Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses South Africa's role for a more diversified supply chain of critical rare earths for the green energy transition; the South African mining industry being years ahead of its international peers when it comes to local and community engagement; and the announcement of Sibanye-Stillwater’s two renewable energy projects.

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The financial close and start of construction of two additional renewable energy projects for Sibanye-Stillwater's South Africa operations has been announced.

The first project, the Witberg wind energy project, located near Matjiesfontein in the Western Cape province with a contracted capacity of 103 MW, will generate renewable energy and supply the South Africa operations via a wheeling agreement with South Africa's State-owned power utility enterprise Eskom.

The estimated project cost is R3.4-billion, which will be fully funded by Red Rocket, the South African independent power producer (IPP) developing the project, and its lenders, with Sibanye-Stillwater committing to a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA). The construction of this large private wind farm follows the 89 MW Castle wind energy project announced by Sibanye-Stillwater in May.

Construction of the Witberg Wind Farm goes ahead this month with commercial operation scheduled for the four quarter of 2025.

The second project is a multi-buyer 150 MWac solar photovoltaic project developed and financed by SOLA Group, a South African IPP. Sibanye-Stillwater will procure 75 MW of the plant's capacity over a ten-year PPA.

The project will be the first to sell power to multiple buyers across the country on flexible terms, the platinum group metals, green metals and gold mining company states in a release to Mining Weekly.

The project has an estimated cost of R2.8-billion, with SOLA Group as the majority equity shareholder. The project will generate renewable energy in the Free State and will supply Sibanye-Stillwater's South Africa operations via a wheeling agreement with Eskom. Notably, a significant portion of the project's capacity has been reserved for flexible, short-term PPAs, unlocking access to affordable and reliable renewable energy for other South African businesses. Construction of the solar project also begins this month, with commercial operation scheduled for the third quarter of 2025.

These projects, together with the Castle wind energy project, bring the total dedicated capacity of renewable energy projects in construction for Sibanye-Stillwater to 267 MW, fulfilling 45% of the company's long-term renewable energy requirements in South Africa and making Sibanye-Stillwater a market leader in private energy procurement in the country.

Combined, these projects will enable a 15% Scope 2 emissions reduction, or about 92 000 t of carbon dioxide a year from 2026, materially contributing to the alleviation of South Africa's electricity crisis.

They will also enable socio-economic development for local communities and meet the requirements of the South African Mining Charter.

Sibanye-Stillwater continues to pursue the balance of its 600 MW portfolio of renewable energy projects in its journey to carbon neutrality.

"We continue to take meaningful strides toward our target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2040. These renewable energy projects will not only facilitate operational decarbonisation and aid in mitigating climate change but will also contribute significantly to sustaining the shared value creation of our South Africa operations and assist in addressing the South African electricity crisis. We continue to seek innovative energy solutions for our business and partners that align with our strategy," Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman stated.

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The South African mining industry is years ahead of its international peers when it comes to local and community engagement, Australia-listed Jupiter Mines, which owns 49.9% of the Tshipi manganese mine in South Africa's Northern Cape, told its shareholders on Tuesday.

The controlling shareholder of the a long-life, low-cost Tshipi is South Africa's Ntsimbintle Mining, chaired by Saki Macozoma.

"This is a very strong base from which we intend to grow," Jupiter chairperson Ian Murray told Jupiter's annual general meeting (AGM).

"I want to note the tremendous local and community engagement, which is so important in today's world of mining," said Murray, who put South Africa's unrivalled community engagement position down to its early start in 1994 under the King Report of Corporate Governance.

Regarding Australia's own indigenous community, Murray made a point of highlighting the Whadjuk Noongar people, "on whose land we meet today", and extended acknowledgment to the First Nations on all the lands Jupiter operates on Down Under. The Noongar people's Whadjuk language group are the traditional owners of the land around Perth.

When it comes to South African manganese ore, which is renowned for its high quality, Jupiter and South Africa's Manganese Metal Co (MMC) are aspiring to produce high-pressure manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) for the battery electric vehicle (BEV) and battery energy markets.

They will both make use of South African ore, while the Botswana HPMSM aspirant, the Canada-owned Giyani Metals, intends using the manganese that it mines in Botswana.

Interestingly, Giyani has secured $16-million in financing from South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to advance an HPMSM project in Botswana ahead of the well-researched South African aspirant, MMC, which has been ready for some time to go ahead with a 5 000 t/y demonstration plant in Mbombela.

MMC has been clear that once its accredited HPMSM goes into the batteries of the world, its local operation will be able to step out and put South Africa on the map.

MMC talks with considerable authority because it has been making the world's purest manganese metal for 49 years.

Successful demonstration of the MMC business case would then result in a bigger commercial plant.

Jupiter, meanwhile, has produced a 99.9% pure sample of HPMSM using the Northern Cape's manganese ore and bringing into service an internally developed hydrometallurgical production process.

Growing into the downstream BEV market will be done at a fast pace off an initial small base amid steel industry demand for manganese continuing to advance at around population level growth.

Jupiter, meanwhile, has reported a group net profit after tax of $76.5-million for the financial year ended February, and has achieved an average dividend yield more than double the average of the Australian Stock Exchange.

More than 100% of its current market capitalisation has been paid in dividends in the last five years, from a mine that still has more than 100 years of life.

High-purity manganese for batteries is actually not very pure in terms of manganese: "It's about 32% contained, but you need to clean up everything else, all the other minerals that are in your ore body. That's what battery grade manganese is. There is going to be high growth in demand for battery grade manganese and that's why we're interested in it," Jupiter CEO Brad Rogers told AGM attendees.

Encouragingly, MMC already produces 3% of the world's manganese metal in the form of selenium-free electrolytic manganese metal (EMM). Fifty-six per cent of this is sold to Japan, 25% to the US, and 10% to Europe. The EMM is 99.9% pure, beating the next highest 99.7%.

For some time, MMC customers have been buying ids EMM to dissolve it and make HPMSM, which has prompted the extension into HPMSH by MMC itself.

A far-reaching new horizon is now extending for MMC, we...

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South Africa is recognised as having the potential to play a significant role in the establishment of a more diversified supply chain of critical rare earths for the green energy transition.

Interestingly, all four of the permanent magnet rare earths required for the green energy transition are hosted in Phalaborwa, Limpopo - and they are attracting keen investor interest because of their low cost of recovery and their removal improving the environment.

Phosphogypsum leftovers from phosphoric acid production that ceased in 2014 are providing the near-term production opportunity.

The four rare earths that will be produced at Phalaborwa - neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium - are all designated as critical minerals owing to the role they play in the transition to the green economy in permanent magnets.

These rare earth elements are used within battery electric vehicles and wind turbines, as well as technologies related to drones, electronic displays and sonar.

With the phosphogypsum stacks on surface, the cost and risk associated with below-surface mining do not arise.

The London Stock Exchange-listed company Rainbow Rare Earths, headed by CEO George Bennett will be using separation technology that allows for the waste material to be processed into separated rare earth oxides of 99.95% purity.

The simplified flowsheet of the separation technology reduces capital and operating costs.

The TechMet option to invest $50-million directly in the Phalaborwa project will be funded by the International Development Finance Corporation of the US, a development finance institution that invests in development projects primarily in lower and middle-income countries.

As reported by Mining Weekly last month, Bennett expects Phalaborwa to continue to attract funding, owing to the focus on the critical role of these rare-earth metals in the technology-driven industrial and clean energy age.

The project involves the recovery of rare earths from gypsum and waste dumps and is poised to be part of the journey to a net-zero world, which will require an unprecedented increase in the supply of rare earths required for the clean energy transition.

Bloomberg calculates that the latest the backing from International Development Finance Corporation brings its total investment to $105-million, and implies a valuation for the Dublin-based TechMet of more than $1-billion. The corporation made an initial investment of $25-million in the closely held firm in 2020.

Achieving a world with low carbon emissions will require an unprecedented increase in the supply of technology metals critical to the clean energy transition.

TechMet invests in assets that produce, process and recycle critical minerals that are key to the energy transition. The firm, which is backed by commodities trader Mercuria Energy Group, is in talks with shareholders and new investors, including sovereign funds and family offices, to close a $300-million fundraising round in the next few months.

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Canada-headquartered Giyani Metals, which operates in Botswana, has secured $16-million in financing from South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to advance a battery-grade manganese project in Botswana - and South Africa's Manganese Metal Co (MMC) of Mpumalanga is holding thumbs that the IDC, with which it has been in discussion for more than a year, will also co-fund the exciting new battery manganese project that is ready to be advanced in Mbombela.

State-owned IDC financing is the cornerstone of a $26-million funding package for Botswana's proposed K Hill high-pressure manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) project - but funding from the IDC for construction of South Africa's initial HPMSM in Mbombela is still to be finalised.

Canada's Giyani Metals has described the IDC funding as a resounding vote of confidence in K Hill, located in south-eastern Botswana The demonstration plant being completed in Johannesburg is scheduled to be followed by the construction of a commercial scale plant in Botswana.

In Mpumalanga, MMC is dead keen to go ahead with a 5 000 t/y demonstration plant in Mbombela, and once its HPMSM is accredited goes into the batteries of the world, MMC will be able to step out and put South Africa on the map.

"It's only finalisation of the funding that stands between us and construction of the initial demonstration plant. Successful demonstration of the business case would then result in a bigger commercial plant," MMC chairperson Bernard Swanepoel said in response to Mining Weekly.

Regarding the finalisation of IDC funding, Swanepoel added: "We have been talking to the IDC for a year now. We hope they will co-invest."

Manganese is going into battery electric vehicles (BEV) and battery energy storage for good technical and cost reasons, with formulations increasingly including manganese in batteries.

MMC, already the producer of the world's purest manganese metal, is itself becoming greener and cleaner as it repositions for market acceptance in the BEV market, where there is major growth potential.

Greening the one-gigawatt hours of energy that MMC needs a day is 1.8 MW of clean hydropower that is being sourced from a power station in the Crocodile river.

MMC uses South African manganese fines to produce 3% of the world's manganese metal in the form of selenium-free electrolytic manganese metal (EMM). Fifty-six per cent of this is sold to Japan, 25% to the US, and 10% to Europe. The EMM is 99.9% pure, beating the next highest 99.7%

A far-reaching new horizon is now extending for MMC, well beyond the EMM market into the burgeoning BEV market, with HPMSM.

For some time, customers have been buying the company's EMM to dissolve it and make HPMSM, which has prompted the extension into HPMSH by MMC itself.

MMC, which has 400 direct employees and 200 indirect contractor employees, in its last financial year earned South Africa R2.28-billion in export revenue, exporting mainly through the ports of Maputo and Durban, and paid R179-million in taxes.

In days gone by, MMC was operated by a Samancor structure on behalf of BHP Billiton and Anglo American. Today it is owned by MM Holdings, held 70% by Bright Resources and 30% by To The Point.

Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) senior economist Gaylor Montmasson-Clair describes MMC as a one-of-a-kind "industrial jewel" that should be supported on its growth trajectory. TIPS is an independent, non-profit, economic research institution based in Pretoria that was established in 1996 to support economic policy development, with an emphasis on industrial policy in South Africa and the region.

As reported by Mining Weekly last week, Australia-listed but South Africa-functioning manganese mining company Jupiter Mines has produced a 99.9% pure sample of HPMSM using the Northern Cape's manganese ore and bringing into service an internally developed hydrometallurgical production...

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The growth of investment in fresh new greenfield mining projects is lagging badly and the contribution of the South African mining industry to the national economy has more than halved in the last two decades, Minerals Council South Africa's latest Facts and Figures 2022 point out.

Net fixed capital formation figures show a mining industry bumping along a growthless greenfield path.

Investment in the mining sector has largely been directed towards maintaining current operations. This is reflected in the 30%-higher gross fixed capital formation investment, which centres on brownfield growth in existing lease areas.

In contrast, net fixed capital formation investment in mining averaging a low 4% from 1993 to 2022. (Also see attached graph.)

A major upturn is required in net fixed investment is required because what has been mined has to constantly be replaced with a new find to prevent this finite-horizon industry from fading away.

In stark contrast to other sectors of the South African economy, mining has consistently struggled to achieve and maintain positive growth.

In fact, mining is the only sector of the South African economy that has averaged a negative 0.4% growth rate since 1994 in the face of all other sectors having grown, Facts and Figures 2022 highlights.

Stay-in-business brownfield investment in existing lease areas can only go on for so long, making new greenfield investment essential if mining is to continue to be a meaningful economic multiplier.

An indication of mining's magnitude of mining is provided the sector remaining a trillion-rand industry for the second consecutive year when measured in production value.

While the contribution to South Africa's gross domestic product (GDP) was 1.9% higher at R483.3-billion, and direct payments into the fiscus totalled R99.1-billion, mining could have contributed 35% to 50% more to the fiscus in an environment of improved logistics performance and electricity security.

It would thus made the necessary cash flow available for the government to invest in much-needed socio-economic infrastructure, such as education, health, roads and railways to drive economic development.

Production in the year to December 2022 was 6.9% lower than in 2021. What is more, 2022 production performance was 6.7% lower when compared to pre-Covid levels.

"Our industry is in decline, a trend which should be of concern to the nation," new Minerals Council CEO Mzila Mthenjane stated.

"The value at stake for the nation is too large for the Minerals Council not to play a leading role in reversing this trend," Mthenjane added.

Minerals Council is working closely with its business peers, government and other stakeholders to ensure sustainable and pragmatic solutions to the infrastructural and logistics constraints faced by the industry - while addressing the deteriorating security environment.

"If these blockages are resolved, with the inclusion of the private sector, the mining industry's role as a key contributor to the wellbeing of the South African economy and livelihoods of people of South Africa will be fully unlocked. We believe and will continue to uphold our vision of #MiningMatters because it really does," Mthenjane emphasised in the release to Mining Weekly.

Needed ultra-urgently is an efficiently working proven cadastre as well as an incentive framework to ensure the promotion of mining exploration.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer unpacks the news of Jupiter Mines producing a 99.9% pure sample of high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate; Copper 360 acquiring a new production-doubling copper processing plant next to its own processing facility; and DRDGold looking at the recovery of battery metals and platinum group metals.

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The recovery of battery metals and platinum group metals (PGMs) is being looked at by DRDGOLD, the Johannesburg- and New York-listed company, which is being globally acknowledged for its mastery of the recovery of gold from waste.

In a presentation to the Swiss Mining Institute in Zurich, DRDGOLD CEO Niël Pretorius and DRDGOLD group financial manager Mpho Mashatola highlighted the growth strategy of South Africa's oldest continuously listed and still operational mining company.

Pretorius and Mashatola outlined how DRDGOLD had transitioned from underground mining - where it began in 1895 - to mega-volume tailings retreatment.

Gold recovered by DRDGOLD involves moving 25-million to 30-million tonnes of material a year at two distinct business units on the East Rand and West Rand of South Africa's historic Witwatersrand Gold Basin.

In so doing, the negative environmental legacy of mining is reversed and a permanent solution for land scarred by gold extraction is provided.

In fact, DRDGOLD is a business that fits hand-in-glove with today's circular economy times by generating wealth and through the knocking out of waste.

Moreover, it is doing so from a shrinking carbon footprint through the introduction of green energy. It has a pipeline of 60 MW of solar power capacity.

DRDGOLD's value proposition is that of a highly successful producer of green gold, which is also applying that know-how to be a green metals producer across a far wider front with the use of green energy.

DRDGOLD's operating method centres on highly mechanised high-pressure hydro-mining of discarded mine waste, which is pumped as a slurry mix to reduction plants through a network of pipelines.

Gold is recovered from the slurry through an extensively automated process and the discard tailings from that process are deposited on a facility of a design that follows contemporary management practice.

Deployed is technology and information to enhance operational performance and minimise environmental impact.

THE GREEN EXTENDS TO COMMUNITIES

In addition to 16 years of uninterrupted dividend declaration for the benefit of shareholders, DRDGOLD also improves the quality of life of host communities through poverty alleviation and youth education.

To date, DRDGOLD has had more than 11 200 direct participants in its broad-based agricultural livelihoods (BBL) programme since 2018, and this number continues to increase.

The participants are from the communities in Ekurhuleni-Tsakane Ext 10, Tsakane Central, Kwa-Thema, Geluksdal, Langaville, Transnet, Daggafontein, Makunqa, Sallies and Reedville.

These communities are transforming previous community dumping areas into productive spaces, thus creating health and economic benefits.

Through its BBL My Food programme, 3 048 households are able to earn a minimum of R10 000 a year from tunnel production. Participants have prepared trenches for their winter crops as the programme continues unabated.

BBL MyFuture changes the way people think about themselves and prospects for their lives. Many BBL participants kickstart diverse entrepreneurial activities in their communities. To date, 215 learning groups have been established, far exceeding DRDGOLD's commitment of 75. Mathematics, science and accounting programme activities involve eight schools and two teachers, with 662 pupils reached to date.

In financial year 2022, DRDGOLD spent R55.2-million on socio-economic development, which includes expenditure of R6.4-million absorbed by the BBL programme.

On the environmental front, major dust suppression has been achieved and 911 ha of land rehabilitated for redevelopment over ten years. Water management has resulted in a 61% reduction in potable water use over ten years and land rehabilitation for redevelopment.

In the 12 months to the end of June this year, DRDGOLD had closing cash and cash equivalents close to R2.5-billion. On revenue of R5.5-billion, profi...

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Northern Cape mining company Copper 360, which listed on the Alternative Exchange of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange this year, took yet another leap forward on Wednesday with the announcement that it had acquired a brand new production-doubling copper processing plant next to its own central processing facility, which is about to be commissioned.

"The acquisition of Nama Copper as a paradigm shifter," was Copper 360 CEO Jan Nelson's comment to Mining Weekly on a Zoom interview. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

This is because Copper 360, which is focused on the processing of historical mined copper rock dumps, through a procedure of environmental clean-up, and the mining of surface and shallow copper resources, gets a brand new processing plant right next door its own plant.

Located adjacent to Copper 360's operations in Nababeep, Nama Copper has historically processed copper slag through a sulphide flotation plant that is almost an exact replica of the modular flotation plant that Copper 360 is currently constructing.

"By buying an operating plant, there are no longer construction and commissioning issues. The plant's already there, it runs, it immediately adds to the revenue, and it will ensure that we can pay our shareholders a bigger dividend," said Nelson.

The plant being acquired has a capacity to treat 20 000 t of copper sulphide ore a month at recoveries of between 88% to 92%. While it has been treating slag, it can treat sulphide concentrate.

"It's got a brand new mill. We know the plant quite well and its virtually the same as the one we're building. The thing that stands out is that we get a plant that is ready to produce from tomorrow," Nelson enthused.

In having the capacity to double production, it is poised to double revenue as well. "The revenue we were planning to make in 2026 financial year, we're now going to make next year because of this plant," Nelson added. The revenue of R2.2-billion planned for financial year 2026 will now be able to be delivered in financial year 2025.

Nama Copper's slag operations have become uneconomical and it has not been able to replace the slag with economically viable sulphide ore resources.

Coming with the deal is a large land area, as well as almost 22-million tons of tailings with a copper content of between 0.3% and 0.6% copper.

Copper 360 and Mazule Resources, the shareholder of Nama Copper, have entered into an agreement to acquire all the shares and claims in Nama Copper for of R200-million.

An impressive part of the transaction is that Copper 360 has signed an offtake agreement with an associate company of the seller, which is an offtaker of copper.

"We've signed an offtake agreement with them on very favourable economic terms," Nelson disclosed.

The offtake will be from the plant being acquired. In addition, Copper 360 is also getting the benefit of a R50-million working capital facility.

Mining Weekly: How do you intend to fund this acquisition?

Nelson: We're finalising two major debt agreements that we'll guide the market on in due course. There won't be any dilution to shareholders in terms of funding this acquisition. It will be debt. We have no debt on the balance sheet and we're just finalising those agreements as we speak. They will provide the necessary capital to fund this acquisition. But what shareholders must also remember is that when the two plants are in full operational mode in February, the company will be generating between R70-million and R90-million of revenue a month, so there's also significant cash flow that will come to the party, but the debt arrangements we put in place will ensure we can fund this.

Why do you see the acquisition of Nama Copper as a paradigm shifter for Copper 360?

The reason we see it as a paradigm shifter is because the Nama Copper property is contiguous and adjacent to our central processing facility at Nababeep. With this acquisi...

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South African manganese mining company Jupiter Mines announced on Tuesday that it has produced a 99.9% pure sample of high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) using the Northern Cape's manganese ore and bringing into service an internally developed hydrometallurgical production process.

Inclusion of the battery grade manganese in the cathode of electric vehicle batteries introduces cost efficient energy density and potential safety enhancements, Jupiter stated in its media release to Mining Weekly.

Jupiter's advance towards producing HPMSM follows that of Manganese Metal Co (MMC), chaired by South African mining stalwart Bernard Swanepoel.

As reported by Engineering News & Mining Weekly in September, MMC is in the early phase of constructing a small-scale 5 000 t/y commercial HPMSM plant in Mbombela (Nelspruit), which is expected to be in production by 2026. This plant will be a brownfield addition to MMC's high purity electrolytic manganese metal (EMM) refinery.

The wording of the Jupiter media release to Mining Weekly is that the Australia-listed company's advance is "the first published record of HPMSM being produced by a South African manganese miner using its own process". The manganese product is described as being of battery-grade quality in conformity with specifications provided by the International Manganese Institute.

"We are very encouraged by the high purity testing results that we've achieved through the HPMSM production process that we developed, as well as the progress we are making on our business case development more generally. Our aim is to bring distinctive value to this downstream integration strategy and to derive attractive returns in exchange," said Jupiter MD Brad Rogers.

Next year, MMC will complete half a century of being a producer of the world's purest 99.9% manganese EMM metal from ore that is mined in the Kalahari by Johannesburg-, Sydney- and London-listed diversified mining company South32.

For some time, customers have been buying MMC's high purity manganese metal to dissolve it into HPMSM, and this has prompted MMC to enter the HPMSM production space itself.

Once the 5 000 t/y plant is built, accredited and goes into the batteries of the world, then the sky will be the limit for MMC, which will be able to step out and put South Africa on the battery grade manganese map.

MMC's forward movement into HPMSM is taking place amid key battery electric vehicle (BEV) manufacturers pursuing this more affordable and greener cathode active material with higher manganese content as the material of choice.

Jupiter is performing location studies to determine the ideal location of its first plant. The base case for this work is that Jupiter's refining facility will be in US or Canada, with Europe an alternative.

Ultimately, the decision will be informed by a variety of key criteria, including the location of likely offtake partners.

Jupiter is also considering the merits of producing a manganese concentrate in South Africa, prior to transportation and refinement in North America or elsewhere.

At this year's Fastmarkets European Battery Raw Materials event in Amsterdam, MMC market development executive Madelein Todd highlighted the commitment of MMC to produce sought-after HPMSM in Mbombela directly from manganese ore, in addition to being the producer of the world's highest 99.9% pure manganese metal going back to 1974.

Meanwhile, Jupiter, based on its strategic analysis and discussions with market participants, expressed belief that there will be "a growing and long-term demand for HPMSM, which will be undersupplied for a period commencing in the late 2020s".

Jupiter quoted the International Energy Agency as finding that the typical BEV will require more manganese than lithium and cobalt and Bloomberg New Energy Finance as expecting a supply deficit of 72% (relative to total demand) by 2030.

On track to complete ...