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: A new money-raising instrument on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange is linked to green investment.

Creamer: This is a sustainability segment of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. That means it is green, that means it is environmentally friendly. Up to now, it has got far too little publicity, but we saw something come out this week, when Pan African Resources actually listed instrument under this sustainability segment of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Pan African Resources is busy removing our mine dumps and also using or planning to use their own green energy, so it is environmentally friendly action.

This has entitled it to link itself to a sustainability segment. In the first effort, it raised R840-million, but it is looking at a programme worth R5-billion. This is very important at this time in South Africa, where we need jobs, we need projects, we need exports of gold. This is all in one effort now, particularly focused in the Kagiso-Krugersdorp area at the moment, where the latest project has actually frightened away illegal miners and at the same time, it is recovering the ground. In 20 years, you will be able to rebuild on that ground. It will have recovered it and returned it to what it was in the past. This sustainability segment should be used by more companies in South Africa, because it is an important part of our activity here.

Kamwendo: Thirty per cent of the money spent on a new gold-from-dumps operation has gone to local community businesses.

Creamer: At the moment what they call ESG, which is on the lips of everybody. The E stands for environmental, the S stands for social, the G stands for governance. Again, here we have got Harmony Gold looking at old mine dumps out on the Far West Rand and saying, there is gold in there. Let's get it out. But let's be inclusive about this, and let's look at the S in the ESG, the social side of it. We should be able to boost the jobs in this area. We should be able to boost business, local small business in the area.

So they said, look, when we spend here, which is billions of rands, we want 30% of that contract expenditure to go to small business, right here in this area. They succeeded with that. It is very good for the Klerksdorp, Stillfontein, Orkney areas and Vaal River areas. These dumps are being removed. They are getting the gold out of them. They are exporting the gold and that revenue is helping to make our Rand strong. At the same time, they are clearing away a waste material that is environmentally hazardous and there are people living around there. They getting those people further and further away from the dangerous dumps.

At the same time, they are creating new businesses. People there are developing businesses and they are getting a start off in that area, which I think will be prolonged, because these are multi-year businesses. They’re going to go for decades and there is a lot more to do.

Kamwendo: Anglo American is becoming a three-part copper, iron-ore and crop nutrients business.

Creamer: Anglo American, it has been our biggest company. We have seen it, we have looked at it, and we have seen coal, we have seen diamonds and we have seen platinum. We can now take that out of your eyes. The coal is virtually gone. The diamonds will go. Platinum will go on its own, separately listed in Johannesburg.

Now, you have got to think of copper, which is in Peru and Chile, not here. Iron-ore, which is in South Africa and Brazil, and crop nutrients, which is still a dream, and will be in England. So, it is a different Anglo American. They say they are going to make a lot more quick money out of this. Hopefully that will be, because they’re still secondarily listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, but in the crop nutrient side, it’s still a dream, so we have to wait and see and watch how that unfolds.

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