Every Friday, SAfm’s radio anchor Sakina Kamwendo speaks to Martin Creamer, publishing editor of Engineering News & Mining Weekly. Reported here is this Friday’s At the Coalface transcript:

Kamwendo: South Africa has a golden opportunity to grow the mining sector ‘right now’, Parliament heard this week.

Creamer: That’s right, Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane presented to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Minerals this week and he made the point that South Africa has benefited a lot from the mining industry, but can continue to benefit from it for another 100 years and that it should get going right away to uplift the sector optimally. He said obstacles, though, were the lack of exploration, but of course, that can get moving fast if the right circumstances prevail. He also said licensing continues to be very slow, and that, too, can be speeded up. He also highlighted environmental considerations. With Eskom still using fossil-fuel power he pointed to that needing to be mixed increasingly with solar power and wind power. Fortunately, mining companies themselves are also bringing in a lot of renewable electricity, so hopefully that will help to lessen the environmental risk, referred to in the industry as ESG. Mthenjane was also upbeat operation about Operation Vulindlela doing a lot to improve Transnet and offer far better logistical prospects. So, there’s a lot of hope that we’re at the point of being able to invest a lot in mining and grow the industry once more.  Mzila Mthenjane placed a lot of emphasis on the ability of mining growth to benefit the entire country, the entire economy. Mining has the ability to float all boats and the Minerals Council is urging South Africa to get moving on it right now.

Kamwendo: The introduction of South Africa’s long-awaited new mining licensing system is being delayed yet again.

Creamer: Yes, South Africa’s Minerals Department carried out its Budget Vote in Parliament this week at which we heard bad news from the Minerals Ministry that the cadastre system – it is a funny name that concerns the issuing of the mining licenses – has had to be delayed by another three months. Now, it was said that on 1 July, this would be phased in, and it would start in the Western Cape. However, Parliament was told this week, no, no, no, South Africa is going to have to wait for another three months. For more than a decade we’ve needed a properly functioning cadastre, but have not had one. I can remember journalists were called to the department more than a decade ago, and they were told, we’ve got a new online mining licensing system. We were told that it was great that the department had organised the development of the system themselves, internally. People said, but do you know how to do this as it is not part of your core business? Yes, journalists were assured, we’re confident that this will work. It didn't work. At the same time, we had presentations from a Proudly South African cadastre company based in the Western Cape, saying, we can do this for you, but the offer from that company wasn't accepted. So, with no acceptance from South Africa’s government department, this Proudly South African company went all over Africa and has installed its cadastres in many mining countries in Africa. You can see Zambia just called it back recently, because Zambia tried to do it themselves for a while but soon realised they needed the South African company to return. So, it’s back, but withdrew its tender in South Africa because of the conditions that were applied here. Instead, a foreign consortium, PMG Consortium, won the South African tender. Now, under those circumstance, we’re going to probably have a lot of change, because farm fences used to determine where the mineral rights were and the farm-fence basis will likely no longer be the criterion used. The foreign company is not used to the farm-fence approach, and is introducing a grid system. Hopefully, this will work, but they are saying they need another three months. In theory, exploration in South Africa can get going immediately, but as Minerals Council South Africa pointed out, it can’t while cadastre issues persists.

Kamwendo: The world’s biggest mining company is taking the green hydrogen route to clean up its shipping.

Creamer: This is what South Africa has also got to take into account. BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange as a secondary listing, goes to China's biggest shipping company COSCO, and between the two of them, they say, come on, we do declare in all our documents that we want to build a better world. Well, let us build a better world. Let us make sure that we ship using clean fuel. So, they have opted for the green hydrogen-based green ammonia route and they say by 2027 they will have at least two vessels going out using clean, green ammonia fuel. This is what we need to take into account in South Africa. Why are these big companies doing it? Because if you don't, the prices you receive for your metals and minerals  are going to be penalised and that was another point made by Minerals Council South Africa. South African mining must look to cleaning up its act, otherwise our metal prices will be penalised by all sorts of issues that relate to not producing with clean energy

Kamwendo: Thanks very much. Martin Creamer, who is publishing editor of Engineering News & Mining Weekly, will be back at the Coalface at the same time next Friday.