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  1. 8 mins ago

    Exxaro wants energy, future metals to be more than half of group earnings by 2030

    This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation. Exxaro wants its growing energy and future-facing metals businesses to account for more than half of group earnings by 2030. "This is the business we are building for tomorrow," Exxaro CEO Ben Magara said while displaying a slide showing a diversified natural resources champion not only providing earnings and reducing carbon intensity, but also providing the career opportunities of many young and upcoming people "to make sure that we remain a key driver to our country's economy". (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) "We're anchored by a long-life, high-quality and cash-generative coal business, a growing renewable-energy business, and future-facing metals that are built globally with significant manganese exposure. "As we look ahead, we'll continue to anchor our whole business, and we'll continue to drive in line with our prudent and disciplined capital allocation, underpinned by our people and the conviction to achieve zero harm – and to do this ethically. "These three business pillars of coal, renewable energy, and manganese and future-facing metals position Exxaro continuously as a consistent dividend payer, sustained for growth." For the first time, manganese formed part of that picture during the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company's presentation of 15%-higher half-year cash generation to R6.1-billion on 7% higher revenue inflow. Coal exports are rising, the renewable-energy business is up 12%, and future-facing metals are no longer a mere heading as manganese adds to income. The Lephalale solar project (LSP), which reached commercial operation in April, is generating green electrons for Exxaro's Grootegeluk coal mine, the output of Matla is up 38% year-on-year. "This is an underground mine with continuous miners, extensive labour, and workforce underground, working safely and delivering a 38% improvement year-on-year - very pleasing," Magara reported. Coal export sales increased by 15% to 3.9-million tons as Exxaro was able to switch between domestic sales and export markets to take advantage of considerably higher export prices. "We continue to see encouraging improvements in rail performance at an industry level. Coal volumes railed to Richards Bay improved, placing this system on an annualised run rate of about 60-million tons. "Let me move to our next business pillar – Cennergi," Exxaro's renewable-energy subsidiary, said Magara, noting it is contributing 30% of Grootegeluk's energy requirements and reduced the mine's carbon emissions by 22%. It has also cut electricity costs by R100-million a year. Wind generation was lower owing to weaker Eastern Cape wind conditions, although plant availability was up and strong at 98%. With the LSP contributing 66 GWh, total renewable energy generation has increased by 12%. The benefits of having wind and solar dovetail are continuing to be seen in improved performance in earnings before earnings, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) numbers. The on-schedule and on-budget Karreebosch wind farm project continues to progress, with commercial operation expected in the first half of 2027. Exxaro CFO Riaan Koppeschaar said a further R864-million was invested in expansion capital, primarily relating to the completion of the remaining work at the LSP and the continued construction of the Karreebosch wind farm. R160-million was invested at Lephalale during the first half to complete activities ahead of the commissioning in April, and during the same period, R704-million was spent on Karreebosch. "Our energy projects are typically funded through a structure comprising 75% project finance and 25% equity funding, optimising returns while maintaining disciplined capital allocation," Koppeschaar said during the presentation covered by Mi...

  2. 9 hrs ago

    Fortescue sees power sales from Pilbara green grid when demand emerges, declares lower dividend

    This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation. Fortescue's green grid investment in Australia's northwest is set to provide surplus energy that it can sell to data centres as commercial demand develops, although it has yet to ink any supply agreements, it said as it posted in line results on Thursday. Fortescue is investing heavily in green energy, battery storage and research as it builds a large scale green energy grid in Western Australia's Pilbara region targeting 1.2GW to 1.5GW of total solar capacity by 2028. It had flagged an investment of $680-million to develop new green energy infrastructure in Pilbara in April. Fortescue Metals and Operations CEO, Dino Otranto, said the miner was looking to supply energy to third parties including data centres, but had not yet signed any offtake agreements. "Fortescue continues to invest in technology that will drive down the cost of green energy and help to deliver our own green metal projects," Otranto said on an earnings call. "We will develop it, test it, prove it, deploy it, and when the technology has a wider commercial market, we will also take it beyond Fortescue and sell it." The company said this week it had produced green iron at its Christmas Creek facility, nearly a year behind schedule. The grid supports Fortescue's decarbonisation targets, the most aggressive among Australia's major miners, and will also allow it to shave $2 per ton to $4 per ton of iron-ore costs, given Middle East instability that has raised prices for diesel. CHINA STATE BUYER Fortescue flagged that talks with China's State buyer China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG) could affect the price it gets for its iron-ore as the months-long negotiations drag on. Broker Jefferies, which has an underperform rating on the stock, said that risk was underscored in its fourth-quarter price realisation for iron-ore, falling to 84% from 88% for the full year. "We continue to engage with China Mineral Resources Group through respectful, patient and good faith negotiations," Head of Energy Agustin Pichot said on the call. Pichot added Fortescue was concentrating on making an agreement with CMRG, rather than considering using a single selling desk with its Australian peers for iron-ore to China. Fortescue declared a final dividend of 46 Australian cents per share, down from 60 cents a year earlier, and its lowest in eight years. It posted a 2.8% rise in underlying net profit attributable to $3.47-billion for the year ended June 30, broadly in line with the Visible Alpha estimate of $3.52-billion. Record annual shipments of 201.3-million metric tons and higher iron-ore prices helped Fortescue offset higher hematite C1 unit costs, largely driven by elevated diesel prices, and meet market estimates for annual earnings. Fortescue said it was served with a class action in July alleging workplace misconduct, including sexual harassment and sex discrimination, with potential damages not yet specified. The miner paid A$150.4-million ($106.95-million) on July 1 after the Federal Court made final orders in the legal proceedings for compensation to the Yindjibarndi people for cultural loss linked to mining on their land. Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation plans to appeal.

  3. 1 day ago

    It's been a very good year for DRDGOLD

    This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation. It's been a very good year for DRDGOLD, was the opening remark of CEO Niël Pretorius about the company's 4 839 kg gold production exceeding annual guidance and 85%-higher free cash flowing in spite of major R3.5-billion capital expenditure and a final R1-billion-plus cash dividend payout that roughly equalled the total market cap of the company when Pretorius did his first presentation 19 years ago. "The production was pretty pleasing," said Pretorius about coming within a hair's breadth of 5 t of gold production, which was roughly 5 000 oz higher than the top end of guidance thanks to "very smart management" of the throughput mix. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Achieved was an average yield of just under 0.2 g/t gram per ton, which was a 2% increase on plants were working very efficiently. With the exception of a very short period in 2018 when the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company needed to protect cash flows, DRDGOLD has never hedged and deliberately so. That placed it in a position to take full advantage of the 40% increase in gold price, which translated into revenue for the year of a 42%-higher R11-billion-plus. Cash operating costs for the year were under R1-million a kilogram, which was also better than guidance and a 7% increase year-on-year. Considering the number of double-digit increases that form part of the cost basket of gold production in South Africa, "this was testimony to some really good cost discipline", which translated into an 83%-higher, R6.4-billion operating profit. That informed the 89% headline earnings increase of R4.2-billion and strong 85%-higher R2.2-billion free cash flow, which is a very important parameter for DRDGOLD, because, as a dividend-paying company, generating cash is an important internal measure of efficiency. "We're talking final dividend of just more than a billion against free cash flow of R2.2-billion and capital expenditure of R3.5-billion and remember that a big part of our Vision 28 story is that at some point in future capital expenditure is going to become considerably smaller, and if the gold price holds up, will not have diminished significantly. "In fact, it could be significantly higher because remember, we're targeting about a ton of additional gold production…and as a dividend-paying company, start factoring in substantial portion of that into what's available for your dividend, and that's the DRD promise. "That's really what we're working towards at this stage, and we're hoping that it will find its way into how share price has been interpreted at some stage over the next few years, as we get closer and nearer to completion of Vision 28 subparts," Pretorius outlined in the financial year 2026 presentation of financial results attended by Mining Weekly. Ergo's production in the last six months of the financial year was exceptional. The East Rand operation lifted gold output by 150 kg a month at a time when the gold price was averaging R2 460 000/kg and ended up ended by increasing revenue on R8.1-billion for FY26 compared with last year's R5.7-billion."We couldn't have done it if we didn't have the exceptional teams," DRDGOLD CFO Henriette Hooijern pointed out. DRDGOLD COO Jaco Schoeman said: "I would just like to agree. Our operational staff, and our contractors and our consultants, everybody, right from the cleaning staff to the top to the board, everybody had to fire on all cylinders to achieve the results."

  4. 1 day ago

    Fortescue produces first hot metal towards green iron production in Australia

    This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation. Iron-ore major Fortescue has produced first hot metal at its Green Metal project at Christmas Creek, marking the first successful operation of its electric smelting process and a major step towards producing green metal in Australia. The pilot project was built to test new technology and develop a pathway for ultimately producing green metal using Pilbara ore. First hot metal means the project has successfully produced molten metal in its electric smelting furnace. As part of commissioning, this has initially been produced using a blended feedstock while the facility is progressively brought online. Commissioning of the project will continue in stages, allowing the team to safely test, refine and optimise the process before progressing to larger-scale production. Fortescue Metals CEO Dino Otranto says this is a significant milestone for its Green Metal project and another step towards producing commercial-scale green metal in Australia. "For decades Australia has exported iron-ore to the world. The next opportunity is to create more value from that ore by producing green metal here at home. "Australia has some of the world's best renewable-energy resources and one of the world's largest iron-ore industries. That's a competitive advantage we should be building on. If we don't, other renewable-rich countries will. "The real opportunity goes beyond green metal. It's about building a new industrial economy around Australia's renewable-energy advantage," he states. Otranto explains that nobody has solved green metal production using Pilbara ore at commercial scale yet, and that is the challenge that Fortescue is taking on.

  5. 2 days ago

    South Africa's $5.8-billion green hydrogen-ammonia project is 'going really well'

    This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation. The $5.8-billion green hydrogen-ammonia project in South Africa's Nelson Mandela Bay has been a hard slog but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Mining Weekly can report the venture, for which a green hydrogen generating electrolyser and ammonia loop solution has already been selected, is "going really well" and developer Hive Hydrogen is expected to make "some very big announcements" at next month's Africa Green Hydrogen Summit in Cape Town. The Eastern Cape's special economic zone at the Coega port is the site of the project, where construction could potentially begin early next year and commissioning in December 2029. Hive Hydrogen South Africa chairperson is former Eskom CEO Thulani Gcabashe, whose Built Africa focuses on developing renewable-energy projects in South Africa under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme. Backed by Hive Energy and Built Africa, Hive Hydrogen South Africa has since September 2019 been working on establishing a renewable energy-powered green hydrogen-derived ammonia plant capable of producing a million tonnes of product a year. The conclusion of environmental impact assessment work on Hive Hydrogen's 3 300 MW of renewable energy assets gave rise to environmental authorisation of the 1 000 MW Carissa wind energy facility, near Beaufort West. Carissa's permitting is the work of a partnership made up of Hive Hydrogen, project developer AMDA Developments, and Blue Crane Environmental, the independent environmental assessment practitioner responsible for leading the environmental impact assessment process. Coega is one of Hive's three green hydrogen schemes, the other two being Albamed in Spain and Gente Grande in Chile. Blended finance private equity fund SA-H2, which focuses on the green hydrogen value chain and the Southern African energy transition, has signed a development funding agreement with Hive. SA-H2, which combines public and private capital, has secured commitments from the European Commission under the Global Gateway, Invest International, South Africa's Public Investment Corporation, on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund, Sanlam Life, and the Industrial Development Corporation. The fund is also being supported by the Development Bank of Southern Africa. SASOL HYDROGEN SYSTEM COMMISSIONED Also in South Africa, chemicals and synthetic fuels producer Sasol has commissioned a platinum-based proton exchange membrane (PEM) hydrogen electrolyser system at its research and technology campus, in Sasolburg, in the Free State. In addition to Sasol's contribution, the electrolyser was developed with contributions from the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation's Hydrogen South Africa programme in partnership with the South African National Energy Development Institute and North-West University. Central to the deployment of the 2 kW PEM electrolyser system is the beneficiation of South Africa's platinum group metals, which were described by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Professor Blade Nzimande as being key to fuelling industries of the future. The Minister added that the project would generate the knowledge required to support the commercialisation and wider deployment of green hydrogen technologies. China's green technology company Envision Energy is partnering Sasol around the study of a potential green hydrogen system also at Sasolburg. Ammonia Energy Association reports that China is continuing to lead the way in building early green hydrogen supply chains. In neighbouring Namibia, the African Development Bank has approved a $10million investment to help to kick-start Namibia's green hydrogen project, International Energy Summit reports on LinkedIn. The bank's funding is expected to he...

  6. 2 days ago

    BHP profit tops estimates as copper powers growth, to pay highest dividend in 4 years

    This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation. BHP Group reported better-than-expected full-year earnings and declared its highest annual dividend in four years, boosted by record copper prices that cemented the metal's lead over iron-ore as the miner's biggest earnings driver. CEO Brandon Craig, who took the top job at the world's biggest listed mining company last month, underlined BHP's project pipeline that could boost its copper production by as much as 40% by 2035, even as production falls in the short term. "Copper, iron, steelmaking coal and potash are foundational to the way the world is developing. That is why we are moving as fast as we can and bringing these commodities to market," he told reporters. BHP on Tuesday reported a 30% rise in full-year underlying attributable profit of $13.2-billion for the year ended June 30, above the Visible Alpha consensus of $12.66-billion. It announced a final dividend of 99 cents per share, bringing the full-year distribution to $1.72 apiece, the highest in four years, the miner said. BHP shares rallied as much as 4.2% to a two-month high of A$64.79. "Loved the dividend, a big beat on that," said portfolio manager Andy Forster of Argo Investments in Sydney, which holds BHP shares. "Solid overall, and copper doing all the work," he said of the results, adding that BHP was emphasising longer-term growth, even though final investment decisions had not yet been made and capital spending was expected to rise by more than $1-billion next year. Copper prices have climbed to record highs above $14 000 a ton this year, triggered by the rapid pace of energy-hungry AI data centre buildouts and the global shift toward cleaner power, intensifying miners' race to secure high-grade copper assets. Craig said BHP always watched for market opportunities, but it was roughly five times more expensive to buy copper assets than build. The red metal, including byproducts such as gold and uranium, generated $18.19-billion in operating earnings in the year, surpassing iron ore's $14.53-billion as BHP's top earnings driver. BHP expects copper demand to grow to more than 50-million tons a year by 2050 from 34-million tons this year. IRON-ORE OPERATING EARNINGS RISE BHP's iron-ore business in Western Australia is facing challenges from industrial action, but Craig said the miner did not expect any negative effect from the first major strikes at Port Hedland in decades as talks continue on Tuesday. As for its biggest customer, China's state iron-ore buyer, BHP is focused on efficient markets, rather than forming a combined selling desk with other miners, Craig said. BHP's flagship Western Australia Iron Ore operations generated $14.67-billion in operating earnings in the year, up 2% from last year and in line with the Visible Alpha consensus of $14.75-billion. The miner said it had $3.5-billion remaining that it could unlock through active capital portfolio and asset management as part of a $10-billion opportunity it had identified. Most recently, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) invested $2-billion for a minority stake in the business' inland power network. The miner's net debt at the end of the 2026 financial year fell to $8.69-billion, below both the target range of $10-billion to $12-billion and the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $9.1-billion. METALLURGICAL COAL SALE SPECULATION DOUSED Craig doused some reports that BHP could review its Queensland metallurgical coal operations for a possible sale over the next one to five years. He said the assets would be an important part of BHP's portfolio if markets developed as the miner expected. Reuters reported on Monday that Canadian uranium miner NexGen Energy was sharing information and "talking regularly" with BHP about its Rook I uranium project in Saskatchewan....

  7. 3 days ago

    South Africa's minerals future to be explored by emerging researchers on Oct 2

    This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation. At a time when calls are being made for South Africa to modernise its mining sector, emerging researchers will on October 2 have a next-generation platform to explore the future of the minerals industry. The event is being hosted by South Africa's State-owned mineral and metallurgical organisation, Mintek, whose science convention for innovators (SCI) event will assemble emerging researchers across themes such as critical minerals, energy and innovation, emerging technologies, sustainability and the circular economy. Papers submitted to this year's SCI symposium reflect "the depth and diversity" of research taking place across the sector, Mintek stated in a media release to Mining Weekly on Monday, August 17. The range of perspectives includes research into rare earth element occurrence and mineralogical characterisation, precious metal recovery from mine waste, mineral collector interactions in upper group two ore flotation, and the use of biobased depressants in platinum group metals (PGMs) processing. Emphasised will be the importance of developing new approaches to extracting and processing minerals, while creating greater value from primary and secondary resources. The energy theme will cover renewable-energy applications in mining and processing, fuel cell technologies, energy storage, hydrogen technologies and energy efficiency in processes such as milling and pyrometallurgy. How emerging technologies can contribute to more efficient and sustainable mineral processing operations will be discussed and the emerging technologies theme will include AI, machine learning, process modelling, simulation, advanced process control, digital twins, smart operations, extraction technologies and materials development. Among the studies that demonstrate the increasingly important role of digital technologies in addressing complex challenges across mining and mineral processing are deep offline reinforcement learning for lead flotation circuit optimisation, as well as the development of an intelligent self-healing long-range mesh communication network for real-time underground mine safety and emergency response. The sustainability and circular economy theme will examine areas such as water treatment and management, sustainable water use, mine rehabilitation and closure, asbestos rehabilitation, carbon emissions reduction and decarbonisation. The potential for innovative approaches to turn waste streams into sources of value will be shown by research into the evaluation of antimony in mine tailings and the extraction of calcium and magnesium from concrete waste for mineral carbonation. The SCI, which will take place in Mintek's auditorium at 200 Malibongwe Drive, Randburg, is designed to promote knowledge exchange between emerging researchers and industry professionals, support the development of young researchers and encourage collaboration across institutions and disciplines. It takes place at a time South Africa's global mineral and metallurgical competitors are, in particular, committing capital to digitisation and automation as well as critical minerals and beneficiation. MODERNISATION SHOWCASE What came across strongly at last month's South African mining modernisation showcase event is that lessons are there to be learned from other global mining jurisdictions, particularly when it comes to 'enabling environment' and 'advanced technology'. South Africa's competitors were reported to be investing heavily in digitisation and automation, as well as in critical minerals and beneficiation. Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS) consultant Ashleigh Muller reported that South Africa's competitors are attracting considerable investment because of the high speed at which they are mode...

  8. 3 days ago

    Canada's OceanaGold to buy Ausgold for about $553m, expand Australia presence

    This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation. Canadian gold and copper producer OceanaGold plans to acquire Australia's Ausgold in a deal valued at A$776-million ($552.74-million), the companies said on Monday. The deal represents a premium of 27.7% to Ausgold's previous close on Friday and gives OceanaGold ownership of the Katanning project in Western Australia. Trading in Ausgold's shares was halted earlier in the day ahead of the announcement. Ausgold shareholders will own about 6% to 8% of OceanaGold upon completion of the deal. "This marks our first acquisition in Australia, and we are excited to build on the great work done by the Ausgold team to further optimize the development of the Katanning Gold Project for the benefit of both OceanaGold and Ausgold shareholders," OceanaGold CEO Gerard Bond said.

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MiningWeekly.com provides real time news reportage through originated written & video material. Now you can listen to the top three articles on Mining Weekly at the end of each day.

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