The North West has the metals and minerals to help the world go green

Palladium is more valuable than gold, and not only in dollars.

Finding new uses for platinum is one of the biggest priorities exercising the minds of the leaders of the South African mining industry as it moves to adapt to a world anxious to distance itself from fossil fuels.

Among the innovators and investors looking for new solutions and applications for platinum group metals (PGMs) and other commodities are companies operating in the North West.

A neat symbol of the shift in thinking can be found in central Johannesburg where the head office of the Minerals Council South Africa is powered by 40 ounces of platinum and natural gas.

The fuel cell (pictured) of the national mine owners’ association is South Africa and Africa’s first base load installation.

While there is broad agreement that the world needs to steer away from minerals that pollute the environment, the supply of materials used in electric car manufacture, such as nickel and cobalt, is also finite. Electric vehicles A key reason for a surge in palladium prices at the start of 2021 was increased demand for the metal in the creation of catalytic converters on motor vehicles. The price went past $2 000 per ounce, surpassing the price of gold.

Stricter emissions rules in Europe and the US are driving demand. China is planning to impose similar rules. Hybrid cars also need catalytic converters but the supply of palladium is not able to keep up with demand. One of the results of this is that car manufacturers are looking at alternatives such as rhodium or platinum.

Speaking at the 2019 Investing in African Mining Indaba, Ford’s head of Energy Storage Strategy and Research, Ted J Miller, said that the motor industry was “uncomfortable driving these commodities”. He noted that Ford has already reduced cobalt production by two-thirds, but the challenge is scale.

The editor of the respected Mining Weekly publication, Martin Creamer, has published a series of articles and editorials extolling the virtues of what he calls the “best of two new carbonreducing technology worlds”.

Creamer notes that South Africa’s abundant supplies of platinum group metals and manganese ore can make the country a leader in battery electric vehicles (BEV) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV). He further points to the work being done by Hydrogen South Africa (HySA) at three universities and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). South Africa’s good supplies of sunshine and wind make it ideally suited to generate hydrogen and if the country could capture 25% of the world market, it would be worth $600-million (Mining Weekly).

The German government is reaching out to African countries in its search for sources of “green hydrogen”. PGMs can play an important role in the creation and application of this cleaner product and Germany has signed an agreement with Namibia to partner on green hydrogen technology. What is true for Germany will be true of other European nations as they pivot from carbon.

An Atlas of Green Hydrogen Generation Potentials in Africa already exists and areas with good solar coverage and steady winds have great potential. Many parts of South Africa qualify. Germany’s Federal Research Ministry will fund the first phase of the partnership to the tune of €40-million. If a kilogram of hydrogen can be produced in Namibia for less than €2, as is envisaged, it will be the cheapest hydrogen in the world.

Cleaner processing Platinum has proven benefits and applications as a catalyst in the creation of hydrogen fuel cells but if the method used to mine the platinum is itself carbon-emitting and “dirty” then the processes could be said to be cancelling one another out.

Pilanesberg Platinum Mines has introduced a method of processing that itself is cleaner than traditional methods. The result is that sulphur dioxide emissions are eliminated from the smelting process. The Kell plant also reduces electricity usage (by more than 80%), improves recovery rates and can extract cobalt, the chemical element which is another important element for batteries for electric vehicles. Sedibelo Platinum Mines, which owns Pilanesberg, is a partner in Kell South Africa with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), together with another partner.

Credit: Bushveld Minerals

In 2012, Anglo Platinum launched an underground locomotive powered by a fuel cell. Platinum coating greatly enhances the hydrogen absorption capacity of fuel cells. In 2016 Impala Platinum Refinery unveiled a fuel cell forklift and a hydrogen refuelling station in Springs.

Bushveld Minerals has two arms: Bushveld Vanadium, which mines and processes vanadium, and Bushveld Energy, which is working on Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFB). Energy storage is the focus of much research across the globe and Bushveld Energy intends its solar installation at its Vametco mine, supported by VRFB, to answer many questions.

Bushveld Vanadium is one of three vanadium producers in the world. Vanadium has traditionally been used mainly in steel production, but its newage uses are becoming more and more important. World supply is below 100 000 tons per annum.

Bushveld Vanadium has three assets: the Vametco mine and processing plant, the Brits vanadium project and the Mokopane vanadium project where feasibility studies are underway (in Limpopo Province).

Bushveld Minerals estimates that, when energy storage applications in the electric transport sectors are considered, total demand for batteries is forecast to reach 4 584GWh by 2040. The company believes that South Africa is well positioned build an industry that will play a critical role in Africa and beyond.

To that end, it is partnering with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to build a $10-million plant in East London (Eastern Cape) to produce vanadium electrolytes from the ore mined in the North West. The electrolytes are a vital component of the redox flow battery.

Lithium batteries need nickel sulphate and nickel sulphate is a byproduct of platinum production. A new company has been formed, Thakadu Group, to buy and sell nickel offtake from Lonmin. The deal will see Thakadu handle 25 000 tons of nickel offtake to sell to battery makers.

Sibanye-Stillwater, which started its life as a gold company in South Africa and swiftly became a global leader in mining PGMs, bought a share in a Finnish mining and chemicals company Keliber in early 2021 with the aim of producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide in that country. The partnership will invest in lithium mines, a concentrator plant and a lithium hydroxide plant.

Sibanye-Stillwater is the world’s largest primary producer of platinum, second-largest primary producer of palladium, third-largest producer of gold and the world’s leading global recycler and processor of spent PGM catalytic converter materials. Two of the company’s three South African PGM assets are in the North West, Marikana and Rustenburg, and it is the majority shareholder in the Platinum Mile tailings retreatment facility near Rustenburg, which recovers PGMs from the tailings of the Rustenburg operations.

Impala Platinum (Implats) has assets on both limbs of the Bushveld Complex. Impala Rustenburg near Rustenburg in the North West comprises a multi-shaft mining complex and concentrating and smelting plants. The base and precious metal refineries are in Springs, east of Johannesburg.

Northam has invested heavily in a smelter expansion project at its Zondereinde mine. ■