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  1. HACE 1 H

    Iran war allows Australia to revive green iron ambitions

    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 conflict in the Middle East has cracked open the door for Australia to speed up the development of a handful of green iron projects as part of efforts to cut emissions from producing steel. The immediate fallout from the US and Israeli attacks on Iran and the resultant retaliation has been surging crude oil and refined product prices amid the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and damage to the region's energy infrastructure. However, among the second-round effects that are becoming more apparent is the possibility that ambitious plans to turn the Middle East into a major producer of green iron and steel may be delayed, or even curtailed. The Middle East was shaping up as a major centre for the production of lower carbon iron, which is the process of using hydrogen or natural gas to make direct reduced iron (DRI) from iron ore. DRI can then be used to make green steel in an electric arc furnace, or it can be converted into hot briquetted iron (HBI), which can be shipped to end users in another country for green steel production. Brazilian iron-ore miner Vale is planning three major projects in the Middle East, which aim to use iron ore shipped from Brazil and a combination of natural gas and hydrogen to produce DRI for local steelmaking and HBI for export. The most advanced of these projects is in Oman and a final investment decision was expected later this year. Vale has two other projects planned in the Middle East, one in Saudi Arabia and the other in the United Arab Emirates. While the Oman project sits outside the Strait of Hormuz, the planned Saudi and UAE plants are located west of the strait and would be dependent on vessels being able to transit the narrow waterway in order to both deliver iron ore and export HBI. Vale hasn't made any public comments on the current Middle East conflict or whether this has had any impact on its investment plans in the region. It is, however, reasonable to assume that the longer the war continues the more questions companies will be forced to ask about their investment plans, especially if the status of the Strait of Hormuz remains disputed. "What is an uncomfortable situation for Vale may just be the opportunity Australia's green iron proponents have been looking for," Reuters reports. GREEN IRON STRUGGLES Australia is the world's largest exporter of iron ore, shipping about 75% of seaborne volumes. Nonetheless, the country has struggled to launch a green iron industry, largely because the high cost of making hydrogen from renewable energy, coupled with expensive labour and extensive regulatory approvals, has largely rendered projects uneconomic. There was considerable hype in recent years that if Australia invested billions of dollars in building a green iron value chain, it would reap an even larger dividend through higher prices for the lower carbon product. The steel value chain accounts for 7% to 9% of global carbon emissions, the largest single industrial contributor and therefore a prime target for the net-zero-by-2050 goals of many countries and companies. The problem is that about 80% of steel emissions come from a single step in the process, namely turning iron ore into pig, or crude, iron by removing oxygen and other impurities, a process that now involves using vast quantities of coal. Using hydrogen made from renewables such as solar to replace coal brings the carbon intensity down to around 300 kg, or 661 pounds, per ton of steel, about one-seventh of the current 2.2 t of emissions. REALITY REPLACES HYPE The problem is always going to be doing this at a price that makes sense. At last month's Global Iron Ore and Steel Conference in Perth it was clear that the green iron hype has been replaced by the reality that only a small nu...

    5 min

  2. HACE 2 H

    China's gold market importance probably growing, says precious metals analyst

    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. China is probably growing in importance to the gold market the same way it is growing in importance to the global economy. By contrast, the hegemonic dominance of the United States is continuing to deteriorate amid and the Middle East war having a very negative consequence for its global role. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) The gold market is being impacted by scam artists using AI to flood the internet with bad information and there's also a lot of misinformation about central banks buying much more gold than the correct level of about ten-million ounces a year. The reason to be bullish on gold is that investment demand is up very sharply and is likely to grow further. These and many more highlights have been brought to the fore in Mining Weekly's interview with precious metals analyst Jeffrey Christian, the MD of the CMP Group, which has just published its CMP Gold Yearbook 2026. Mining Weekly: The chapter on central bank and dollar activity is particularly key. What should be read into it? Christian: The gold price is at record levels. It's risen very strongly, primarily driven by investment demand. Central banks have been buying gold but given the secrecy and the opacity and the asymmetrical information in the gold market, there's a lot of misinformation about central banks. Central banks are buying about ten-million ounces a year, but you're hearing much higher numbers that are just not accurate. In addition to that, you keep hearing that the world is moving away from the dollar, that central banks are dumping the dollar, and that foreign investors are not investing in treasury bonds. The amount of dollars that central banks have now is very high. It's up 3% from a year ago or two years ago. It's up 6% on a decade ago, and the amount of treasury securities held by international and overseas investors and governments is also at record levels of more than $9-trillion. It's been increasing at a record 11.6% per annum over the last two years and the dollar's exchange rate is up 6% or 8% from the beginning of 2025. It's still up 10% from the 2021 end of the covid lockdown, and it's up something like 40%, 45% from 2011 after the great recession and global financial crisis. So, the talk in the gold market about how the world's moving away from the dollar and dumping the dollar, and central banks are buying gold hand over fist, is just not true. That's not a reason to not be bullish on gold. The reason to be bullish on gold is that investment demand is up very sharply and is in fact at record levels. But if you understand and you have a more granular view of what's really going on, you might be a little bit less bullish about gold than you would otherwise, and you might have a more rational expectation of where the prices could be. What impact is the Middle East crisis having gold and gold prospects? You've seen oil prices rise, although not as much as perhaps one would have thought, and you've seen gold and silver and platinum prices fall, and it's kind of weird that you would see increased political tensions, but lower precious metals prices. I think those lower prices partly reflect that you had a lot of new investors pour into gold in the period September through January, and some of that money has come out of the gold market, because the gold price rose from $4 000/oz to $5 500/oz and it's still at $4 700 /oz, so we've seen some investors backing away. That war, and the potential for it, continues to fester, and it could drive gold prices up in the short term, but I think in the long term, it has a very negative consequence for the role of the United States in the world, which sort of sounds diametrically opposed to what I was just saying. The world right now is still beholden to...

    9 min

  3. HACE 14 H

    Hydrogen option highlighted as Middle East crisis disrupts fossil-fuel economics

    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. South Africa's Presidency has been advised to reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels as current events may alter the economics of alternative fuel sources such as green hydrogen and green ammonia, for the production of which South Africa enjoys competitive advantages, Business Day reported on Monday, April 13. Forming part of a summary of priority decisions is that there must be less reliance placed on imported fuels and greater emphasis placed on energy independence. Coinciding with this on Monday was a report World Platinum Investment Council communicated through LinkedIn about an envisaged 1 650-kg-a-day hydrogen platform drawn up by Thracian University in Stara Zagora for the building of a green hydrogen valley, which is a reminder of South Africa's own hoped-for hydrogen valley, extending from a platinum mining base in Limpopo through Gauteng to KwaZulu-Natal. But Bulgaria has beaten South Africa to it with €16-million from the European Horizon Europe Clean Hydrogen programme. Construction of a complete integrated hydrogen ecosystem is envisioned within the university's hydrogen valley project, extending from the generation and storage of green fuel for mobility and industrial applications, taking in cars, trucks, buses, with conceivable eventual extensions to ships, aircraft, microelectronics, data centres, green steelmaking, green cement production and a lot more. At the same time, Tvisi Motors CEO Swapnil Sunil's LinkedIn note describes BMW's latest iX5 hydrogen tank system as a strong signal that hydrogen technology has moved into an era of engineering maturity in which original-equipment manufacturers, infrastructure providers and policy are aligned. BMW's 700-bar high-pressure hydrogen tank enables a 750 km range and refuelling in under five minutes. The tank stores 7 kg of hydrogen and allows fuel cell vehicles to be built on the same production lines as conventional drivetrains. BMW has secured €273-million in German federal and Bavarian state funding to bring the iX5 to production for markets with existing hydrogen refuelling networks – Germany, California, and parts of France. Meanwhile, in Poland, Piotr Rudyszyn of Studium Wodoru has driven a Toyota Mirai the 800 km from Zakopane to Hel on a single tank containing 5 kg of hydrogen. The global hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle market is projected to reach $15-billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 26.6% from 2023 to 2030. Futubull reports that the trillion-yuan hydrogen market space being opened by China's Fifteenth Five-Year Plan is auguring well for project operators, equipment suppliers and electrolyser suppliers. Also in China, the first batch of 20 hydrogen-powered heavy-duty Dongfeng hydrogen trucks will be delivered by the end of May and will undergo trial operation on several key routes, including the Hanyi Expressway, the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway, the Shanghai-Chengdu Expressway, and within Wuhan city. Subsequent batch deliveries will be completed in phases throughout the year, Fuel Cell Works reports. In Inner Mongolia, China has launched a green hydrogen project with a capacity to produce 320 000 t of green ammonia a year using only solar and wind energy. In France, Lhyfe CEO Matthieu Guesné has drawn attention to the EU and France continuing to import around 60% of their energy – mainly from currently geopolitically unstable regions – a structural dependency that affects industrial competitiveness, supply-chain resilience and long-term economic stability. This vulnerability has become increasingly visible, with more than €300-billion leaving the EU annually, including €60-billion for France, to pay for imported offshore and polluting hydrocarbons. Recent geopolitical tensions hav...

    7 min

  4. HACE 1 DÍA

    Asian LNG imports plummet to six-year low on Middle East crisis

    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. Asian liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports have dropped to the lowest in almost six years as the conflict in the Middle East chokes supplies and forces buyers to curb consumption. The 30-day moving average of net shipments to the region fell below 600 000 t over the weekend of April 11, marking the least since June 2020, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. June 2020 was when the Covid-19 pandemic slashed gas demand across Asia. Asian buyers are preparing for a longer LNG shortfall after the US and Iran failed to reach a peace deal during talks in Pakistan over the weekend, prolonging the conflict that has cut about a fifth of supply from global markets since it started in late February. President Donald Trump said separately that the US would begin a full naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, escalating a standoff that has already brought the waterway to a near standstill. Pakistan, which depends heavily on LNG from Qatar, hasn't received a shipment of the super-chilled fuel since early March, according to the data. Qatar stopped production after attacks last month. The 30-day average for deliveries to China, the biggest buyer in 2025, plunged 30% from a year earlier, while India saw a 20% drop. Shipments to other major buyers, including Japan and South Korea, have also declined to around the lowest seasonal level in six years. Some gas-fired power plants in Japan are cutting output, while South Korea has lifted limits on its coal plants to reduce LNG consumption.

    2 min

  5. HACE 3 DÍAS

    Eskom confident of meeting winter demand, Minerals Council South Africa indicates

    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. Amid the expectation of Eskom publishing its winter outlook later this month, the State-owned power utility has meanwhile expressed confidence that it will be able to meet electricity demand as South Africa heads into the winter season, Minerals Council South Africa indicates in an electricity update. The Minerals Council's update notes, however, that Eskom's energy availability factor declined in March, when it averaged 66.8% compared with the higher 68.3% the month before. While March's 66.8% fails to meet the 68% target set in last year's Integrated Resource Plan, more than 4 000 MW remains in immediately dispatchable reserve owing to electricity demand continuing to lag supply. Picking up slightly in March, though, was open cycle gas turbine usage but Eskom attributes this increase to optimisation testing conducted at Gourikwa power station in the Western Cape, rather than to peaking in response to excess demand. On the maintenance front, planned maintenance is up and unplanned outages are down. So far this year, unplanned outages have consistently averaged below 10 000 MW, with March recording 9 201 MW, an improvement from the 9 754 MW reported in February. Planned maintenance increased in March by 1 300 MW compared with February, which suggests that Eskom is continuing to prioritise planned maintenance and upkeep ahead of the winter season. Compared with the same period last year, total maintenance and outages are lower by 4 400 MW in March 2026, which is broadly consistent with the level of excess capacity currently held in cold storage. Statistics South Africa data indicates a continued decline in both electricity production and consumption in South Africa. Seasonally adjusted real electricity generation fell by 3.8% year-on-year in February 2026, extending the monthly decline in generation that began in June 2025. On a month-on-month basis, electricity generation was down marginally by 0.2% in February. The long-term trend in electricity production was graphically illustrated in the Minerals Council report by economist André Lourens. Overall, national electricity output remains below pre-pandemic levels. In January 2026, production was 8.7% below the pre-Covid baseline and 12.4% lower than output recorded in January 2019. Also graphically illustrated were the changes in seasonally adjusted electricity production and mining production, indexed to a common starting point in January 2019. Historically, the two series have tracked each other closely, moving in the same direction with a positive correlation of around 0.68, implying that higher mining production was associated with higher electricity production. However, from April 2025 onward, a clear divergence emerges and the relationship turns negative, meaning that higher mining production is now associated with lower electricity production. This likely reflects the structural shift underway in the mining sector away from Eskom-supplied electricity. An increasing share of electricity production and consumption is being met through self-generation, weakening the historical link between Eskom's electricity output and mining production. As a result, Eskom's production of electricity is no longer a reliable indicator of future mining output. Given that self-generated electricity is cheaper than Eskom-supplied electricity, this trend is unlikely to reverse in the foreseeable future. The Minerals Council reports that South Africa's electricity sector is undergoing a fundamental transition. Despite improved system stability and the absence of loadshedding, electricity production and consumption continue to decline as demand remains subdued. This is reflected both in the sector's contraction of 4.3% in the fourth quarter of last year's GDP and...

    6 min

  6. HACE 4 DÍAS

    Martin Creamer talks about: Green hydrogen projects and rising mining renewables

    Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer unpacks the steps South Africa is taking to initiate first-mover green hydrogen project development; renewable energy on the rise for platinum, iron-ore and diamond mines; and South Africa losing out on the opportunity to produce clean hydrogen

    11 min

  7. HACE 4 DÍAS

    KwaZulu-Natal mineral sands mine powered by new Limpopo solar plant

    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 first megawatt-hours of green electricity have been successfully fed into South Africa's national grid by a newly commissioned solar farm in Limpopo for supply to a mining company in KwaZulu-Natal. The mine is Richards Bay Minerals, which is part of the Rio Tinto group, and the newly commissioned power plant is Bolobedu Solar Farm, which has been developed by international renewable energy company Voltalia and its empowerment partners. The heavy mineral sands miner and refiner produces materials used in everyday products that range from paints to smartphones. Following the agreement signed in 2022, Voltalia and its local black empowerment partners have constructed the plant with a total installed capacity of 148 MW, which once fully operational, will reduce the annual baseline greenhouse gas emissions of Richards Bay Minerals by a minimum of 10% or 237 000 t a year. This clean energy supply is a step forward in the commitment of Richards Bay Minerals to sustainable mining into the future as part of its recently approved Zulti South project. The renewable power is supplied through a wheeling arrangement on the transmission network of South Africa's State-owned power utility, Eskom. Richards Bay Minerals MD Werner Duvenhage described the solar commissioning as a defining moment for the company as it celebrates 50 years of operation in South Africa. "This initiative is not just about energy security, it's about the long-term sustainability of the business. As we break ground on Zulti South, this initiative paves the way for a cleaner energy future, contributing to both the national power grid and our global decarbonisation targets," added Duvenhage in a release to Mining Weekly. This initiative is part of RBM's broader portfolio of renewable energy projects, including wind power purchase agreements, which together are expected to reduce the operation's Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by around 60% compared to a 2018 baseline. Voltalia CEO Robert Klein said: "The delivery of the first megawatt-hours from Bolobedu illustrates our commitment to accelerating the decarbonisation of industries and supporting inclusive energy transition in South Africa involving local communities." Reflecting a shared commitment to transformation and local development, the project distinguishes itself as the first large-scale renewable energy initiative in the region to feature exclusive local female investors, ensuring that the transition to green energy creates direct equity and wealth for the host communities. Beyond its technical achievement, the Bolobedu Solar Farm is already delivering strong benefits for the broader community. During construction, around 800 residents from the three host communities were employed, including 56% youth and 21% women. Local workers received on-the-job training in engineering support, solar panel installation and health, safety and environment awareness, providing many with their first formal employment opportunities. The project has also stimulated a growing local value chain, supporting transport cooperatives, women-led catering services and handicraft initiatives. These socio-economic impacts, combined with long-term skills development programmes, illustrate Voltalia's commitment to an inclusive and sustainable energy transition in Bolobedu, Richards Bay Minerals commented. As reported by Mining Weekly last year, a total of 500 MW of renewables generation capacity has been secured for Richards Bay Minerals, which consumes 1.8 TWh of power a year. On the way is also 140 MW from African Clean Energy Developments and 230 MW Red Rocket, both Western Cape wind power producers.

    4 min

  8. HACE 5 DÍAS

    South Africa spells out detailed green hydrogen pursuit at UNIDO conference

    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. South Africa spelled out a detailed green hydrogen pursuit at the United Nations Industry Development Organisation (UNIDO) conference attended by 70 countries in Vienna on Wednesday, April 8, where South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation green hydrogen just energy transition investment plan programme director Rebecca Maserumule outlined the steps South Africa is taking to initiate first-mover green hydrogen project development. From a critical meetals perspective, South Africa is the host of the overwhelmingly largest global volumes of platinum group metals, which can serve as catalysts in electrolysers that separate water into hydrogen and oxygen and then play a second catalytic role by converting the hydrogen back into electricity that provides emission-free mobility for buses, trucks trains, cars, ships and planes as well as stationary electricity. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Hydrogen anchors the global future energy mix, was Maserumule final statement after reporting that the initiatives that are under way to assist first movers include a 120-question final investment decision as swell as the partnering of first movers to international conferences. "Next month, we'll be in Rotterdam, and the delegation will led by our Minister of Electricity and Energy," Maserumule reported. The panel discussion, covered by Mining Weekly, was moderated by UK global green industries head Paul Durrant and participating were Germany international green hydrogen ramp-up head Gunther Grathwohl, Netherlands international and European hydrogen senior policy coordinator Rodrigo Scholtbach, Italy hydrogen and its derivatives senior export Roberto Cianella, and Brazil renewable energy division head Lais de Souza Garcia, who expressed strong optimism about the future of hydrogen in the South American country. "We're living in uncertain times now, so it's not quite clear how much hydrogen we'll need, but what is clear is that we'll need hydrogen," Grathwohl emphasised, adding that it is also clear that Germany is unable to produce the hydrogen it needs domestically, a situation which is quite the opposite in Southern Africa. "We have amazing renewable resources in wind and solar to producing the hydrogen molecules and be a partner to the rest of the world," Namibia Green Hydrogen Programme policy planning head Joseph Mukendwa pointed out during the opening panel discussion. This was outlined shortly after the conference heard that two thirds of the volumes of hydrogen needed in Austria will have to be imported, about which Netherlands international and Scholtbach said ditto in the case of the Netherlands, and Germany. "We have in Europe one of the main demand centres worldwide and if you look a bit further, Japan, South Korea will also be depending on imported volumes," added Scholtbach, which presents major supply opportunity for the global south. "We're open to importing hydrogen," said Italy's energy markets DG Alessandro Noce, while adding that hydrogen is not only a decarbconiser but a driver of inclusive growth, to which Durrant, who moderated the discussion, responded that he loved the fact hydrogen brings economic development and growth with its cleanness. "Africa clearly has vast potential for clean hydrogen production but many of the projects that we've seen mooted in Africa have yet to reach final investment decision. There is clearly a risk that if producing countries and their institutions are consistently required to underwrite the earliest and riskiest stage of development, without the strength of those offtake agreements and other things in place, those countries are essentially de risking projects for others at their own cost. "From a South African perspective, what would genu...

    9 min
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