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’s platinum business is expected to receive a welcome boost next week’s major meeting in Shanghai.

Creamer: Next week is the Shanghai Platinum Week. China is the biggest consumer of platinum and South Africa is the biggest supplier of platinum. They are going to be at this event and a lot of people have got high hopes for it, because we can see China using platinum group metals to a much greater extent, in a far bigger range of applications. Many are hoping that a lot of major decisions will come out of this platinum week.

The programme there shows that green hydrogen will get a lot of focus, but so will jewellery and so will the idea of investing in platinum, because Chinese people have used platinum jewellery for a long time, but there are no platinum mines in China. So, to have this as an investment, they see as quite important having platinum in their country in the form of platinum bars, because this could always be used in a state of emergency. Many are holding thumbs that the demand for platinum will rise significantly, starting with the Shanghai Platinum Week, next week, from Monday to Thursday.

Kamwendo: A new mining technology is at an advanced stage of development to improve safety and uplift production.

Creamer: Mines are very conservative, they never want to go into new technology. They will tell you they have been doing things for decades, and that how they are doing things is well proven. So, generally, mines tend to continue to be new technology cautious, but when certain challenges arise, a new approach has to be made. In this case, narrow tabular ore bodies at the Bokoni platinum group metals mine and also the Modikwa mine, persuaded African Rainbow Minerals mining engineers to put their heads together and they have been studying a new approach for the last four years.

This was undertaken to make sure that optimum benefit can be obtained through new technology. Now, African Rainbow Minerals is on the brink of bringing in a technology to match the narrow dipping reef, reef boring technology, which will lift the grade, which will lift production, which will lower costs, which will increase safety and which will also improve environmental protection, because it will mean a very different approach is taken to the need for tailings dumps.

Kamwendo: South Africa’s new unity government was well received this week by an international mining investor.

Creamer: The international mining investor, Pallinghurst, has been involved in South Africa for decades, but also involved in North America in mining critical metals and minerals. In South Africa, Pallinghurst has mined platinum group metals. They said this week that all their investors are absolutely delighted with South Africa’s new government of national unity.

New growth plans are in place to further develop Sedibelo in North West province, where expansion plans are at an advanced stage. When developing new mines, an environment where the currency is strengthening, where the rand is strengthening, is always positive as expansion requires the importation of goods and services. So, when they noticed that, it gave them tremendous encouragement, and they are slowly proceeding, because they have got a lot of new technology to implement as well, which will be of tremendous benefit to South Africa's platinum group metals mining.

Kamwendo: Thanks very much. Martin Creamer is publishing editor of Engineering News & Mining Weekly.