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BusinessDay www.businessday.co.za Friday 6 May 2022
INSIGHTS Energy, ESG and economies in the spotlight
Cape Town ready to welcome back sector players with •diverse in-person programme, writes Pedro van Gaalen
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iscussions around investing in a just energy transition, supporting African economies, and driving the environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda will take centre stage at the 2022 Investing in African Mining Indaba. After hosting a virtual event in 2021, event organisers Hyve Group will reconnect the African mining community at the CTICC in Cape Town from May 9-12, in accordance with government-mandated health and safety guidelines. More than 6,500 industry leaders, experts, stakeholders and luminaries will attend the live in-person event together with senior government officials and heads of state, including Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema. “The Investing in African Mining Indaba is an integral part of the industry’s calendar that will reset the dialogue around opportunities and challenges in
Africa’s mining industry,” says Roger Baxter, CEO of the Minerals Council South Africa. “We look forward to welcoming the industry back to Cape Town and driving further growth for our industry.” Multiple streams and stages will present content and discussions exploring how the African mining sector, investors and broader society can thrive amid evolving trends around decarbonisation, digitalisation and social upliftment and empowerment. Specifically, the conference aims to drive the next evolution in African mining by prompting critical dialogue. These discussions aim to promote new strategies and deal-making to fund an industry-wide transformation through a just energy transition and broader ESG initiatives that support economic growth and community empowerment. The conference will host various new events. These include the Junior ESG Awards, which will recognise junior mining companies that excel in
making a significant positive ESG impact. The inaugural Investment Battlefield will pitch Africa’s hottest junior mining companies against each other to a panel of investor judges. The new Innovation & Research Battlefield, convened by Investing in African Mining Indaba, Business for Development and the Development Partner Institute (DPI Mining), will showcase and fund early-stage innovations focused on building sustainable post-mining economies, with a grant of up to $28,600 available for solutions that address critical sector challenges. “We want the Innovation & Research Battlefield to be a catalyst for closer, more agile collaboration between the private sector, academia and the mining sector to solve critical issues facing the industry, and to bridge the gap between proposed solutions and the funding needed for their implementation,” says DPI Mining Executive Director Wendy Tyrrell.
INVESTING IN AFRICAN MINING INDABA Sponsored content
Circular economy ticks ESG boxes According to the latest EY “Top 10 Business Risks and Opportunities for Mining and Metals” in 2022 report, global mining executives rank environmental, social and governance (ESG) as one of the top three risks/opportunities facing their business over the next 12 months. In response to demands from regulators, clients and stakeholders, the mining industry has stepped up efforts to protect the country’s natural resources, mitigate their impact on climate change, and implement measures to address social inequality while meeting evolving regulatory compliance requirements. “Miners are embedding ESG at every level within their operation and value chain, from risk management and investor relations right down to supply chain partners and on-theground operations and mine closures,” says Sean Doel, MD: Environment at WSP in Africa. Effectively meeting these requirements needs a clear, economically-viable plan that covers a mine’s entire life cycle, he says.
Rebound conditions favour SA’s junior miners
“There is significant focus on meeting due diligence requirements around broader climate risk mitigation measures. However, before the industry talks about climate change, we need to focus on water and community to deliver meaningful ESG impact.” Issues relate to managing scarce water and land resources, mitigating flood risks due to shifting rainfall patterns linked to climate change, and addressing air quality. “There is increasing pressure to meet these social and environmental objectives by achieving sustainable mine closures and ensuring miners
leave communities with usable land once operations end,” adds Doel. Mark Gilbert, Head of Advisory at NSDV, says sorting technologies can address the mineral waste liability issue in the local mining sector, which is a hot-button ESG topic. “SA has huge amounts of legacy and new mine waste. However, there are limited financial provisions to handle it, due largely to nonexistent regulations prior to the MPRDA and the poor application of this legislation following its promulgation,” says Gilbert. As such, the state cannot cover the costs and cannot impose once-off provisions on the industry as this is not sustainable for miners. “Various innovative technologies can help solve this waste challenge in a financially viable way while creating opportunities for environmental rehabilitation, community upliftment and economic benefit,” says Gilbert. For example, Acrux Sorting Technology uses sensor-based technology that does not require water and can extract
high-value usable material from a range of mineral tailings. The technology was successfully deployed in the coal industry to extract high-value usable coal from tailings, which improves plant efficiency while reducing rehabilitation liability. “Burning this ‘cleaner’ coal produces 50% less sulphur dioxide. Applying this technology within Eskom’s coal supply chain could effectively decrease emissions at the input stage, which would negate the R300bn earmarked to implement emission capture solutions at power stations and achieve compliance with SA’s environmental regulations.” “Ultimately, implementing technology that supports a circular economy model delivers better yields, and nothing goes to waste. This enables miners to operate more efficiently and cleanly while turning problems into lucrative solutions as they move towards a zero-waste mining operation.” Kunal Sinha, Head of Recycling for Copper, Cobalt and Electronics at Glencore, explains how recycling commodities can help drive the
circular economy. “Our Horne Smelter in Canada started recycling just after the Second World War. We have since become one of the largest recyclers of end-of-life electronics, batteries and battery metals globally,” he says. According to the UN, e-waste is the fastest-growing type of waste — volume is projected to grow from 53.6million tonnes in 2020 to 74.7million tonnes by 2050. Less than 20% of e-waste globally is collected and processed in formal recycling facilities. Sinha adds: “Our purpose is to responsibly source the metals that advance eve ryday life. In the case of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles and personal electronics, for example, copper, nickel and cobalt are essential.” According to Sinha, with the huge demand for these and other “green” metals, recycling will become an increasingly vital enabler in the transition to a low-carbon economy. “It also delivers a lower carbon footprint as recycled copper produces 80% fewer emissions than mining and refining it.”
The potential for a commodities super-cycle will create a favourable environment for South African junior miners. A rebound in post-pandemic economic activity, supportive regulations and infrastructure spending aimed at helping economies recover from the pandemic, and surging demand for battery minerals due to lowcarbon policies, helped drive up
prices of iron ore, nickel, rhodium, lithium, cobalt, copper and PGM group metals. The department of mineral resources & energy released its “Exploration Strategy for the Mining Industry of South Africa” document in April 2022. The strategy aims to “secure more than 5% share of the global exploration expenditure within three to five years and bolster
the mining sector’s contribution to the GDP”. It identifies the exploration and junior mining sectors as key drivers for SA’s resurgence as a leading global destination for exploration spending and foreign investment to meet demand for base materials and “minerals of the future”. Ralph Heath, MD: Earth & Environment, WSP in Africa,
says enabling legislation is the key to supporting exploration and creating a thriving junior mining sector. “SA also desperately needs to address bottlenecks in getting raw materials to refineries or to ports for export to support junior mining operations and help them grow and thrive in the favourable global environment,” says Heath.
Mark Gilbert … better yields.