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Exxaro Resources will be spending R5.2 billion on a life-of-mine expansion project at its Matla colliery and R4.7-billion on the development of the 140 MW Karreebosch wind energy project.

Matla will basically provide a new mine and the wind farm's supply of clean energy to Northam Platinum will come with Scope 3 emission credits as Exxaro executes on its decarbonisation roadmap.

Being an Exxaro coal customer, Northam will support the reduction of Exxaro's Scope 3 emissions obligations through the Karreebosch wind energy project arrangement.

Despite persistent global and domestic headwinds, new Exxaro CEO Ben Magara reported a good set of dividend-yielding interim results that saw net cash rise 27% to R12.4-billion.

Magara made the point that this level of cash buffer wouldnot be retained once the purchase of Ntsimbintle Holdings and OMH manganese assets is brought to completion, which is expected to take placed in the first quarter of next year.

Of the R3-billion dividend funding, R1.7-billion was a pass through from the Sishen Iron Ore Company dividend and R1.3-billion from Exxaro's own managed operations.

Half-year domestic and export coal sales were 1% higher on production of 19.4-million tonnes.

The operating wind assets of Exxaro's energy solutions company Cennergi generated 337 GWh of electricity in the six months to June 30, amid the signing of a power purchase agreement for platinum group metals mining company Northam Platinum to receive clean power from the Karreebosch wind farm, a project that will uplift the gross clean power capacity to Cennergi 437 MW.

Combined with Exxaro's Lephalale Solar Project, the two projects will more than double Cennergi's capacity by the first half of 2027.

The half-year revenue of Cennergi rose 3.5% to R675-million on stable generation and increased annual tariff escalations, which uplifted the operational earnings of the wind energy business to R537-million - "and this drive is not just about money, but it's also about reducing emissions", said Magara.

Expansion capital of R1.1-billionwas spent on the Lephalale Solar Project and the Karreebosch wind farm in he half year, FD Riaan Koppeschaar reported.

Exxaro is configuring its assets to support its decarbonisation journey, with a particular focus on technologies such as fleet optimisation to reduce Scope 1 emissions.

A key milestone in this commitment is the commissioning of the self-generation Lephalale Solar Project initiative at the Grootegeluk coal mine, which will deliver a 25% reduction in Scope 2 emissions and a 17% reduction in total Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.

Addressing Scope 3 value-chain emissions remain a priority, and through strategic partnerships and meaningful stakeholder engagement such as the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Eskom in April, Exxaro expressed confidence of making progress in reducing these emissions.

MORE DOMESTIC COAL OFFTAKE EXPECTED

Exxaro is expecting more of its coal to be bought by Eskom, especially in view the fourth unit of the Medupi power station that it supplies, has been returned to service.

"We we're very pleased when they announced a few weeks ago that unit four is back," said Magara during the presentation of half-year results covered by Mining Weekly.

Each unit consumes somewhere around 2.2-million tons to 2.3-million tons of coal.

"When a unit's down for a year, that's 2.2-million to 2.3-million tons out of your production and that impacts unit costs," said Magara, adding that all six Medupi units now seem to be running.

As a result, Exxaro is guiding total 2025 production of around 38.9-million tons to 42.8-million tons, and total coal sales of 38.3-million tons and 42.4-million tons, with export sales ranging poss...

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Johannesburg- and New York-listed DRDGOLD on Wednesday outlined its plans to invest around R7.8-billion in its Big Five capital growth projects, two on the well-established East Rand and three on the fast developing Far West Rand.

The R7.8-billion capital investment is described as being a medium-term forecast for the key projects within the Vision 2028 strategy, extending life-of-mine by at least 20 years for both East Rand and West Rand operations.

Vision 2028 is working towards increasing throughput to three-million tons a month, boosting gold production to more than 200 000 oz/y, reducing the company's environmental footprint and maximising social impact. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

The plan now for Ergo on the East Rand is to expand the operation's lifespan to beyond 2040 to process a resource base previously thought non-viable. Increasing deposition capacity, however, would be vital until this could be achieved, by resuming deposition on to the Daggafontein tailings storage facility (TSF) by the first quarter of the 2027 financial year.

Ergo's throughput is being throttled at 1.65-million tons a month to ease deposition on the current Brakpan TSF. Longer term, the planned new Withok TSF would take over from the Brakpan TSF.

At the Far West Gold Recoveries operation, near Carletonville, the story is similar - for now - to that of Ergo.

The throughput rate at Far West Gold Recoveries Phase 1 has, from inception, been determined by the capacity of its TSF, Driefontein 4 Dam.

Phase 2 construction is now well under way, with the expansion of the current DP2 plant to double its current throughput capacity to 1.2-million tons, enabled by constructing the large new Regional TSF.

The Regional TSF, with a 30-year life, is designed for 800-million tons at an eventual deposition rate of 2.4-million tons a month for the life-of-mine (LoM). It will still be in construction when its lower section begins to be used from the southern side.

"I think I'll venture to say that this is possibly the largest tailings dam constructed on a liner, definitely in South Africa, maybe even in the southern hemisphere. I don't know of another tailings dam that's this big," DRDGOLD COO Jaco Schoeman commented during the results presentation covered by Mining Weekly.

In the case of Ergo, some of the existing infrastructure has to be upgraded for gold to be recovered from the Marievale and Crown major clusters with treated material making use of Daggafontein and Withok deposition capacity plus a dual 11 km pipeline, one for slurry and the other for return water.

Commencement of deposition onto Daggafontein is envisaged in the first quarter of DRDGOLD's 2027 financial year.

Withok, which is directly south of the Brakpan tailings dam that is scheduled for closure, is designed to hold 310-million tons of material with a deposition rate of 1.3-million tons a month.

"Once this and Daggafontein are an operation, Ergo's deposition capacity will return to 1.8-million tons a month deposition capacity, providing a LoM of more than 20 years. "We anticipate that it's going to take us approximately three years before we start commissioning," Schoeman reported.

The 600 000 t capacity of Far West's DP2 plant will be doubled to 1.2-million tons, which will be pumped to the Regional TSF, close to the town of Fochville. Shown during the presentation was the proposed carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit. The 1.2-million tons of tailings will come from the Driefontein 3 and Lebanon tailings dams. The envisaged completion date for this is the first quarter of DRDGOLD's 2027 financial year.

"From an engineering and design perspective, we're 99% complete. Our procurement packages are 94% complete. Fabrication and supplies are 65% complete and construc...

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The global defence industry is expected to stimulate considerable demand for nickel as the world invests in more armaments that require nickel-containing steels.

"I think there's going to be a big demand side inflection coming quite quickly from the global defence industry as the world invests - and I think, unfortunately, has to invest - in more armaments that all require stainless steel and specialised steels that contain nickel for gun barrels, for armour, for ships.

"I'm not seeing, yet, that it's factored into the demand side analysis much at all, but I think it's going to be big. It's going to be bigger than anyone's thinking about at the moment," Lifezone Metals founder and chairperson Keith Liddell outlined to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

"We think that the nickel price will start to trend up over the next few years, and we want to be commissioning into a rising price, rather than where we are at the moment where the price is in a bit of a doldrum."

New York-listed Lifezone recently took full control of Kabanga Nickel, which in turn holds an 84% interest in Tembo Nickel, the Tanzanian operating company behind the Kabanga project. The remaining 16% is held by the Tanzania government.

Lifezone's comprehensive feasibility study for the Kabanga project outlines the initial development phase, including a 3.4-million-ton-a-year underground mine, processing infrastructure and tailings storage. The project will produce a high-grade nickel, copper and cobalt concentrate for downstream processing and has an expected 18-year mine life.

"It's very big and it's a very high grade nickel resource - and those two things, large tonnage and high grade, don't often come together.

"You either get one or the other, but not both, and this is what makes Kabanga so great," said Liddell, who is well known in South Africa for conceiving smelterless Kell Technology that enables the production at mine sites of refined platinum group metals (PGMs), substantially cutting capital expenditure and operating costs.

Liddell was also instrumental in the development of South Africa's Kroondal PGMs project, which gave birth to a low cost and efficient PGM business.

Now, Kabanga is on its way to bringing benefits to the people of Tanzania, and Liddell is going all out to make sure it does so.

The feasibility study contains the reserve statement, which at the project level is 52-million tons of ore grading 2% nickel, and that contains 103-million tons of nickel in the reserve, 7.8-million tons of cobalt and 14-million tons of copper.

"So you can see it's big, over 100-million tons of nickel in reserve. That's massive," Liddell pointed out.

Steady-state output of 60 000 t/y of nickel in product would make it one of the larger nickel mines in the world, particularly underground nickel mines.

Project-level financial metrics include a post-tax net present value (NPV) of $1.58-billion at an 8% discount rate at just over $8/lb nickel price, with an after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 23%.

On a capital expenditure (capex) of just under a billion dollars to build a mine and a concentrator first, a $1.858-million NPV is described as being eminently fundable with both debt and equity. The feasibility study initially is based on the sale of concentrate and the Kabanga concentrate runs at 17.5% nickel with no penalty elements contained in it.

The initial assessment includes a Lifezone-hydromet-technology-using refinery making an entry five years after the startup of the mining concentrator, so cash can be generated to pay for most of the refinery capex, but also derisk the project from a debt and equity perspective, to open the way for the mining concentrator to be built as fast as possible.

In ...

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Mining energy supplier CrossBoundary has secured a $40-million investment from Impact Fund Denmark to expand its portfolio of clean energy projects across Africa.

The investment supports CrossBoundary deployment of solar photovoltaic and battery storage across Africa.

Impact Fund Denmark targets climate action, poverty alleviation and economic growth through energy solutions that drive sustainable development and improved quality of life.

MD and green energy co-head Thomas Hougaard described the investment in a media release to Mining Weekly as one that contributes towards improving the quality of life for communities.

Significant growth opportunities on the continent, are seen by Hougaard, who views innovative energy solutions as unlocking economic potential and driving inclusive progress.

The solar and battery energy storage solutions envisaged as bringing additional power capacity to sectors that require stable electricity, while flexible power purchase agreements enable enterprises to access energy without the need to engage in any of their own capital expenditure (capex).

CrossBoundary's zero-capex model is highlighted by CEO Pieter Joubert as one that lowers the barrier to entry for African businesses seeking stable, clean and cost-effective power.

"Once companies' balance sheets are freed up to invest in their core value-generating activities rather than power provision, they can reach and exceed their targets, unlocking further economic value in the regions in which they operate," Joubert emphasised.

After signing a commercial and industrial power purchase agreement with Kamoa Copper in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, CrossBoundary is constructing a solar and battery energy storage system baseload plant in Africa that is poised to uplift the Kamoa's output and increase its regional economic impact.

CrossBoundary associate principal Tom Roberts spoke of the investment from Impact Fund Denmark as being crucial for the provision of CrossBoundary's service offering to clients such as Kamoa.

CrossBoundary is also heading towards to commercial operation date phase of the wind project to help power QIT Madagascar Minerals, a joint-venture between Rio Tinto (80%) and the government of Madagascar (20%), near Fort Dauphin amid the two substantial solar phases also developed for the ilmenite, zircon and rutile minerals sands mine, in the Anosy region of southeastern Madagascar.

Earlier this year, Norfund doubled its investment in CrossBoundary to $80-million, following a $140-million senior debt close from Standard Bank at the end of 2024, as the first tranche of a $300-million senior debt mandate.

CrossBoundary also recently secured a $495-million guarantee framework from the World Bank's MIGA, which will protect its assets from transfer restriction and currency inconvertibility.

While CrossBoundary develops, owns, and operates distributed renewable energy solutions for businesses, offering energy through power purchase and lease agreements, Impact Fund Denmark provides developing region risk capital.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer tells us why despite ferrochrome demand being up, South Africa’s production has fallen; how Kumba Iron Ore is helping to lessen carbon emissions in global steelmaking; South Africa needing to pursue every viable economic opportunity.

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"We are, in my view, fairly close to a possible solution," Glencore Alloys CEO Japie Fullard said during Merafe Resources question time earlier this week amid South Africa going all out to prevent the opportunity in what had once been a highly successful ferrochrome value-adding role from slipping out of its grasp.

Last year, South Africa produced in the region of 27-million tons of chrome ore but could only convert seven-million tonnes of it into 3.5-million tons to 3.6-million tons of ferrochrome. What lowers logistics constraints significantly is that two tons of raw chrome ore become one ton of ferrochrome - but this advantage is also diminishing substantially.

Ferrochrome is a five-times multiplier of raw chrome ore value, and South Africa hosts chrome ore in greater volume than any other country in the world.

Even though the demand outlook for ferrochrome is good, South Africa is increasingly switching to the exportation of the five-times-lower-valued raw chrome ore, and this is providing its global ferrochrome competitors with a greater and greater opportunity to benefit from the fivefold value-add that South Africa is turning away from.

Questioned by Mining Weekly on how much benefit for ferrochrome's future would be obtained from being in a special economic zone or a special resource zone, Fullard recalled that the South African government committed to looking at ways to revitalise ferrochrome beneficiation in South Africa in a statement on June 25. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

In that statement, the government referred to a couple of potential remedial mechanisms, the first being cheaper electricity.

Already in place is the negotiated price agreement (NPA), but unfortunately the NPA is still not doing the trick.

"We need an electricity tariff that's even better than what we're seeing now, and we're working with government to find solutions around that.

"The second mechanism is to include energy-intensive users, such as the ferrochrome industry, into special economic zones, or special resource zones, which is what the new terminology is, which will entitle ferrochrome producers to certain benefits and tax breaks.

"For instance, we know that in a special economic zone, the company tax would be 15% versus where it is currently at 27% and there are also employee benefits as well, so those would be the types of initiatives that the government will be looking at in terms of some of those solutions," Fullard pointed out.

Compared with China, there is currently a 10c- to 15c-a-pound difference in the conversion margin of Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture when converting chrome into ferrochrome compared with that of China.

Mining Weekly: What price of ferrochrome would be required to get the smelters going again?

Merafe CEO Zanela Matlala: It always depends on what the chrome ore input price is and also exchange rate. But given where we are with those, what is clear is that at the current prices of about 89c/lb or so, it's not sustainable for us to produce ferrochrome at those levels, but probably at a price of, say a $1/lb, it might make sense. But it also depends on the other input sectors.

Mining Weekly: What's your view on Eskom charging lower prices for electricity for smelting when ferrochrome prices are down and higher prices when ferrochrome prices are high?

Matlala: That's already something that is catered for in the current NPA, so it's a concept that works. When prices are low, you reduce the cost of electricity, and then when prices are better, you share those profits with the utility provider.

DEMAND OUTLOOK

Ferrochrome is the key ingredient of stainless steel and questioned on the outlook for stainless steel demand and ferrochrome demand, Merafe FD Ditabe Chocho said: "We rely on r...

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Fourmile is rapidly competing to be the largest and highest-grade gold discovery in the industry this century, Barrick CEO Dr Mark Bristow enthused during the quarterly presentation of the New York- and Toronto-listed gold and copper mining company earlier this week.

The potential of the Fourmile orebody is growing like Topsy and in addition to size, grades are burgeoning and cost expectations are declining.

Indicative of there being a lot more to come is the backoning of three additional adjoining exploration opportunities. (Also see attached infographic.)

Already, eight major intercepts point to a likely doubling of the mineral resource before Christmas - or perhaps even more than a doubling.

"Fourmile is, no doubt, emerging as a generational asset," Bristow hihglighted during the presentation covered by Mining Weekly.

It fits into a context of long-known Nevada proven Carlin-orebody performers such as Goldstrike and Goldrush but this time around with additional pluses. For example,

when looked at on a like-for-like with either Goldstrike or Goldrush, the unit underground mining cost is going to be substantially lower.

To date Goldstrike underground, which was the Barrick maker, has produced some 13-million ounces at a grade of around 10 g/t and current exploration drilling - which is adding to the previous drilling - is highlighting that sort of potential again with special add-ons.

"It's a long time since we've seen these numbers of intersections at these grades with these thicknesses," said South African-born Bristow.

On offer is a Goldrush extension, which is now accessing host rock that is brittle along with large, competent high-grade-delivering breccia orebodies.

When you drill through these competent structures, the core is continuous, which is not normal in Carlin-style orebodies, which are normally characterized by many breaks in the core.

Furthermore, the geometallurgy indicates that a significant amount of this orebody could well be single refractory ore.

During the rest of this year, the potential of the orebody will be framed and then thinking will begin on the next step of looking to access it from underground, which will require minimum permitting via the old Bullion Hill site.

With that, avoidance of having to drill long complicated holes from surface will save $500-million to $600-million.

"What I want to leave you with, and I'm definitely going to be talking about this every quarter going forward, is the significance of this resource of tens of millions of ounces, right in the middle of infrastructure, the Nevada infrastructure.

"It's not something that you have to go and establish in some complicated place and when you're looking at one and two ounces per ton, rather than grams per ton, it's very significant.

RESETTLEMENT IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Meanwhile, Barrick's resettlement action plan at the Pueblo Viejo gold mine, in the Dominican Republic, looks like being on the way to becoming an exemplary value base for people in emerging markets

A key resettlement milestone this quarter was the signing of a formal agreement with the affected communities, which has resolved all outstanding issues through a commission process mediated by the country's public defender and the Catholic Church.

With that in place, families are now moving into the New Horizons housing estate on a weekly basis.

"We're seeing steady progress on this important social commitment," Bristow reported.

This housing estate is enhanced by pre-school, primary school, middle school, and technical high school progression, with residents able to walk to school from their homes. It's a modern estate and everyone gets a title deed - something many did not hold in their previous residences.

Ferrochrome demand is up but South Africa is now eclipsed in a market it once led

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The global demand for ferrochrome, which South Africa once provided overwhelmingly to the world to back 200 000 local jobs, was higher in the six months to June 30, the period in which this country's ferrochrome production fell still further as more smelters were idled.

Ferrochrome is a five-times multiplier of raw chrome ore value but South Africa is increasingly switching to the exportation of much lower valued raw chrome ore, which provides its global ferrochrome competitors with increasingly greater opportunity to benefit from the fivefold value-add that it is pivoting away from.

In percentage terms, South African ferrochrome production fell 27% mainly as a result of smelter suspension at a time when South Africa's power supply remains stable with minimal load curtailments amid smelters also benefiting from a negotiated price agreement, a flat rate, from Eskom, which means there is no need to continue to pursue the former uncompetitive practice of winter shutdown.

Although ferrochrome prices recovered by some 10% from the lows of the first quarter of 2025, this recovery was this week described as still being insufficient to unsuspend South Africa's suspended smelters.

Ferrochrome is the key ingredient of stainless steel and juxtaposed against South Africa's decline in ferrochrome production is a global stainless steel production increase of 4% accompanied by a 5% global increase in ferrochrome demand.

"Global stainless steel production increased, and so did ferrochrome demand," Zanele Matlala, the CEO of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Merafe Resources, reported during the company's interim results presentation covered by Mining Weekly.

"However, South African ferrochrome production decreased significantly in response to adverse market conditions, especially ferrochrome prices being below cost of production," Matlala added. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Even globally, ferrochrome demand growth was not matched by production, with the 8%-lower global ferrochrome production largely the result of South African producers reducing production.

In contrast, South Africa's chrome ore exports are set to rise going forward. "Given the structural change of the business, chrome ore production volume and costs will be included in future updates," Matlala stated during the interim results presentation, when she reported that, encouragingly, the production costs per tonne of ferrochrome decreased by 5% from December 2024 owing to lower chrome ore prices and lower reductant costs. At the same time, chrome ore costs increased by 7% from December 2024 as a result of higher labour, engineering and utility costs.

To bring beneficiated raw chrome ore back into contention, the Merafe CEO reported that engagement with stakeholders was continuing.

"Government has indicated support for the industry. However, no implementation dates are in place yet for the proposed measures.

"The interventions proposed by government include electricity tariffs alignment, chrome ore to be included under export control, chrome ore export tax and expansion of special economic zones, none of which are quick fixes," said Matlala, who added that the workforce of the Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture's idled Boshoek and Wonderkop smelters remained in place.

"With the suspension of the smelters, greater focus will be placed on the mining chrome operations, and our reporting is being revised to reflect that," Matlala informed.

Merafe FD Ditabe Chocho reported that despite the significant reduction in volumes sold in the half year, ferrochrome still accounted for a sizeable 51% of total revenue but half-year ferrochrome revenue was 60% down and chrome ore re...

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The South African ferrochrome and chrome ore sectors are at a crucial juncture, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Merafe Resources reported on Tuesday, August 12.

Sustained pressure from the prolonged economic downturn in the global ferrochrome market has led to a significant profit decline of R233-million for the six months ended June 30, Merafe stated in a media release to Mining Weekly.

In the half year to the end of June, ferrochrome sales fell by 55% to 76 000 t and chrome sales by 14% to 217 000 t but platinum group metals sales were 9% up at 7 112 oz.

The challenges, such as high energy costs and increased competition from China faced by the ferrochrome industry in South Africa, have led to the suspension of several of the Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture Group's smelting operations in this year's second quarter from the beginning of April to the end of June. Additionally, there was reduced demand for chrome ore units in the first half of 2025.

While challenges related to energy supply and global competition persist, the recent proactive measures by the South African government to support the ferrochrome industry through policy interventions and incentivising beneficiation present a cautiously optimistic outlook, particularly for Merafe's ferrochrome business in the medium to long term.

The empowered company's chrome business will need to adapt to potential shifts in domestic demand, while continuing to monitor the significant influence of the Chinese market. Both sectors of the business will benefit from further stability in energy supply and the effective implementation of proposed regulatory changes.

The Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture will continue to engage with key stakeholders towards finding sustainable solutions, particularly for the smelting business.

A cautious approach has been adopted to the remaining six months of the financial year when the focus will remain on efficient operations, cash preservation, cost control and efficient capital allocation.

The board of directors of Merafe declared an interim gross cash dividend of 4c a share compared with the 20c a share of the corresponding period of last year.

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The high ferrous content of Kumba Iron Ore's iron-ore, which is produced in South Africa's Northern Cape, is helping to lessen CO2 emissions at a time when this is the global pursuit of steelmakers.

Mining Weekly can report that the iron (Fe) content of Kumba ore is typically considerably ahead of its peers by being above the Platts 62 index.

Moreover, Kumba's lump-to-fine ratio is a further differentiator.

For the first half of this year, Kumba's Fe was 64.1% and lump-to-fine ratio was 67:33, in contrast with a broader industry trend of declining ore quality. Some iron-ore majors have gone down to 61% Fe, and the highest lump-to-fine ratio produced being well below that of Kumba.

Owing to its premium grade, the iron-ore product of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Kumba reduces the Scope 1 carbon emissions of customers.

As a result, demand for it is poised to increase in the medium to long term.

Highlighting the importance of iron-ore that contributes to decarbonisation was last month's visit to Shanghai by Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, which took place against the background of the iron-ore from Australia's ageing Pilbara region falling short of the quality and purity typically required.

As a consequence, effective from January 2, Platts is lowering the benchmark grade of the Australian ore from 62% to 61% iron content and going forward, the closing of quality gap is going to need considerable investment in renewable energy and green hydrogen to bring about clean processing.

By contrast, at the desirable end of the Platts Index is South Africa's Kumba, an Anglo American group mining and marketing company which is earning a premium in the global market because of the ability of its quality ore to lessen CO2 emission.

Kumba's standard and premium products are ideal for the blast furnace steelmaking method, with higher-grade ore not only reducing CO2 emission but also improving productivity.

As a rule of thumb, each 1% increase in Fe lowers CO2 emission by 2.5%. On top of that, the use of the lump ore that is synonymous with Kumba reduces CO2 emissions by around 10%.

In addition to blast furnace steelmaking, Kumba sells some of its premium-grade to steelmaking companies that use direct reduction (DR) in direct reduced iron (DRI) production, which is a carbon light steelmaking method.

Globally, more than 70% of blast furnace capacity is less than 20 years old and most of it is thus expected to remain in service for at least another 20 years and, together with DRI-steelmaking, continue to account for more than 60% of global production.

In the six months to June 30, Kumba obtained an average realised free-on-board export price of $91 per wet metric tonne (wmt), which was 8% above the benchmark price. The $11/t it obtained for its Fe and lump was partly offset by marketing premium and timing effects of $4/t, giving a net product premium of $7/t.

Contributing in major fashion now is also the ultrahigh dense medium separation (UHDMS) that Kumba dispenses.

Remarkable, UHDMS is on the way to trebling the volume of premium-grade product produced as a proportion of the total production of Kumba's Sishen Iron Ore opencast mining operation, which will result in premium-grade volumes increasing from less than 20% to more than 50%. On top of that, the technology lowers the cutoff grade from 48% to 40%, reduces the life-of-mine stripping ratio from 4.2 to 3.6 and secures Sishen's life-of-mine to 2040.

Owing to UHDMS technology being margin enhancing, Kumba expects to earn an additional marketing premium of between $2 and $3 per dry metric tonne (dmt), This is because the technology allows higher volumes of premium product as a proportion of total Sishen production.

UHDMS also enables less waste stripping ...