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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.

  1. hace 9 h

    Palladium demand support may emerge from zero-emission review, Heraeus reports

    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 UK's review of its zero-emission vehicle mandate could provide some support to automotive palladium demand If manufacturers are given greater flexibility over the pace of battery electric vehicle (BEV) adoption, Heraeus states in its latest precious metals review. In a policy review that could see the UK follow the EU in easing requirements, the UK has embarked on consultation regarding the appropriateness of its current annual zero-emission targets remaining in place as BEV sales fall short. Hybrid vehicles are likely to be among the main beneficiaries. Their 37.7% share of UK registrations in the first six months to June 30, with plug-in hybrids adding a further 13%, is already significant. This mirrors the European market, where hybrid electric vehicles were also the most popular powertrain in the same period, with a 37.3% share of European Union registrations. Greater regulatory flexibility could therefore prolong demand for palladium-containing autocatalysts as consumers transition through hybrid vehicles rather than directly from internal combustion engine vehicles to BEVs. However, this would slow the erosion of automotive palladium demand rather than reverse its longer-term decline as the market moves towards zero-emission vehicles, Heraeus points out in a release to Mining Weekly. Autocatalysts, also known as catalytic converters, are vehicle exhaust devices that use platinum group metals (PGMs) to transform harmful engine gases into harmless atmospheric elements. In the first half of this year, battery electric vehicles accounted for 25% of UK new car registrations, 8% below the headline 33% mandate target for 2026, although manufacturers have several compliance flexibilities available. Remaining unchanged are the UK commitments to phasing out new conventional petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and require all new cars and vans to be emission free by 2035. Under the current mandate, 33% of manufacturers' new car registrations must be zero-emission in 2026, rising to 80% by 2030, with petrol, diesel, hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles counting as non- zero-emission vehicles. Palladium's recent price rally has stalled after failing to hold above resistance. The price climbed from around $1 150/ oz in late June to almost $1 400/oz in early August, but has since fallen back and is currently testing resistance around $1 335/oz. Palladium's 100-day moving average at about $1 350/oz. PLATINUM BREAKS RESISTANCE Platinum, Heraeus points out, broke resistance around the $1 800/oz price mark after extending its recovery from July lows. The price has risen from around $1 550/oz in early July and briefly moved above $1 900/oz last week for the first time since June, but has so far struggled to hold above this level. The 200-day moving average, currently at around $1,920/oz, could add resistance to a further move higher. A sustained move through this area would strengthen the recovery. RHODIUM, RUTHENIUM, IRIDIUM The prices of rhodium, ruthenium and iridium PGMs have remained flat, with rhodium at $9200/oz, ruthenium at $1 745/oz and iridium at $8 300/oz. Proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers use iridium and platinum catalysts, while ruthenium could also benefit if emerging lower-iridium, ruthenium-based anode technologies achieve commercial adoption. GOLD Gold prices rallied to their highest level since early June last week after breaking above recent resistance. Gold prices topped $4 600/oz on August 21 as prices once again moved higher after a couple of weeks of consolidation. This mirrors the early-August rally where gold prices rose around 7%, after having spent the whole of July in a tight range near their yearly lows around $4 000/oz. The Bank of Korea has made its first gold investm...

  2. hace 10 h

    British firm offers to restart mothballed Australian manganese smelter

    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. Natrium Redox Technologies, a green technology startup based in Britain, said on Monday it had made a firm proposal to the Tasmanian government to acquire and restart Australia's only manganese smelter, to supply global battery and electric vehicle markets. EY Parthenon said last month the Liberty Bell Bay (LBB) Smelter would close after a proposed sale fell through. The smelter, formerly owned by British industrialist Sanjeev Gupta's GFG Alliance, entered voluntary administration in March and liquidation this month after suspending operations mid-last year. "We have engaged with EY Parthenon and the Tasmanian government on this proposal for six months. We have also briefed the federal government," Natrium Redox Technologies said in a statement. "Our restart proposal seeks shared input of funds with government to the level of A$15-million ($10.75-million) for a 16-week restart period and a continuation of the existing electricity contract." In a statement, Tasmanian Business Minister Felix Ellis said potential pathways for the site had been put forward, but no transaction has been completed and no commitments were made. "EY currently controls the site as liquidator, which includes decisions about its sale," he said. EY Parthenon had no immediate comment. Natrium Redox Technologies said it planned initially to use conventional smelting techniques to restart the smelter before building a pilot plant that would use new technology to produce high-purity, low-emissions manganese powder. The process uses liquid sodium in place of coking coal to strip oxygen from manganese ore. It operates at lower temperatures than traditional smelting and does not produce carbon emissions. The new technology would add 20% to 40% to the site's production and lift the smelter up the value chain from being a conventional alloy smelter into one of the highest-value manganese operations in the world by producing battery-grade materials, the company said. "Battery grade materials sell for a far higher price than conventional alloys, securing LBB's financial future and ensuring it remains a strategically important critical minerals asset for Australia." Its proposal would provide more than 200 jobs previously linked with the smelter, as well as secure others during construction, Natrium Redox Technologies said. It also has a proposal to reprocess a A$210-million environmental liability that has accumulated from decades of slag and waste, removing environmental liabilities from the government, it said. The company emphasised that time was of the essence because the longer furnaces are idled, the harder and more expensive a restart would become.

  3. hace 3 días

    Minerals Council hails launch of partnership to unlock growth, jobs, confidence

    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. Minerals Council South Africa has responded exceedingly positively to the launch by President Cyril Ramaphosa of the third phase of South Africa's Government-Business Partnership for Growth and Jobs, which marks the next chapter of a joint effort between government and business to accelerate inclusive economic growth, unlock investment, strengthen confidence and create jobs. The goal is to lift South Africa's economic growth to 3% by 2030 and create one-million jobs. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.) Unlocking R50-billion in capital currently tied up in planned projects facing delays has been flagged along with restoring investor confidence in mining, which has been singled out as the major driver of economic growth. Phase three will be about deepening implementation, embedding reforms already undertaken to ensure that progress cannot be reversed. "This phase must be defined by disciplined execution. Every workstream must have clear objectives, measurable targets, firm timelines and accountable leaders. Progress must be monitored regularly and reported transparently. Where implementation falls behind, we must intervene rapidly. "Where policies or regulations are holding back investment without serving a legitimate public purpose, they must be reviewed. Where institutional capacity is weak, it must be strengthened. "Where corruption or vested interests obstruct progress, they must be confronted. We must maintain the highest standards of governance and public integrity," Ramaphosa emphasised at the launch. Commenting on the development, Minerals Council South Africa president Paul Dunne said in a video release to Mining Weekly: "Our President has just launched the Government-Business Partnership phase three, which will be focused on inclusive economic growth, jobs, and confidence. Mining will take its rightful place on the programme. As you all know, we're a very strong economic force, a primary industry with a strong economic multiplier and an excellent capacity to create real jobs." Minerals Council South Africa president CEO Mzila Mthenjane, who is also the mining workstream's Focal Area Lead, added: "Really happy this afternoon to be at the phase-three launch of the partnership, where mining is one of the four growth drivers that has been identified and it is on the list of sectors that will be very key to driving South Africa's future economy. "What is really exciting about this is the confidence that it's showing in the success that has been achieved so far with electricity as well as logistics reform and we're also seeing the progress that is being made on crime and corruption. "It's really exciting for mining. We've always had a huge sense of belief and conviction in the ability of mining to deliver significant growth and benefit to society in terms of employment creation, in terms of livelihood support, looking at the multiplier effect. "Of course, in this day and age of demand for the minerals, not only for technology but also for infrastructure within South Africa, in Southern Africa, this bodes very well for mining going forward over the next 20 to 30 years, and that is really the outlook that we have, that mining over those next 20 to 30 years will be delivering significant benefits for South Africans," Mthenjane pointed out. Minerals Council South Africa senior executive Shamini Harrington described mining as one of South Africa's greatest opportunities for the future. "Its inclusion in phase three of the partnership recognises that unlocking growth, investment and jobs depends on unlocking the full potential of the sector. "At a time of rising global demand for critical minerals, the moment is definitely now. Working in partnership with the DMPR and government, we have a ...

  4. hace 3 días

    Martin Creamer talks about Hive Hydrogen, Exxaro and DRDGold developments

    Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer unpacks the latest updates on the $5.8-billion green hydrogen-ammonia project in Nelson Mandela Bay, Exxaro scaling its renewable-energy business; and DRDGold’s very good year.

  5. hace 3 días

    MIT-spinout SiTration, BHP start trialling copper recovery from legacy mine water

    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. Further to Massachusetts Institute of Technology spinout SiTration and global miner BHP's initiative to trial valorisation technology in the historic Globe-Miami mining district of Arizona, the companies have announced two pilot deployments at BHP's Copper Cities site. Starting this month, SiTration and BHP will validate continuous and autonomous production of copper from legacy mining water over one month using an initial small-scale pilot plant. A larger deployment is planned for later this year to produce up to two tonnes of commercial-scale copper cathodes over a two-month period. The historic Copper Cities site produced almost 400 000 t of copper between the 1950s and 1980s. Today, SiTration and BHP see an opportunity to recover value from legacy mining assets such as these, with the potential to create new pathways for domestic US copper supply. Through bench-scale testing using real feedstock from the site, SiTration has already demonstrated London Metal Exchange Grade A copper production without using any chemicals or generating new waste products. Additionally, preliminary tests have yielded energy consumption below 4 kWh/kg to recover copper from the diluted legacy mine water. SiTration CEO and co-founder Brendan Smith believes the American Southwest region houses billions of dollars' worth of copper in legacy mining water. "With global copper demand projected to grow by 70% by 2050, tapping into these resources is an excellent pathway to bolster domestic supply chains while producing copper at the bottom of the global cost curve." BHP legacy assets GM Kevin Ramsay adds that the Copper Cities pilot provides an opportunity to evaluate an innovative approach to recover copper from mining-impacted water while generating valuable technical and operational insights. "We are excited to work with SiTration to test this technology under real operating conditions and better understand its potential to recover value from legacy mining water sources."

  6. hace 4 días

    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...

  7. hace 4 días

    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.

  8. hace 5 días

    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."

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