South Africa has made considerable strides in addressing mine water challenges; however, it is imperative that these efforts are bolstered and improved upon, through aligning research with implementation, ensuring that the correct processes are in place and adapting the regulatory environment to be more conducive for the reuse and management of mine water. This was highlighted by speakers participating in Creamer Media’s Mine Water webinar, held on May 22.
PGM prices impact on Tharisa’s first-half profit, but market fundamentals are ‘solid’
JSE-listed platinum group metals (PGM) and chrome producer Tharisa has reported a 20% year-on-year decrease in net profit after tax, at $38.8-million, for the six months ended March 31, compared with the $54.7-million net profit reported for the six months ended March 2023.
The group declared an interim dividend of $0.015 apiece, compared with $0.03 apiece in the prior comparable period.
Botswana Diamonds expands its land holdings in the Kalahari
Diamond exploration company Botswana Diamonds has been granted four prospecting licences – covering just under 2 332 km2 – in the Kalahari of Botswana. The prospecting licences are in the same general area as Gem Diamonds’ Ghaghoo mine, as well as Botswana Diamonds’ own KX36 project.
Zimbabwe state miner says lithium assets attract investors
Zimbabwe’s state-owned miner Kuvimba Resources said its lithium assets are attracting potential investors from both China and other countries. Kuvimba has identified a lithium ore resource of 38 million tons at Sandawana, the site of a mothballed emerald mine formerly run by Rio Tinto. That’s sparked investor interest, acting Chief Executive Officer Trevor Barnard said in an interview from his office in the capital, Harare.
Petra signs PPAs to procure wheeled renewable energy for Cullinan, Finsch
Diamond producer Petra Diamonds has entered into long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) for the procurement of wheeled renewable energy for its Cullinan and Finsch diamond mines from licenced South African energy trader Etana Energy. Etana provides cost-competitive clean energy from new large-scale renewable energy projects, mostly wind-based, through wheeling over the existing South African grid. The company has a portfolio of multiple ready-to-build and grid-secured wind and solar projects that are expected to come online over the course of 2025 and 2026.
De Beers reports lower fourth-cycle rough diamond sales
Diamond miner De Beers sold $380-million worth of rough diamonds during its fourth sales cycle of this year, compared with the $446-million of diamonds sold during the third sales cycle of this year. Sales were also lower than the $479-million of diamonds sold during the fourth sales cycle of 2023.
South32’s CEO says open to buying joint Anglo manganese assets
Australian diversified miner South32 is open to buying Anglo American’s share of two manganese operations the companies jointly own, should they come for sale at the right price, CEO Graham Kerr said on Thursday.
Anglo is the subject of a takeover offer by the world’s biggest listed miner BHP Group, which had previously owned those assets but spun them out with its 2015 demerger of South32.
BHP has a week to convince Anglo its South African plan can work
BHP Group just won an extra week to convince Anglo American on its $49-billion takeover plan. But the world’s biggest miner still must resolve the deal’s most intractable obstacle: What to do about South Africa?
After a month of rising tensions, the companies are holding discussions after BHP raised the value of its proposal for a third time on Monday. Anglo has rejected the latest bid, but agreed to extend a deadline for BHP to commit to a binding offer so that talks can continue.
Junior coal miners bemoan logistics as single-biggest challenge to their survival
Logistics inefficiencies in South Africa are the single-biggest reason why junior mining companies are likely to fail, said midtier coal producer Ndalamo Resources. Ndalamo CEO Shammy Luvhengo participated in a junior coal mining panel at Joburg Indaba, which was held on May 21 and 22, highlighting the biggest challenge for this sector as being Transnet’s inefficiency and saying this was creating an imbalance in the system.
Huge manganese value-add opportunity reiterated at Junior Indaba
The huge opportunity that South Africa has to add value to its rich endowment of manganese through local processing was reiterated during the second day of Wednesday’s Junior Indaba. “Specific to manganese, we’re certainly very bullish,” Manganese Metal Co (MMC) CEO Louis Nel said in response to questioning by Fluor sales director Kudakwashe Maramba during a panel discussion.