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Diversified mining major Anglo American is targeting value elevation in its planned demerging of South Africa-based Anglo American Platinum and the envisaged divestment or demerger of Southern Africa-dominant De Beers.

In rejecting BHP's second takeover offer, Anglo intends reshaping its portfolio to consist of copper in Peru and Chile, top-quality iron-ore in South Africa and Brazil, and the opportunity presented by the crop nutrients project in the UK.

Divested in a targeted beneficial manner will be Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Anglo Platinum, De Beers, steelmaking coal in Australia, care-and-maintenance, or sale of nickel interests, as part of a portfolio review that began ahead or the BHP bid.

"We will now work towards demerging Anglo Platinum in an orderly way and we're also exploring a full range of options to separate De Beers," Anglo CE Duncan Wanblad told a media conference covered by Mining Weekly.

The aim is to make Anglo a higher-margin business with strong cash flow generation.

The expectation is that that:

Anglo's earnings before interest depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) margin will be elevated by 15% to an Ebitda of 46%;

operating cash conversion - the percentage of operating profit that converts directly to cash - will increase from 44% to 78%; and

return on capital will increase from 18% to 25%.

The new configuration will cost the Johannesburg- and London-listed Anglo $1.7-billion less than the business as it is currently, including an incremental $800-million of additional pre-tax, recurring, annual run-rate from the end of 2025.

On the diamond front, De Beers has still to finalise its sales agreement with the Botswana government.

In the meantime, Anglo is exploring options to separate the De Beers business in a way that it believes De Beers will have the flexibility to add value.

RENEWABLE ENERGY, GREEN HYDROGEN TRUCK

In response to Mining Weekly, Wanblad said that Anglo Platinum and Kumba will continue to want to be engaged in the 3 GW to 5 GW renewable energy project, along with Anglo itself.

Anglo announced earlier this year that jointly owned renewable energy venture with EDF Renewables, Envusa Energy, had completed the project financing for its first three wind and solar projects in South Africa.

The terms and structure of this non-recourse project financing are typical of high-quality renewable energy infrastructure assets.

These three renewable energy projects, known as the Koruson 2 cluster of projects and located on the border of the Northern and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa, will have a total capacity of 520 MW of wind and solar electricity generation, with Anglo Platinum, Kumba and De Beers committing to 20-year offtake agreements with Envusa.

"We recognise how much this energy is needed," said Wanblad, adding that Anglo was not backing away from commitment to setting up renewable energy infrastructure.

He reiterated that the hydrogen truck development that has been trialled at Anglo Platinum's Mogalakwena mine in Limpopo, had been placed into a separate company to attract different forms of capital to develop the green hydrogen mine haulage on a far bigger scale.

"The world needs to decarbonise and in all of mining, one of the biggest constraints in terms of Scope 1 and Scope 3 emissions are the emissions associated with diesel motion. All mines will need to decarbonise the business rapidly," he said of upcoming potential demand for the hydrogen truck, of which 40 would likely be needed at Mogalakwena alone.

Anglo stated in a release on Monday that it is setting up Anglo Platinum to be able to deliver sustainable returns despite the current cyclical downturn of platinum group metals (PGMs)

Collaboration between the PGMs mining company and Anglo itself is aimed at the delivery of multi-decade cash flows.

Anglo stated that if it were to retain Anglo Platinum in its portfolio it would limit the...

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Green electrons and green molecules are presenting South Africa with a massive opportunity to reindustrialise, Nedbank CIB head of infrastructure, energy and telecommunications Mike Peo told the Green Hydrogen Roundtable on Monday.

"We have an opportunity for South Africa to completely reindustrialise, to start building up our industrial base that we have lost over the last ten to 15 years," was Peo's inviting message at the event addressed by the Chemical Industries Education & Training Authority (CHIETA) CEO Yershen Pillay, as well as by Higher Education and Training Department deputy director-general Zukile Mvalo. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

A construct described as being critical is the need for the proper, holistic understanding of the pioneering solutions for renewable energy and how these give rise to the rewarding opportunity to create employment across a broad front.

The outlook comes against the far-reaching current generation of renewable solar and wind energy and the big volumes of renewable-energy generation planned, which provides scope for the generation of green molecules in addition to green electrons.

On the widespread opportunity presented by the generation of green molecules, Peo drew attention to what he described as "a massive misunderstanding of what green hydrogen represents".

"Huge numbers of people think that green hydrogen is one particular thing. The view held by many is that green hydrogen is going to be manufactured and used as a fuel source. We'll convert electrons into molecules and do something with those molecules.

"But the reality is that there's an incredible ecosystem that exists around green hydrogen. There are maybe 30 to 40 very specific types of opportunity that can arise as a consequence of building green hydrogen and green ammonia production plants and having molecules that can be utilised.

"The very obvious ones are the platinum group metals, building batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, very obvious. We have a massive mining sector.

"We can build green fuel cells to power some of the massive pieces of mining equipment that we need.

"We have a very dirty rail system. We can clean that up with green hydrogen trains, for example. We have a massive transport logistics industry, we need different battery sources to power those trucks.

"Sasol has manufactured its synfuels at Secunda for the past 30, 40 years. Between Sasol and Eskom, South Africa contributes something like 80% of the entire African continent's carbon emissions.

"The ability to clean up those two entities lets the rest of the continent off the hook. We can fundamentally fix the emissions problem in helping those other countries get to their net zero targets just by fixing Sasol and Eskom.

"The green ammonia/green hydrogen ecosystem ultimately enables Sasol to transform itself. The Eskom story is a little bit more complicated. Eskom has got to decommission old coal-fired power stations but some of those power stations can be transitioned via, initially, gas, and, ultimately, using green hydrogen as a fuel source. There is complexity in all of those things.

"When I said a lot of people see green hydrogen as a single thing, the real passionate belief that I have is that we have an opportunity for South Africa to completely reindustrialise, to start building up our industrial base that we have lost over the last ten to 15 years. There is a new opportunity."

Failure to do so will also put South Africa at a huge disadvantage.

"If we, for example, do not clean up our transport industry systems, our cold storage systems, we get to a point where in five years' time, we can no longer export fruit and vegetable products to our biggest partners in Europe because of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism where the Europeans are going to tax us if we want to bring non-renewable sourced product into their countries.

"The same thing happens with ...

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The outlook for platinum is one that's pretty robust, the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) has highlighted in its latest Platinum Quarterly, which shows the projection of the metal's demand as being very encouraging amid a near-record-low supply prediction.

Automotive demand is at a seven-year high, while first-quarter jewellery demand increased contrasted with a worsening supply deficit of 476 000 oz.

Hybrid vehicle preference is pointing to a higher-for-longer automotive demand scenario with extended range electric vehicles still needing platinum group metals (PGM) in the exhaust treatment system.

More than $300-billion worth of government subsidies are focusing so much attention on the hydrogen economy that a separate Platinum Quarterly line item for stationary hydrogen demand has been included for the first time, against the background of 100%-plus near-term growth projection.

Meanwhile, the industrial profile for platinum remains healthy with more glassfibre manufacturing capacity upping the outlook for future demand for the metal that is finding an increasing number of roles to play.

Also, a network of partnerships is uplifting the fabrication and sale of platinum bar and coin in China and a highly successful cricket sponsorship has thrust male platinum jewellery demand in India on a quickly elevating 50%-plus growth horizon.

These are among many PGM advances raised in a far-reaching Zoom interview that Mining Weekly conducted with WPIC reseach director Edward Sterck. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

On specific factors contributing to the forecast decrease in mined platinum supply, especially in South Africa and Russia, Sterck said the factors at work included the restructuring announcements made by the South African PGM mining companies in response to a depressed basket price as a result of the fall in the prices of palladium and rhodium.

"In very basic terms, we think that the restructuring announcements are reducing operational flexibility and that flows into the production numbers. You've also got some operational as well as geopolitical challenges in Russia. On the operational side, Russia is undertaking some maintenance on one of its more material smelters in terms of capacity. Secondly, the country is struggling to navigate their way through the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia in general," he said, adding that recycling is also running 12% to 15% below pre-Covid averages.

Mining Weekly: What has led to the recent rise in bar and coin demand in China, and how might this affect the overall market balance?

This is an area that we, as the World Platinum Investment Council, have been working quite hard on. As part of our organisation, we're trying to help producers manufacture bar and coin and sell investment products to predominately retail audiences but also to institutional investors as well. We've developed a network of partnerships in China for the fabrication and selling of bar and coin and we've just helped them with things like design and marketing, and had a great deal of success. Over the last few years, that has grown quite significantly.

The numbers that we're factoring into Platinum Quarterly supply/demand estimates were 52 000 oz last year and a forecast of 60 000 oz this year, and that's all in the smaller bar and coin categories. This is less than 500 g bars. On top of that, there are large bars that we have helped facilitate the production and sale of. Just putting a rough number on last year, there's another 100 000 oz of larger bars that are produced and sold in China that don't feature in our base case supply/demand analysis. If you factor those into this part of our balance, we take our deficit from 476 000 oz, add another 100 000 oz of larger bars on to that, you get pretty close to 600 000 oz in terms of a supply/demand deficit.

How is the growth in India's platinum jewellery market i...

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Proudly South African Manganese Metal Co (MMC) of Mbombela, Mpumalanga, is making a fantastic first-mover advance to enter the manganese battery metal market, which is advancing super-fast.

To be established is a faster stream to market, which is not only ahead of the global game, but also provides time for this remarkable value-adding company to become a manganese-ore-to-sulphate producer from its current position of being the producer of the world's purest 99.9% pure manganese metal from manganese fines.

"From Mbombela, this is a phenomenal exponential expansion - the South African story taking a big step forward," MMC chairperson Bernard Swanepoel explained to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview in which MMC CEO Louis Nel provided detailed insight. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

MMC has taken the decision to enter the electric vehicle (EV) battery market to meet the urgent needs of some of its customers, who are already taking their own steps to do so by melting MMC's fantastically pure manganese metal and turning it into manganese sulphate themselves.

MMC is now not only following some of its customers, but also becoming a supplier to new entrants.

Manganese is a key component. It brings strength and is relatively cheap when compared with some of the other minerals that go into batteries.

But as much as there is an abundant supply of manganese ore as such, there is absolutely limited capacity to make pure manganese metal, which MMC has been doing for half a century.

"Outside of China, it's only us," said Swanepoel.

While continuing to provide its traditional offering to export markets, MMC will now also be using its pure manganese metal to produce manganese sulphate for batteries, ahead of launching a manganese ore-to-sulphate project.

For 50 years, MMC, described by South Africa's Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies organisation as "a South African industrial jewel that could be much bigger than what it is today", has been transporting manganese waste - fines - from the manganese fields of South Africa's Northern Cape.

It also has well-established logistics to get the manganese metal that it produces from those fines to the ports of Maputo and Durban, and to international markets.

"So, for us, this is not an additional new challenge. There's a cost associated with it, but that is the cost that every supplier in the world faces. We mine where the orebodies are, we beneficiate where there's a competitive advantage, and we need to supply the product in the shape and form that the users want it, where they want it.

"We certainly think in time, some of our facilities may be offshore, but right now, from Mbombela, this is a phenomenal exponential expansion - the South African story taking a big step forward," Swanepoel highlighted.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses developments around Gold Fields’s potential wind energy project at the South Deep Gold Mine; Copper360's Rietberg underground copper mine opening three months ahead of schedule; and South Africa’s economy can benefit quickly from getting mineral exploration going at pace.

The retreatment, or remining, of mine tailings can provide usable land, provide profits for companies and clean the environment by moving the reprocessed tailings to more advanced and well-managed facilities.

Owing to changes in legislation, tailings need to be stored in facilities that are better managed and controlled than historical facilities. This means that the tailings from remined sites are sent to new tailing storage facilities (TSFs), said specialist consulting engineering firm Jones & Wagener environmental engineering closure and rehabilitation associate civil engineer Alice Harvey.

"Typically, existing tailings are present in smaller facilities, but are being sent to be managed more centrally in larger facilities. Processes have changed, stability assessments have improved significantly and facilities are required to be aligned to certain standards to have a much lower, or no, impact on water quality, compared to the historical facilities," she said.

The tailings facilities or mine dumps that have not been rehabilitated still have existing safety risks and environmental impacts that are not being managed. However, if these facilities and dumps are seen as a resource and remined, then there is more control over and management of the risks, she noted.

There are about 6 000 unrehabilitated, dormant or abandoned mining dumps and tailings facilities in South Africa, and about 337 of them are at high risk and need immediate attention, said Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy tailings committee member, hydrogeologist and mine water strategist Dr Kym Morton.

In the industry, mining houses are finding that increasing their efforts in managing their TSFs and retreatment of tailings is an opportunity to improve their social licence.

People in South Africa are familiar with seeing mine dumps daily, especially in Johannesburg, Welkom and along the Witwatersrand belt. There are massive opportunities for South Africa in the way it manages active and abandoned TSFs, including for the minerals in them and potentially to use the materials as building materials, she said.

JSE-listed gold miner DRDGold is processing about 500 000 tonnes a month from one site and recovering about 30 kg of gold. This gives an indication of the throughput that must be maintained to have a financially viable model, highlighted DRDGold CEO Niël Pretorius.

Tailings from multiple smaller sites, usually tens of kilometres apart, need to be transported, processed and then moved to a central tailings site. These operations typically require liquefying the tailings, pumping them and then dewatering them again. Therefore, partner companies are usually involved and a holistic approach to designing the flowsheet must be taken, said minerals and mining engineering company Weir Minerals tailings and backfill global manager Erik Vlot.

No materials that DRDGold reclaims in the Johannesburg area and West Rand are sent back to their original sites where they were reclaimed from. The materials, once processed, are sent to a large central facility, where they are managed to a stricter set of health and environmental standards than when the tailings sites were initially established, said Pretorius.

"South Africa has about 120 years of tailings accumulation on the surface in a small area. Once there is a resource of adequate size, then it is a matter of setting up the technology and logistical infrastructure in such a way that you can process at the requisite throughput rate," he said.

Healthy Land

But, while operations must be commercially viable, remining and storing tailings more securely is a long-term sustainability game of incrementally creating an environment that is healthier and more pleasant to live in and near, Pretorius said.

Either remining and rehabilitating sites, or rehabilitating sites in situ can provide footprints of land that can be used for alternative applications, said Harvey.

"A contaminated land assessment needs to be done to under...

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The role of hydrogen in the decarbonisation of the hardest-to-abate sectors of the global economy continues to be described as "irreplaceable" by AP Ventures, the independent venture capital fund that is focused on investing in early-stage companies that use or enable the use of platinum group metals (PGMs).

"We remain very excited about the hydrogen sector," was the comment of AP Ventures co-founding partner Kevin Eggers in a Zoom interview with Mining Weekly. (also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

"It's an existing market today. There's a tremendous amount of grey hydrogen that is produced on the market, and we ultimately, at a minimum, need to decarbonise that hydrogen production," said Eggers.

"Today, that hydrogen production is used in oil refineries, and some other emerging applications.

"In the future, it's going to be used in aviation fuels, steel production, transportation and other verticals.

"Based on what I see today, we have a very robust pipeline. We continue to see a lot of interesting technologies, and a lot of countries remain committed to the original hydrogen strategies and agendas.

"That said, we can't hide away from the fact that the last year has been a little bit more challenging for the transition.

"Interest rates have been higher. There's general concern around politics and there's multiple wars in the Middle East and Europe.

"All that has provided a little sense of caution. If I look back to two or three years ago, we're certainly in a slightly more cautious perspective. That's not a bad thing.

"We want to see sensible investment investments made. We want to scale the most interesting and relevant technology.

"We don't want to see the wrong technologies get funded. To the extent that that's causing people to be a bit more thoughtful and mindful about what gets funded, I'm all for that," added Eggers.

SOUTH AFRICAN COMPANIES INCUBATED

Meanwhile, in South Africa, AP Ventures has incubated two entities, which the venture capital company is using as a tool to develop new projects and opportunities in South Africa. The two entities are MatiTech, a water technology startup, and African Hydrogen Ventures.

"We're seeking co-investors into both those entities and we want to have a meaningful impact on the development of the hydrogen economy in South Africa.

"We're very grateful for the support we've received from Anglo American, Impala Platinum and the Public Investment Corporation, three very supportive LPs, who share the strategic ambition of ours to develop hydrogen projects and opportunities globally in terms of the meaningful impact that should have and will have on PGMs but also domestically in terms of the opportunity within South Africa, which has abundant wind and solar renewable energy resources.

"The production of green hydrogen relies on electrons from those renewable sources. That provides us with an interesting starting framework, and then we've got expertise in South Africa so we do continue to think that from our mining and extractive industries, companies such as Sasol et cetera, there's lots of existing infrastructure and expertise to leverage, and we're seeking to do most of that investment through MatiTech and African Hydrogen Ventures," said Eggers.

Mining Weekly can report that MatiTech is leveraging the technology of one of AP Ventures' existing Danish portfolio companies, which has developed technology to synthesise hydrogen peroxide in a continuous form and in low concentration, which enables its use in the elevation of water to potable status.

"It removes waterborne pathogens to enable safe drinking water for communities, schools, and the like. What we did is we incubated a business about three years ago. We had to find a team to lead that including various board members and a CEO, which we've done, and the company has made great strides.

"Their most significant installation is a project on an oper...

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Mining company Gold Fields expects to be in a position to decide on the establishment of a wind power project at the South Deep gold mine, west of Johannesburg, in the third quarter of this year.

The project is currently undergoing scoping and feasibility and one of the key pieces of work has been around its environmental impact in general and its effect on a bat colony that exists in the nearby area in particular, Gold Fields CEO Mike Fraser said in response to Mining Weekly at this week's first-quarter results and environmental, social and governance (ESG) presentation. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

"We believe, at an economic level, the South Deep wind project is viable but we just need to close out the full feasibility," Fraser said.

Since early 2023, a metrological tower has been in place at South Deep, measuring wind availability at a number of different heights above ground level.

"We should have all the data we need during the third quarter, and we'll be in a position, at that point, with all of the wind availability data, and the environmental-impact assessment (EIA) having been completed, to then make a decision," said Gold Fields VP environmental performance Andrew Parsons.

"We've now got a years' set of data and that work is more or less done. We'll be getting the report quite soon," Parsons added.

The EIA studies currently underway have got another three months or so to run.

BACKFILL ISSUE

South Deep is finding that as it backfills its underground workings, there is significant leakage of backfill materials, which is restricting access to stopes and the availability of future stopes.

Some 2 000 m of backfill, which is causing significant challenges across different working and open areas, needs to be cleaned up before advanced development can be achieved.

Graphs displayed showed the considerable re-handling that is having to be done.

"I almost look at this as an opportunity for South Deep," said Fraser. This is because if successful rework can be achieved, it sets South Deep up for getting well ahead of what's perceived to be possible at the mechanised, long-life mine.

"We're working with a number of experts to help us. It's hard for me to give you a clear answer as to when the backfill issue will be solved.

"We have forecast lower production this year because we expect this to take some time and if we can fix it, the opportunity is there for South Deep to get to where it needs to be as an asset," added Fraser, who will provide an update in the second quarter.

DECARBONISATION COMMITMENT

Johannesburg- and New York-listed Gold Fields this week reiterated its commitment to decarbonisation across the business.

"I do believe that Gold Fields is one of the leaders in our sector when it comes to mitigating its climate change impact. The programmes and projects that are underway to reduce our carbon footprint demonstrate our willingness to make a difference," said Fraser.

"We all have a role to play in combating climate change, and the impact that it is having on our planet, our mines, and our people.

"We can just see by the report that we've spoken about in terms of production, the impact of severe weather events is having and we certainly believe that that is going to become more prevalent," he said.

Targeted is a 30% net emission reduction and 50% absolute emission reduction by 2030, based on an assumed production volume of around 2.8-million ounces by 2028.

Like many other corporates, it is committed to net zero by 2050, against its 2016 baseline.

"We also re-baselined our Scope 3 emissions during 2023 and set a 2030 target to reduce our Scope 3 emissions by 10%, against our 2022 baseline.

"The Scope 3 emissions make up around 37% of our total emissions. And whilst not in our direct control, we will continue to be working with our major suppliers to achieve this target." Fraser added.

The capital expenditure (capex) that w...

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With first-quarter gold production down 34% at South Deep gold mine, Gold Fields is focusing on setting up the well-endowed long-life Gauteng operation for longevity, quality ounces and sustainable production increases.

The challenging quarter of the bulk mechanised mine near Westonaria, west of Johannesburg, which has been built to extract one of the world's largest gold deposits, is focusing the resolve of the Johannesburg- and New York-listed Gold Fields to increase backfill tipping points, increase long-hole stope drilling and improve ventilation, road conditions and service utilities underground.

In the three months to March 31, Gold Fields' overall attributable production from all of its mines was 464 000 oz at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of $1 738/oz and an all-in cost of $2 115/oz, of which South Deep contributed only 56 300 oz.

Impacting South Deep's operational momentum was the fatal injury to a trackless engineering supervisor in an incident involving trackless mining equipment underground.

On the 23 000-employee company's commitment to ensure safety, new Gold Fields CEO Mike Fraser stated in a release to Mining Weekly: "We have fallen far short of our commitment."

A second fatal incident occurred at Gold Fields' St Ives mine in Australia when the employee of a contractor was fatally injured in a mobile equipment-related incident at a construction site on the mine.

An independent review of the group's safety processes, systems and practices is being conducted by DSS+, formerly Du Pont.

Salares Norte gold project in Chile, which Gold Fields has taken from discovery to production in 13 years, is progressing slower than anticipated with 2024 gold equivalent production now expected to be between 220 000 oz and 240 000 oz.

Salares Norte has a payback period of less than three years at current gold prices and extensive exploration drilling is under way to identify further opportunities to extend the Salares Norte life-of-mine.

Meanwhile, in Ghana, a joint venture (JV) proposal between Gold Fields' Tarkwa mine and AngloGold Ashanti's neighbouring Iduapriem mine has the potential to create Africa's largest gold mine.

In addition to leveraging operating efficiencies to unlock higher grades and enabling an extension of life to at least 18 years, the JV, which has still to be approved, creates compelling shared value for all stakeholders.

In Canada, the Windfall project in Quebec, which is a 50:50 JV with Canada's Osisko Mining, is expected to decide on mine construction in late 2024 or early 2025.

Gold Fields reports that its investments in renewable electricity projects are paying dividends in the form of greater energy supply security, reduced energy costs and lower carbon emissions.

Construction of the renewable power project at St Ives at a cost of $195-million is under way to become operational towards the end of 2025.

Female representation is at 25% and $3.8-billion worth of value has gone to economies in West Africa, South America, Australia and South Africa. Of this, 33% of the total was shared with host communities through employment and procurement.

The process to transition the operating model from a three-layered organisation - group, region and asset - to a two-layer global functional guidance model of group and assets is expected to provide stronger functional leadership, guidance and support to the assets.

With the regional layer removed, the group's Australian and African operations will report into Martin Preece, who has been appointed as COO.

Stuart Mathews, who was previously executive VP Australia, has retired from Gold Fields, and Joshua Mortoti, who was previously executive VP: Ghana, has left the company.

Both executive VP roles will not be replaced as the company transitions to the new operating model.

The Cerro Corona and Salares Norte mines in South America will continue to report to the executive VP South Americ...

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Last month copper mining company Copper 360 surprised on the upside by producing its first copper concentrate from surface material well ahead of schedule.

Now, this month, it is doing the same on the underground mining front in that it will be opening its Rietberg underground copper mine three months ahead of schedule.

It both instances, this Johannesburg Stock Exchange's AltX-listed company, headed by CEO Jan Nelson, is helping to return South Africa's Northern Cape to being the substantial copper mining hub that it was two decades ago.

"All the credit has to go to our team," an upbeat Nelson told Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Copper 360 has already de-risked itself from having only one processing plant to more than one plant and Rietberg is now providing more ore, which de-risks the business still further.

Moreover, the company is building up to generate cash flow, which is important for a mining business.

"We've spent close to R800-million on capital expenditure to get here and now it's time to make some money and give the shareholders their return and cash flow is now happening," said Nelson.

Rietberg's first development underground is now scheduled to take place in the first half of this year, amid instalment sale agreements having been entered into for the financing of dedicated underground equipment for the mine.

The equipment is financed with instalment sale agreements, payable over a period of 36 months.

The agreement entered into for the procurement of underground mining equipment is with Epiroc Financial Solutions AB and it will facilitate the extraction of sulphide ore.

Delivery of the equipment will take place in phases and will consist of a fleet of Epiroc and AARD underground equipment, ranging from loaders, haulers, drill rigs, scissors lifts, scalers, and a grader.

Another twin boom drill machine is also on the way as part of the first sequence and then in two to three months, a similar flow of equipment will again be received.

Mining Weekly: What do you expect the initial production output to be at Rietberg once mining commences and what will a steady state potentially look like?

Nelson: Initially, we will ramp up from about 15 000 t to 35 000 t and eventually over a three to four month period that will go to close to 50 000 run-of-mine tonnes per month from the mine.

How much copper does the total Rietberg resource contain and what are its grades like?

At the moment, the reserve is estimated at just over 1.2-million tons of copper metal and that gives us a life well in excess of eight to nine years, but we've still got significant upside to drill out. The grades that we're looking at are between 1.2% to 1.6% copper in situ. But the thing to remember there is that we're dealing with considerable widths. This orebody is about 40 m to 50 m wide and continues for about 400 m in length, so it's an extremely wide orebody that runs over its whole width at 1.2% to 1.6% copper.

Indications are that your timing is fortuitous - copper futures are on an upward trend and the trading price of copper is up over 20% since January. Where do you see it heading? Any further North?

From the reports we've gained and looking at certain market analysis, we do think that the copper price is going to move to about $15 000/t. I can't tell you exactly when but you've seen that it has started moving in the right direction, and we're very happy with that.

When do expect the first copper metal to arise from underground material?

Within the first half of this year, and that will also be the first time that a purely copper focused mine in this area has started up in over 21 to 22 years, which is a significant milestone for the area and the company.

Is there anything new to report on the renewable energy generation front?

Not yet, but what's the watch this space.

LARGE RESOURCE

As was reported by Mining Weekly...