Mining

Platinum’s role in green hydrogen is a boon for miners.

Platinum prices have buoyed the South African economy through tough times. Credit: Implats

Australia has one of the world’s most dynamic mining sectors so it was good news for South African mining and the JSE when Southern Palladium listed in Johannesburg in June 2022.

With a primary listing on the ASE, Southern Palladium has a majority share in Miracle Upon Miracle Investments Propriety Limited (MUM), a local company which has prospecting rights south of Modikwa mine in Limpopo, a joint venture run by Anglo American and African Rainbow Minerals. The balance of equity in MUM is owned by a company owned by the Bengwenyama-you-Maswazi community.

The new-age minerals that miners are increasingly paying attention to are copper, bauxite and magnesium.

Sibanye-Stilwater is increasing its exposure to minerals and technology that will be needed in the greener future. Two of the South African firm’s board have joined the board of Finnish lithium company Keliber and Sibanye’s stake in the company was raised to 80% in October 2022. The Keliber project is expected to supply about 15 000 tons a year of lithium hydroxide, the product which is used in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.

As the world tries to decouple from the carbon economy, miners and energy planners are increasingly turning to green hydrogen to solve mankind’s biggest problem. Green hydrogen is hydrogen created using renewable resources, and the Northern Cape has those in abundance. The Northern Cape Green Hydrogen strategy was announced in 2021 at COP 26. A Northern Cape Green Hydrogen Symposium was held in 2022 and Sasol is in the process of conducting a pre-feasibility study on hydrogen for the province. Any developments in that sphere will be linked with, and give a boost to, the Boegoebaai Harbour project.

The National Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, in collaboration with the Northern Cape Provincial Government, hosted the Northern Cape Mining and Minerals Investment Conference in 2022. The department’s stated goal is that all South Africans should derive sustainable benefit from the country’s resources. The province’s considerable mineral wealth was outlined to potential investors and plans for infrastructure development (such as industrial parks and Special Economic Zones) were highlighted.

Another province to take advantage of the green hydrogen

SECTOR INSIGHT An Australian company has listed on the JSE.

economy is Limpopo. In May 2022, Anglo American unveiled a prototype of the world’s largest hydrogen-powered mine haul truck designed to operate in everyday mining conditions at its Mogalakwena PGMs mine in South Africa. Anglo American intends using green hydrogen which it will produce at the mine to feed into its green-hydrogen system, which includes production, fuelling and a haulage system. The 2MW hydrogenbattery hybrid truck generates more power than its diesel predecessor and can carry a 290-ton payload. Forty Anglo trucks will be retrofitted, starting in 2024, and the whole fleet should be green by 2030.

Both Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Limpopo are showing interest in green hydrogen. The operating company of the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ) has signed a partnership agreement for green hydrogen electricity generation with Australian company African Resources Development Energy (ARD Energy). The FetakgomoTubatse Special Economic Zone (FTSEZ), on the other hand, has plans to turn that area’s platinum group metals to good effect in the energy field. Platinum and iridium are important catalysts in the process which creates hydrogen, so that has become one of the big selling points of the FTSEZ. In July 2022, a delegation from the FTSEZ participated in the UK-RSA partnership mission on Hydrogen Economy Roadmap.

Anglo Platinum’s 75MW solar plant under construction at Mogalakwena could well become the 320MW plant that the company wants it to be, as President Ramaphosa has announced the lifting of restrictions on the scale of private generation.

With ample wind and sun, a long coastline and 75% of the world’s platinum group metals (PGMs), South Africa is well placed to be a leader in the production of green hydrogen.

Rhodium palladium, platinum and gold collectively rose in price by more than 50% at one stage during 2021. Increased demand for PGMs has been a trend for some years, driven by the vital role played by PGMs in reducing pollution in the automotive sector. This was boosted more recently by applications for renewable energy and by supply constraints brought about by Covid-19 with production volumes down and shipping made more difficult throughout 2020 and into 2021.

For FY2022, Impala Platinum (Implats) announced cash dividends of R14.8-billion paid to shareholders, R12.8-billion taxes and royalties paid to government and procurement of R3.2-billion spent on community businesses. Implats intends expanding production at its Two Rivers PGM mine by 180 000oz. The project will take four years and cost R5.7-billion.

In the 2021/22 financial year, mining contributed R127-billion in tax out of a total corporate tax tally of R318-billion. Minerals made up 60% of exports and royalties came in at R28-billion. High commodity prices ensured a R180-million higher tax bounty for the South African Revenue Services, amounting in the end to R1.55-trillion. This allowed government to continue with some Covid-relief programmes for longer than had been anticipated.

ONLINE RESOURCES

Council for Geoscience: www.geoscience.org.za Minerals Council South Africa: www.mineralscouncil.org.za Minerals Education Trust Fund: www.metf.co.za National Department of Mineral Resources and Energy: www.dmr.gov.za The conversion project to underground mining will extend the life of De Beers’ Venetia diamond mine in northern Limpopo. Credit: De Beers

Training

The Minerals Education Trust Fund (METF) contributes towards the employment costs of 254 academic staff at nine tertiary institutions in scarceskills subjects such as mine ventilation, rocks mechanics and extractive metallurgy.

The 29 members of METF are among the country’s biggest mining companies. Grants are made to institutions for the purchase of equipment but the main point of funding is to support 4 471 undergraduate students, 76% of whom are black African and 39% of whom are female. ■

New mapping shows that South African mining could have a strong future

Mosa Mabusa, CEO of the Council for Geoscience, strongly believes that geoscience should not be seen as a cost centre, but rather as an investment in the country’s future.

Mosa Mabuza, CEO

BIOGRAPHY

After qualifying as a geologist from Wits University, Mosa held various positions at De Beers and Anglo American and worked in jurisdictions as varied as West Africa and Canada. From his appointment as the Director of Mineral Economics in the former Department of Minerals and Energy, he was promoted to Deputy Director-General of Mineral Policies and (Investment) Promotion in 2012. He has been CEO of CGS since 2017. What are the short- and medium-term goals of the Council for Geoscience? We are accelerating the organisation’s strategic reorientation. None of us could have expected the extent of the disasters in KwaZuluNatal and the Eastern Cape so we are looking at how far we can reallocate resources so that we can contribute to that response. In the main, we continue to map at the scale of 1:50 000.

We are building from a foundation that our forebears have constructed. We are standing on their shoulders.

We are focused on identifying and confirming the presence of critical minerals in economic concentrations, to support emerging industries and the Just Energy Transition Programme.

We have a focus on infrastructure and land-use work and supporting Eskom with the probabilistic seismic-hazardassessment study for the application of the extension of Koeberg.

We are working on groundwater and modelling so that we gain a greater understanding of groundwater as an asset.

There is a national goal of reimagining mineral exploration in South Africa with a target of achieving a share of 5% of the global expenditure by 2025. To get there, we have to quadruple our efforts. Our geology confirms that notwithstanding 150 years of mining history, we have not begun to mine in South Africa.

What is the significance of the new mapping? Higher-intensity mapping provides greater clarity of information so that the exploration community can make decisions to invest.

We have always known of pegmatite rock in the Northern Cape. It is a lithium-bearing rock and there are other possible rare earth elements. With mapping at this scale, we can confirm an extension of this pegmatite rock by a further 67%.

We published a map in March and we are saying to the investment community that these critical minerals are a new centre of focus for investment. This is a test case to demonstrate that money that goes into geoscience is not a cost centre – it is an investment.

Please give an update on the carbon capture storage project. We are implementing it in partnership with the World Bank and it is progressing exceptionally well. Govan Mbeki Local Municipality in Mpumalanga has been supportive of this research and they have ceded the land. They are saying to us please do this research to help us to make appropriate choices.

We are taking a comprehensive stakeholderled approach. Our message is that in our world of science we don’t know what we don’t know. Allow us to do the science so that we can establish the facts, then we can guide you.

We have already concluded the geophysics high-resolution survey and geological mapping. We are excited that basalt is proving to be one of the sources of environmentally-appropriate sequestration materials for carbon.

We are finding that once the emissions are captured, there are numerous applications that, depending on the volume, could catalyse a range of economic activities. I have come across the most interesting technology that suggests that coal could actually be a reliable source of green hydrogen. This is something I want to test. Now imagine if this hypothesis is proven to be correct. Then I can argue that, through science, we have indeed greened our coal. Science should not have any ideological predisposition. The greatest risk is when choices are made without the scientific interpretation. That makes me nervous, not only about our country but about humanity at large.

I am hopeful that this research can prove that indeed coal can be the most reliable source of hydrogen. I call it the new gold of renewable energy. And then coal becomes that which renewable energy depends on.

What are the main objectives of the CGS Summit? The key objective is to bring to the fore and celebrate the contribution of geoscience to South Africa’s development.

But we also want to examine the renewables debate. People talk about renewables very loosely, but to sustain the current demands of energy (not including future demands), the existing global reserves of copper would only cater to 35% of that – and that is only for renewable energy.

We need to be looking at where are we going. What are the next sources of copper and other minerals that will support our strategic choices? Geoscience plays the key role as a pathfinder to those types of minerals. Increasingly our role will become even more important to society as we advance in line with the choices that we are making.

There are certain things that we need to do today and in the next five to 10 years that will lay the new foundation for the next 110 years. This summit will consider these things.

We will be celebrating the crème de la crème, the professors of our country who have been guardians and who have played a critical role in advancing the body of knowledge of geoscience. We should never take that for granted.

Is there international participation? The summit is in a hybrid format to enable physical and virtual participation. We have a global footprint of interest that spans all the continents. What makes us even more excited is that some of our very distant partners are already packing their bags as all roads lead to eThekwini to celebrate geoscience.

We have chosen eThekwini because of the disaster that happened there. Parallel sessions will focus on the applications of geoscience such as geo-hazards, infrastructure and optimal land use. We can begin to demonstrate that some things can be averted with the preapplication of geoscience. ■

Mapping to the scale of 1:50 000 is revealing new things about South Africa’s mineral resources.

Building a cleaner, greener world

Implats aims to deliver superior value to all its stakeholders.

Sophisticated refinery complex in Springs, Gauteng.

Impala Platinum Holding Limited (Implats) is a leading producer of platinum group metals (PGMs), structured around six mining operations and a toll refining business, Impala

Refining Services. The Group’s mining operations span the Bushveld Complex in South Africa, the

Great Dyke in Zimbabwe and the Canadian Shield and include Impala Rustenburg, Zimplats, Marula,

Impala Canada, Mimosa and Two Rivers. The

Group maintains a primary listing on the JSE in

South Africa, a secondary listing on South Africa’s

A2X and a level one American Depositary Receipt programme in the USA.

Implats contributes approximately 20% to annual global primary PGM production and employs more than 55 000 employees (including contactors) across its operations – which presents a complex labour dynamic, specifically with respect to safeguarding the safety, health and wellness of employees and sustaining constructive industrial relations. Our people are the heartbeat of our Company and though our values – to respect, care and deliver – we foster a culture of teamwork and accountability.

The Company’s vision is to be the world’s best PGM producer, sustainably delivering superior value to all its stakeholders. Implats is committed to a value-focused strategy and places a strong emphasis on developing a portfolio of long-life, low-cost, shallow, mechanised or mechanisable mining assets to sustainably deliver improved returns for all its stakeholders.

Implats has total attributable resources of 269-million ounces of PGMs. Our markets are in South Africa, Japan, China, the US and Europe. The metals we produce are the key to making many essential industrial, medical and electronic items and they contribute to a cleaner, greener world. ■