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With coal consumption having increased by 11% since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015 and the commodity being a mainstay for many countries’ energy mixes, including Australia and India, experts gathered at the Coal & Energy Transition Day on July 23 are confident that there is still an immediate, intermediate and long-term future for coal. Minerals Council South Africa environment, health and legacies senior executive Nikisi Lesufi said the development of South Africa was at stake, hence the importance of discussing coal’s role as a fundamental requirement for economic growth.

The Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) have welcomed the signing into law of the Climate Change Bill. The Presidency has announced that President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law the Climate Change Bill, which sets out a national climate change response, including mitigation and adaptation actions, which also constitutes South Africa’s fair contribution to the global climate change response.

Eskom will replace its declining coal capacity with clean-energy options in line with country policy and the Just Energy Transition, Eskom GM for primary energy Dan Mashigo told participants at a conference on coal and the energy transition. Speaking on behalf of Eskom CEO Dan Marokane, Mashigo reported that the State-owned company had a 20 GW-plus generation project pipeline, including 6 GW of solar PV, 4 GW of hybrid wind-PV-battery projects, 4 GW of gas-to-power, 3 GW of nuclear and 3.5 GW of hydro, wind and battery storage.

Gold exploration and mining company Akobo Minerals has announced that its Segele processing plant, in Ethiopia, is now operational. The commissioning process has successfully activated the majority of the Segele plant, enabling the company to process a substantial amount of ore.

London-listed Pensana has announced that, further to the £2-million facility made available to the company by two of its directors in March, chairperson Paul Atherley has sold 1.5-million ordinary shares and will use the proceeds to make £250 000 available under the facility as working capital support to the company while it finalises its main fundraising for the Longonjo rare earths refinery project in Angola. To avoid incurring interest costs, Pensana indicated on July 23 that it wishes to settle the ensuing amount due under the facility as soon as possible and intends to do so by issuing Atherly’s 1.5-million ordinary shares – being equal to the number sold by him – at an effective price of 17p an ordinary share.

Southern African exploration company Askari Metals has secured an A$850 000 funding package, comprised of redeemable notes with professional and sophisticated investors, to “aggressively pursue” its Tanzanian uranium investment strategy. This follows the company’s recent acquisition of the Matemanga project, in Tanzania.

Mining company Kumba Iron-Ore has reported a robust set of results for the six months ended June 30 despite a challenging market. CE Mpumi Zikalala says the company’s first-half results reflect strong execution of its business reconfiguration plan while improving safety across operations. “By prioritising operational safety, stability, capability and cost-effective production, we are delivering on our strategic objectives of unlocking value from our core and positioning for a sustainable future, which are essential for creating enduring stakeholder value,”  she says, adding that Kumba’s performance demonstrates good operational momentum achieved.

Despite the current low-price cycle, the critical role that platinum group metals (PGMs) play in helping to form a foundation for cleaner greener world remains indisputable, Anglo American Platinum CEO Craig Miller highlighted at the company’s presentation of solid half-year results on its journey towards demerging from the Anglo American group. “Our market development efforts help ensure that our products have a sustainable and positive impact on the world. We’re leveraging capabilities through these activities and capturing value from the adjacent value chains while diversifying sources of future PGM demand,” added Miller, who expects Anglo Platinum to be a separate primarily Johannesburg-listed mining and marketing company by the end of next year. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Platinum group metals  (PGM) mining and marketing company, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange primary-listed Anglo American Platinum, highlighted on Monday that it is working to deliver a responsible and orderly separation from the secondarily-listed Anglo American by the end of next year. “Our management team and independent board is already working alongside a dedicated team with Anglo American to achieve this,” Anglo Platinum CEO Craig Miller outlined.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law the Climate Change Bill, which sets out a national climate change response, including mitigation and adaptation actions, which also constitutes South Africa’s fair contribution to the global climate change response. The Climate Change Act, as endorsed by the President, enables the alignment of policies that influence South Africa’s climate change response, to ensure South Africa’s transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy and society is not constrained by policy contradictions, the Presidency notes in a statement.