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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

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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.

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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...

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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...

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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.

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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.

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South Africa's world-leading platinum group metals (PGM) endowment received a major boost last month when European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen referred specifically to clean energy and green hydrogen forming the main part of a R94-billion (€4.7-billion) new European Union (EU) investments package.

Amid annual trade between South Africa and the EU being close to €50-billion - and with 98% of South African exports to the EU being duty-free and quota-free - Von der Leyen said the beneficiation of South Africa's metals and minerals would result in the creation of quality South African jobs.

The Clean Trade and Investment Partnership would, Von der Leyen added, support South Africa in adding more value to local production in South Africa, for instance in the clean hydrogen value chain.

"You have clean energy in abundance, from wind to sun. You have raw materials that are critical for electrolysers, including 91% of the world's PGM reserves, and you have a rising industry to produce clean hydrogen and strong export ambitions" - a very encouraging comment that marks a potential defining moment for South Africa's role in the global shift towards sustainable energy.

Interestingly, South African PGM companies are helping to fund the development of liquid organic hydrogen (LOHC) technology, which enables the use of existing logistics infrastructure in transporting green hydrogen.

But turning all this into reality requires more than capital, DHL Supply Chain Europe, Middle East Africa (EMEA) CEO Hendrik Venter points out.

"It demands robust, future-proof logistics infrastructure that can support the complex production, storage, and transportation of green hydrogen and its derivatives. We need strong, scalable supply chains that connect production sites to global demand efficiently, safely and sustainably.

"The complexities of hydrogen logistics - such as the need for specialized containers, export-ready infrastructure, and safe handling of LOHCs and ammonia derivatives - underscore the importance of investing in the right logistics backbone from the start.

"Success will depend on how well we prepare our ports, roads, rail, and storage networks to accommodate hydrogen at scale," Venter outlines in a media release to Engineering News & Mining Weekly.

ECONOMIC IMMENSITY

The benefits of getting it right extend far beyond the energy sector. The South African government projects that green hydrogen could contribute 3.6% to GDP and generate over 380 000 jobs by 2050.

Integrating local businesses and SMEs into the green hydrogen supply chain will accelerate industrial development drive innovation, and stimulate economic growth at community-level.

"Large-scale projects like these can't exist in isolation. They bring opportunity for an entire ecosystem of local suppliers, innovators, and entrepreneurs," says Venter, who oversees 23 country markets, in which carbon-neutral warehousing, waste reduction, and transportation emission control are pursued.

"Policy certainty, cross-sector collaboration, and investment in enabling infrastructure must go hand-in-hand. Government, industry, and logistics partners need to work together to create the regulatory and operational conditions that support long-term success," adds Bonn-located Venter, who has been instrumental in establishing ASMO, a joint venture between DHL and Aramco, as a Middle Eastern logistics and procurement hub.

Collaboratively, the World Platinum Investment Council fully endorses the far-reaching observations of Von der Leyen, who was accompanied at the EU-South Africa Summit hosted by South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa in Cape Town, by European Council President António Costa.

During the summit, the EU and South Africa agreed to start talks as part of ...

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In the three months to March 31 when gold sold in the quarter added up to 1 109 kg, the revenue of surface gold miner DRDGOLD increased on strong gold pricing, despite the impact of unprecedented wet weather.

Even after paying an interim cash dividend of R258.7-million for the six months ended December 2024, DRDGOLD's cash and cash equivalents increased by R289.3-million to R950.5-million as at March 31.

This, coupled with the recent surge in the gold price and barring any unforeseen events, places the company in a favourable position to consider declaring a final dividend in August 2025, the company stated on Wednesday.

For the most part, tonnages were lower owing to extreme rain, which inhibited access to certain sites but the 10%-higher average R1 685 760/kg gold price elevated revenue to R1 873-million, which was 4% up on the previous quarter.

The 5%-lower tonnage throughput and 7%-lower yield to 0.181g/t were the foremost reasons for 12%-lower 1 093 kg gold production, in the midst of impacted reclamation material blending lowering the average yield achieved by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange centenarian-plus company.

All-in costs per kilogram were a 1%-higher R1 427 265/kg with continuous rainfall affecting construction activities surrounding the development of the Far West Gold Recoveries' regional tailings storage facility of 800-million-ton capacity. Cash generated during the current quarter will go towards DRDGOLD's extended capital expenditure programme, which uplifts Ergo and Far West Gold Recoveries.

Principal subsidiaries are its flagship Ergo metallurgical plant, east of Johannesburg, and Far West Gold Recoveries, west of Johannesburg.

Ergo in Brakpan and the Knights plant in Germiston, together with the milling and pump station at Crown Mines and City Deep, treat 1.7-million tons a month. The Brakpan/Withok tailings storage facility has a capacity of two-million tons a month.

Far West Gold Recoveries takes in the 600 000-ton-a-month processing capacity of Driefontein plant 2 and Driefontein 4's tailings storage capacity of 500 000 tons a month.

Mining Weekly can report that the March quarter tonnage and yield decreases may result in the company possibly falling marginally short of its February-stated production guidance for the financial year ending June 30 of between 155 000 oz and 165 000 oz, and as a result of the expected decrease in gold production, may exceed the revised cash operating unit cost guidance of R870 000/kg.

The general outlook is that the gold price will likely remain at elevated levels in the medium term.

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The benefit of the strong gold price is playing out for Gold Fields, which is generating sturdy cash and deleveraging the balance sheet, the first-quarter's $335-million dividend payout notwithstanding.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed gold mining company is focused on the ramping up of the Salares Norte gold project in the Atacama region of northern Chile.

It is advancing the half-owned Windfall gold project in Québec, Canada, and is gaining the full ownership of the Gruyere gold mine life in Western Australia through acquisition.

In Ghana, engagement is under way not only around the Damang mine but also to gain more resource at the Tarkwa gold mine, while in South Africa, the key focus at the big 80-year-life mechanised South Deep gold mine west of Johannesburg, is incremental improvement, with no major near-term step up on the cards.

Studies are, however, being completed that could result in a near doubling of South Deep's Khanyisa solar energy plant through the establishment of an additional 25 MW capacity of sun energy. The use of a battery module of around 8 MWh is also planned for possible implementation next year, but being extended out is the wind energy study, which is now envisaged for completion a few years beyond 2026.

In the first quarter, South Deep delivered a 24%-higher year-on-year 72 200 oz and is on track to meet full-year 280 000 oz to 305 000 oz guidance. South Deep's all-in costs were a 10%-better $1 737/oz. Capital expenditure (capex) at South Deep decreased by 42% to R431m (US$23m) while total capital capex at Granny Smith in Western Australia was a 97%-higher A$54m (US$34m) in the March quarter, when, with lower gold sold and increased capex resulted in 49%-higher all-in costs to A$2 494/oz (US$1 566/oz).

Given where gold prices appear to be heading, Gold Fields is commencing preparation for the application to extend the Tarkwa mine leases that are due for renewal in 2027. If gold prices hold at a much higher level than current reserve prices, opportunities to extend Tarkwa's mine life are seen as being probable, Gold Fields CEO Mike Fraser outlined during a media round table on Tuesday, where Mining Weekly put these questions:

Mining Weekly: Are there currently factors at play that could conceivably keep this good price in a re-set position?

Fraser: At the price that we're receiving today, it's very good days for people who are investing in gold and in particular for Gold Fields' shareholders. I think we've seen the real benefits of the ability to pay very good returns to shareholders through our dividend policy, but also achieve capital returns because there's a lot more interest coming into the gold sector. For us, though, what is very important is that we don't get caught up with the hype of where gold can go, because what is really important for us is that we build a high quality, long-term, sustainable business, and that's never based on poor investment decision-making.

Our objective is to use these windfall gains that we're having and the higher cash flows to really reset our business for the long term, but equally, make sound investment decisions that deliver positive and improving shareholder returns over time. Having said that, I think there's very conceivably a thesis that can be made for a stronger gold price that is set at a higher level than what we would have anticipated a few years ago.

I think there's a number of factors at play here, not least at which the world is in a very difficult place, with a lot of contestation on trade, physical wars taking place, and gold is really playing its part as being that historical safe haven store of value. You're seeing a lot of money being allocated to the gold sector as essentially an insurance for a very uncertain fisca...