Mining Weekly editor Martin Creamer discusses Copper 360 being on the road to produce quite a bit of cash by financial year end; why the Reserve Bank concern about the decline of public markets is a welcome development; and the 15-year TotalEnergies and Air Products deal.

ASX-listed Leo Lithium has received conditional approval from the Mali government for the sale of its remaining 40% stake in Mali Lithium BV (MLBV) to China's Ganfeng, a critical step in the company's exit from the Goulamina lithium project.

The Mines Minister has conditionally approved the transaction, requiring the submission of transaction documents and payment of capital gains tax (CGT). Leo has already paid $7.6-million for CGT on a 5% sale finalised on May 6. Any additional CGT on the 40% sale will be paid in due course.

Leo announced last month that it had agreed to sell its remaining interest in MLBV, having failed to reach an agreement with the government over issues relating to the project.

Commenting on the government approval, Leo MD Simon Hay said that it was a positive step in the process for the company's eventual exit from the project.

"While our preferred outcome would have been for Leo to remain involved in Goulamina, we believe in the absence of a viable agreement with the Mali government, this course of action is in the best interest of all stakeholders," he said.

Goulamina is one of the biggest lithium developments globally. Stage 1 spodumene concentrate production is estimated at 506 000 t/y, increasing to a peak of 880 000 t/y in Stage 2.

The project is expected to have a minimum mine life of 23 years, producing 15.6-million tonnes of spodumene concentrate over that period.

The Chinese group will pay Leo $342.7-million for the remaining stake in Goulamina.

With Ganfeng eventually moving to full ownership of MLBV, the joint venture partners decided Ganfeng would assume management responsibilities of the project this month, prior to the completion of the sale. As Ganfeng is still building its operational team, the partners also agreed that Ganfeng would engage Leo under a services agreement to provide management services to the group for up to six months, ending on November 13, at the latest.

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Copper mining and marketing company Copper 360 is on the home straight to produce quite a bit of cash by financial year end.

That was the main takeaway from Mining Weekly's post-results Zoom interview with the head of the only pure copper play listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

"We're cash positive on both plants and building up, within the next three months, to R70-million of monthly revenue, with a profit margin of 50%," Copper 360 CEO Jan Nelson disclosed.

The JSE AltX-listed copper producer is advancing promisingly in South Africa's well-endowed Northern Cape, which from 1935 to 1980 developed into one of the world's major copper producing districts, until a copper price downturn resulted in mining in the district coming to a standstill by 2005. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Interestingly, one of Copper 360's 100%-owned subsidiaries is Okiep Copper Company, which US mining company Newmont established in 1937. Under Newmont, the Okiep Copper Company is said to have paid out about R30-million in dividends every year during the 25 years that it operated in the Northern Cape.

Today, Copper 360 is focused on processing historical mined copper rock dumps through a process of environmental clean-up, and mining surface and shallow copper resources.

It holds more than 19 000 ha with 12 orebodies that include Rietberg, Jubilee, Homeep, Klondike, Wheal Julia North, Whyte's West, Koeëlkop, Hoogkraal and Waaihoek, as well as some 60 exploration prospects.

Current focus is on Tweefontein, Homeep East and the satellite deposits next to them, with easily accessible orebodies enabling ongoing drilling.

As a consequence of the drilling, Rietberg, the first of the dozen resources to yield, turned out to be 220% greater than historical data indicated, resulting in a maiden and indicated resource of 60 800 t of copper already being declared.

The company has three copper processing plants that will produce within the next three months. The rock for these will come from both Reitberg and Jubilee, which provides flexibility.

Guided is positive revenue of R1.2-billion to R1.9-billion in the current financial year, which ends in February next year.

The Rietberg rock will go into the Nama plant and the solvent extraction and electrowinning, or SX/EW, plant, which are both gearing up. Then, in about two months, a third processing plant, the MFP1 plant, will have been constructed.

In terms of mining projects, resource estimates for Jubilee, Homeep East, and Tweefontein have been completed and mining engineers are doing mine optimisation studies.

Mining Weekly: Are the studies being done still pointing to Tweefontein being a possible Chile-type, DRC-type major mine - but with much better grade?

Nelson: We're currently seeing that there's potentially 1.2-billion tons to 1.5-billion tons of copper metal in the ground and we reckon that those mines can produce anywhere between 50 000 t to 100 000 t of copper metal a year, at grades of between 1.5% to 2.5% copper. They are the size of some of the mines that you see in the DRC. The sizes of the orebodies that we are busy delineating are significant. That's why you'll see our growth profile also jumps from 20 000 t next year to 50 000 t the following year. It's because of these orebodies being able to feed into our production profile.

What looks like being the biggest eventual mine in the Copper 360 project pipeline?

Certainly, Tweefontein will be one of the biggest. It was historically the highest grade mine in the area and it certainly looks like it could potentially become the biggest mine in the group. Newmont mined at Tweefontein and it was one of the highest grade mines. At one stage, the grades were almost up to 10% to 15% copper. We're not seeing those grades. We're seeing grades of between 1.5%, 2.5% and 3% copper but over significant widths, and there's still a lot of ore left.

How much co...

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The concern that South Africa's Reserve Bank expressed last week on the state of this country's public markets is seen as a welcome development by AmaranthCX director and public market promoter Paul Miller.

"Public markets serve a social good. They give us price discovery, they provide pension funds with somewhere to put the money.

"If we allow everything to go private, we also allowing everything to go dark. So, we mustn't give up on public markets. They're too important," Miller emphasised in a Zoom interview with Mining Weekly on what can be done to grow South Africa's public market investor base and attract more listings to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Pointing out that in every other major financial market, the public market itself is recognised as being a competitive edge for a country, Miller noted: "Countries with good public markets recognise that that is how you compete as an economy against other economies, and that you need to constantly improve the competitiveness of your public market. You need to be looking at the structure, form, substance, regulation of that public market all the time.

"Yet, in South Africa, the evidence is in: we're in decline. The number of public companies or listed companies is declining year after year, and yet we get no policy response at all. You get complete indifference from National Treasury as to the state of our public market."

More than 60% of the gross market capitalisation of the JSE is now made up by secondary listed companies that are served by financial sectors elsewhere in the world.

"Nobody thinks that this is a problem. So, that's the first step we need to get to and that's where the breakthrough has been the fact that the Reserve Bank has finally started publishing some information and announcing in their review of last week that they are doing further research and further work to better understand why our public market has become so shallow.

"To be fair, they tend to concentrate on the debt market rather than the equities market, but they did include the changing structure of our equity markets in their concern. If the JSE can't get it right to get attention on this problem and get any action taken, if National Treasury is entirely passive, if the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA) says there's no problem here, at least the Reserve Bank might be able to pay some attention, spend some money, do some research and come up with some solutions for this problem.

"I think the JSE has done a lot. I don't think they've been able to engage in a meaningful way with the policy makers," said Miller.

That 2023 was the worst year on record for new JSE listings and primary capital raisings is reportedly not seen as being a problem by National Treasury and the FSCA.

Mining Weekly: To what extent could a well-supported South Africa's public market system create the inclusive economic growth that South Africa so desperately needs?

Miller: That's the strange thing. To some extent, our public markets in South Africa are way more developed than we are as a country. We've got the 40th largest economy in the world, but we've got the 20th largest public market, so it's a superpower. It's something that we do much better, on a relative basis, than a lot of our competing countries, and that's fantastic. But the idea that we can just neglect it, is astonishing. We've got this the services economy that's built up around the financial services. It employs lots of people. It's growing ahead of the rest of the economy. At its heart, is the public market, and yet, we're allowing it to wither. As we've seen, our logistics infrastructure, our power infrastructure, all these things have been allowed to wither. Yet, the public markets more generally, which are fundamentally a private sector initiative, hasn't been able to address these issues, and that's disappoin...

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The revenue of South Africa's quickly advancing Northern Cape copper mining company Copper 360, the only pure copper play on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, is forecast by the company to have risen sharply by the end of February next year.

The AltX-listed company headed by CEO Jan Nelson, is guiding revenue of R1.2-billion to R1.9-billion at the end of February next year, from the R38.2-million revenue level generated in the 12 months to the end of February this year. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

The second half of this year had seen an increase in volume, grade and recoveries, the project build completed and capital secured, Nelson pointed out at Tuesday's presentation of results.

The company is guiding the copper price will be between $10 000/t and $12 000/t for the next 12 months and all-in sustaining costs at $4 500/t to $5 600/t and is forecasting production of 450 000 t to 750 000 t for the coming year.

Grade is expected to be from 1.1% to 2% copper and production from 6 500 t to 10 000 t in this financial year

"We have now established all the work we have to do in terms of production, capital spend and that will take us to our guided revenue level, and I think that's a significant turnaround," Nelson said.

"We've laid the foundation, we have adequate capital in the bank, our operations are busy generating positive cash flow, and this has placed us on a different trajectory, and I think that's what these financial results are all about.

"For the period, it was about finishing the projects, establishing ourselves and putting ourselves in a strong position to be able to deliver."

Copper concentrate processing capacity is double what was planned for the period and copper concentration offtake has been secured under what are described as very favourable economic terms.

The company met its objectives of achieving a market capitalisation of R3-billion.

Three operating plants are providing operational flexibility and two hauling contractors are getting multiple sources of rock to the processing facilities.

A second contract mobile crusher has been secured as a backup to a mobile cone crusher acquired during the last financial year for R15-million.

Four new engineers have been appointed to drive scheduled maintenance and critical spares have been increased to lower operational downtime.

Yearly copper-producing capability will be increased from 12 000 t at the end of February next year to 20 000 t in 2026 and 50 000 t in February 2027.

A measured and indicted maiden resource of 4.78-million tonnes at 1.27% copper totalling 60 800 t of copper metal has been declared at the Rietberg copper mine.

An in-house training facility is supporting the increasing employee complement, which will be rising from the present 300 employees to an estimated 800 employees.

Planned for the 2026 and 2027 financial years are a 15 MVA solar farm followed by a 30 MVA wind farm as well as the establishment of Agri 360.

MARKET MANIPULATION

Requested to clarify issues around market manipulation during question time, Nelson said Copper 360 unfortunately had a situation of people shorting Copper 360 stock.

"We are currently in the process of instituting legal action and we will make this information available to the market in due course.

"We do have a duty to our shareholders to protect the company when we see that there is market manipulation that is against the law. We will not tolerate illegal manipulation of our share price. This is a specific incident and we'll provide more clarity on the issue," said Nelson.

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A 15-year agreement involving the supply of an initial 70 000 t of green hydrogen a year has been signed by TotalEnergies and Air Products.

TotalEnergies, which is active in some 120 countries and which cites sustainability as being at the heart of its strategy, is setting out to reduce the net greenhouse gas emissions from its oil and gas operations by 40% by 2030.

By awarding long-term contracts involving six refineries and two biorefineries in Europe, TotalEnergies is contributing to the emergence of a green hydrogen industry.

"This deal with Air Products, the first signed following the call for tenders launched last year, is a steppingstone towards our goal of decarbonising the hydrogen used in our refineries in Northern Europe by the end of the decade," TotalEnergies chairperson and CEO Patrick Pouyanné stated in a media release to Engineering News & Mining Weekly.

The supply of green hydrogen to TotalEnergies' Northern European refineries by Air Products will eliminate the emission of an estimated 700 000 t of CO2 each year and is emerging following the invitation by TotalEnergies of tenders for 500 000 t of green hydrogen a year to be supplied to its European refineries.

Having embarked on the journey of producing clean hydrogen seven years ago, Air Products develops, engineers, builds, owns and operates some of the world's largest clean hydrogen projects.

Interestingly, TotalEnergies partnership with Air Products is also being extended in that TotalEnergies is contributing to Air Products' own decarbonisation roadmap by also providing green power to Air Products.

"This contract validates our long-term strategy. Clearly the demand is here, and it will grow significantly as we move forward, playing an essential role in decarbonising heavy industry and other sectors," Air Products chairperson, president and CEO Seifi Ghasemi stated.

In addition to the green hydrogen transaction, TotalEnergies and Air Products have signed a memorandum of understanding for the supply of renewable power, which entails the signing of a first power purchase agreement (PPA) for 150 MW produced at a solar project in Texas. The parties also plan to look into further PPA opportunities in the UK, Poland and France.

SOUTH AFRICAN PIONEERING

From a South Africa perspective, the TotalEnergies and Air Products transaction uplifts the demand outlook for platinum group metals (PGMs), which go hand-in-glove with green hydrogen and green electricity when PGM-based proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers and PEM fuel cells are deployed.

PGMs in PEM electrolysers and fuel cells support every step of the green hydrogen economy across the broad spectrum of initial electrolysis, transport and storage, fuel cells, alternative fuels and recycling.

South Africa already has its first green hydrogen refuelling station at Midrand, Gauteng, where the locally launched BMW IX5 hydrogen cars refuel.

Readers of Engineering News & Mining Weekly will also recall that the prototype zero-emission hydrogen-powered mine haulage truck that First Mode global hydrogen sourcing director James Betts called attention to during last week's World Hydrogen Australia webinar was unveiled by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Mogalakwena PGM mine in South Africa's Limpopo province two years ago.

Mogalakwena is owned by Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Anglo American Platinum, which may soon also be listed on the London Stock Exchange as part of a major value-adding review being implemented by the Anglo American group.

Capable of carrying a 290 t payload, the nuGen Zero Emissions Haulage Solution (ZEHS) hydrogen truck generates more power than its diesel predecessor.

The pioneering creation of the nuGen ZEHS involved a 2700 hp diesel engine being innovatively replaced by eight parallel PGM-catalysed hydrogen fuel cells, totalling 837 kW, and a 1.2 MWh lithium-ion battery.

This world-first...

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the role that Platinum Group Metal can play against water pollution; traceability in the mining sector and Petra Diamonds progress in this area; and the R400-million junior mining exploration fund.

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One hydrogen haul truck eliminates the deleterious carbon emissions of the equivalent of 700 cars, First Mode global hydrogen sourcing director James Betts highlighted during this week's World Hydrogen Australia webinar, where he spoke of the need for the hydrogen haul trucks to be conceived as bringing about a holistic decarbonisation of many aspects of mine sites rather than being viewed in isolation.

"Just to give you a bit of context, these mine sites have many haul trucks running through them, so there's a huge amount of potential diesel saving.

"A really beautiful thing about hydrogen, and this is why I'm so very passionate about it, is that it comes with a system. There are the haul trucks, the trains, and there's ammonium nitrate, which is used in explosives in mining, the base of that being hydrogen.

"There's a whole ecosystem around that, and so rather than thinking about each of these individual use cases, one of the things we really need to start taking seriously is hydrogen in the system.

"Hydrogen on a standalone use case basis is where we're struggling commercially to make it feasible, but if you can bring that broader picture into play, it's a very, very smart and tidy solution, especially within the context of hubs and initiatives and the hub-and-spoke concept for multiple use cases.

"I think mining is absolutely key for the introduction of hydrogen and hence we'll be focusing our attention on trying to drive a bunch of innovations in that space to make it happen," said Betts, whose First Mode is focused on decarbonising heavy industry, primarily in mining.

With Betts on the panel were Australia's Queensland Department of Energy and Climate Hydrogen Hubs and Initiatives director Dana Hildebrandt, InterContinental Energy midstream director Warner Priest, and German-Australian Chamber of Industry hydrogen head Florence Lindhaus.

The panelists collectively presented a compelling case for the introduction of green hydrogen solutions into mining and mining-linked activities as part of an imperative requirement to combat climate change that is already threatening economies globally.

Readers of Mining Weekly will recall that the prototype zero-emission hydrogen-powered mine haulage truck Betts was citing unveiled by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Mogalakwena platinum group metals (PGMs) mine in South Africa's Limpopo two years ago. This mine is owned by Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Anglo American Platinum, which may soon also be listed on the London Stock Exchange as part of a major value-adding initiative being implemented by Anglo American.

Capable of carrying a 290 t payload, the nuGen Zero Emissions Haulage Solution (ZEHS) hydrogen truck generates more power than its diesel predecessor.

The pioneering creation of the nuGen ZEHS involved a 2700 hp diesel engine being innovatively replaced by eight parallel PGM-catalysed hydrogen fuel cells, totalling 837 kW, and a 1.2 MWh lithium-ion battery.

This world-first was described at the time as a crucial step in the Anglo American group's pathway to carbon-neutral operations by 2040.

The task of First Mode, which has a combined business with Anglo American, is to accelerate the implementation of the nuGen ZEHS.

The new combined business retains the First Mode name as an independent business and prioritises developing the nuGen ZEHS, while building on several years of extensive joint development.

"In 2021, we had the first ultra class haul truck running on hydrogen power, so we're very, very familiar with hydrogen and what that means, not only from use case side, but also the supply side, and that's really important," Betts emphasis at the webinar covered by Mining Weekly.

GREEN HOT BRIQUETTED IRON

Using green hydrogen to turn iron-ore into hot briquetted iron (HBI) was comprehensively spelt out during the World Hydrogen Australia webinar by Priest, who highlighted a ...

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A second renewable energy project has been announced for heavy mineral sands extraction and refining company Richards Bay Minerals (RBM), which mines in the northern KwaZulu-Natal and produces materials used in a wide range of everyday products, from paints to smartphones.

In 2022, the Rio Tinto group company signed a renewables agreement with Voltalia for the Bolobedu solar photovoltaic plant in Limpopo. which is currently in progress and which is anticipated to meet 17% of RBM's power consumption by generating up to 300 GWh of renewable energy a year.

Now, RMB has signed a renewable power purchase agreement with Khangela Emoyeni Wind Farm to secure 140 MW of wind energy from a new wind farm that straddles the Western and Northern Cape provinces, which is expected to reduce RBM's annual carbon emissions by 20%. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Combined, the Khangela Emoyeni Wind and Bolobedu Solar projects will supply 42% of RBM's existing energy needs and present opportunities for job creation, skills development, and knowledge transfer within local communities, surrounding the project sites, during both the construction and operational phases.

RBM and Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium (RTIT) African Operations MD Werner Duvenhage expressed determination to find better ways to produce the materials the world needs "and decarbonising our operations is one of them", he told a media conference in which Mining Weekly participated.

The Rio Tinto group has committed to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050 and the Khangela Emoyeni Wind Farm has the potential to reduce RBM's annual carbon emissions by 20% - which equates to 470 000 t of carbon dioxide emissions equivalent - and reduce the Richards Bay company's existing reliance on traditional energy sources by 26%.

Parties to the latest 20-year agreement include African Clean Energy Developments (ACED), The IDEAS Fund (managed by African Infrastructure Investment Managers), investment holding company Reatile Group, and Rand Merchant Bank. Energy Infrastructure Management Service (EIMS) Africa will be responsible for asset management for the project.

Once constructed, the Khangela Emoyeni Wind Farm is expected to produce 460 GWh of renewable energy a year and, through a wheeling agreement with State power utility Eskom, will help power RBM's operations, which are in Richards Bay.

The project, with an export capacity of 140MW, is expected to reach commercial operation within 28 months.

"Not only will Khangela Emoyeni Wind Farm provide RBM with clean energy for their operations, but it will also help alleviate South Africa's power crisis," ACED GM James Cumming commented.

Chief Commercial Officer EIMS Africa Michael Wickins noted that ACED, which has been in operation since 2008, has developed 1.7 GW of renewable energy projects, with a further 4.5 GW of wind and 4.5 GW of solar projects in development, all of it in South Africa. Unlocked has been renewable energy developments with capital expenditure value of more than R45-billion rand.

EIMS Africa, formed in 2017, manages a gigawatt of renewable energy projects, also all in South Africa and all majority owned by Old Mutual's Ideas Fund. This consists, consists of the operation of 16 utility scale projects in both the REIPPP space and the private market space, with a further four in construction that are being co-managed with ACED.

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Platinum group metal (PGM) is once again coming to the fore as a mineral resource that goes the extra mile in protecting a threatened global environment.

The latest indispensable commodity that is poised to be shielded by PGM, which has been safeguarding the air of cities from vehicle exhaust fumes for many decades, is drinking water, which is coming under increasing pollution threat.

Coming to the rescue is now PGM-catalysed hydrogen peroxide, which is providing the world with an opportunity to treat water chemistries that are hard to break down.

The biggest benefit of the ultra-pure hydrogen peroxide that PGM is helping to generate is that it is green, clean and environmentally protective.

The base elements of hydrogen peroxide are water and oxygen, which, when exposed to sunlight, hydrogen peroxide breaks back down into water and oxygen, which is akin to water being the sole by-product of PGM-catalysed green hydrogen-driven fuel cells that power trucks, trains, buses, bakkies, ships, factories, offices, homes and so much more.

Where water is in a constant loop or stored, pathogens build up and it is hydrogen peroxide that is able to remove that threat sustainably.

Johannesburg-based MatiTech has introduced the PGM-catalysed hydrogen peroxide generator - the HPGen - which enables the safe and easy on-site manufacture and roll-out of hydrogen peroxide for use in water treatment.

South African-mined PGM is used in the electrochemical stack of MatiTech's HPGen.

Interestingly, MatiTech has been incubated by global venture capital initiator AP Ventures, which is supported by South African PGM-mining companies as well as South Africa's State-owned Public Investment Corporation (PIC).

MatiTech's forward surge is taking place at a time when global alarm bells are beginning to be rung across the world owing to the increasing level of pollutants doggedly positioning themselves in the world's water sources.

Because the hydrogen peroxide is generated on-site, where there is no need for additives, it is extremely pure, which, in itself, makes it ultra-effective in water treatment applications.

"We then combine this new technology with existing technologies such as ultraviolet disinfection, ozone treatment, reverse osmosis filtration systems, and our ability to treat organic chemistries and organic organisms sets us apart from any other water treatment facilitator," MatiTech MD Mike Bowley emphasised during a Zoom interview with Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

"With the increasing level of pollutants that we are seeing in our water sources, the technology we're currently using cannot continue to be used.

"We have to find an alternative and hydrogen peroxide is that alternative. When we see high levels of organic pollutants in raw water sources, chlorine derivative disinfection byproducts create carcinogenic byproducts, which unfortunately we're seeing happen in South Africa," said Bowley.

"There are examples of this, and the hydrogen peroxide creates the opportunity to remove that chlorine-based technology and use hydrogen peroxide.

"This is the future of water treatment, and not just in South Africa, but globally. We're seeing research done on it by the Environmental Protection Agency in the US. In Australia, they're doing research on using hydrogen peroxide in water treatment, and, as MatiTech, we're driving that force here in South Africa and in Africa."

Regarding HPGen technology being used on a local mine site, Bowley added: "In essence, the PGM has come home, if you will, on this mining site. It was mined on this site, we've included it in a technology, and we're using this technology to provide drinking water to the mine. It's a vastly important technology that could increase the use of PGMS globally."

Mining Weekly: What are the future problems and issues relating to potable water treatment, affecting not only remote sites...