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 Hydrogen Roadmap just released bodes well for economic growth and social well-being.

Creamer: It was fantastic to listen to a rendition of what they are now calling the Hydrogen Society Roadmap to emphasise the role that people will play as a result of the introduction of green hydrogen. The introduction of green hydrogen centres on keeping the planet clean and saving us here from burning up. The Hydrogen Society Roadmap was presented at the North West Province, where an investment conference on mining and energy took place this week. I must say the Department of Science and Innovation really spelt this out very well.

They gave us the comprehensive picture about something that has been building up for the last 15 years, because this is not a new thing from the department. They have been working on this, they have been getting skills behind it and getting graduates behind it. We have already produced hydrogen from solar power, the green way. They announced the names of six government departments that are behind the introduction of green hydrogen, and spoke of engaging directly on the subject with close to 50 organisations.

These organisations include Eskom, Transnet and the Central Energy Fund, but also big companies like Anglo American, the international company Engie and many others, which are creating a hydrogen corridor from the rich Mogalakwena platinum group metals mine owned by Anglo American to Durban, so that we can get going on what hydrogen can provide. Really what it does provide is clean energy that you can do so much with. The sun and the wind are used to get that green hydrogen and then they turn that clean hydrogen into electricity, which could be for driving your car, giving you lights and providing a clean source of electricity to buildings with the help of fuel cells.

A big point they mentioned was that much of this is taking place in the North West province, which supplies 45% of the worlds platinum group metals ­– and platinum group metals and the hydrogen economy go arm-in-arm. We know that the world over, they are talking now about moving over to hydrogen instead of using carbon-intensive fuels, and energy sources that are fossil-fuel related.

Kamwendo: South Africa’s coal exports last year plummeted to their lowest level in 26 years.

Creamer: Yes, this was the report coming through from the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT). RBCT exports the huge volumes of coal that go out of South Africa. These large volumes have been earning South Africa a fortune over the years, but they took a massive knock this time round. Instead of the budgeted 77-million tonnes going out, only 58-million tonnes went out, 18-million tonnes short. That is a lot of lost dollars. The problem was that there were so many disruptions on the rail line that transports the coal to the port.

The coal could not reach the RBCT in the volumes that it should have, because of cable theft. They were lamenting cable theft delivering a very big blow to the South African economy. But the big news is that they beating it. They ae managing to frighten off the cable thieves by using very high technology. The number of drones that are going over rail line routes are really large in number. They have doubled up on the daily security, but at night the private sector has provided a night force to come through there.

The combination of these two is giving RBCT and Transnet great confidence that loss of coal export opportunity will be reversed this year and that they will go back to being able to export 70-million tonnes this year. A lot of confidence is being displayed about overcoming the terrible cable theft situation that lost South Africa so much money on the international market.

Kamwendo: Green iron can help South Africa offset its fall in coal export revenue.

Creamer: The world is cold shouldering coal. They don’t want to use coal products. They don’t want to use products that are made from electricity that is coal-based. They are wanting to go away from fossil fuels in the interests of combating climate change. The outlook is that eventually the use of coal is going to continue to decline, but what was projected this week is that there are so many other things that can take coal’s place on the export front. One of them identified is our iron-ore.

We have already got high quality iron-ore, but we process this iron with the help of coking coal. What they are saying is as South Africa produces more green hydrogen, that green hydrogen, and not coking coal, will be put to use to process our iron. We will take this big step in South Africa, which will be appreciated around the world. The moment you have got something green these days, people want it, and they are prepared to pay more for it.

The plan now is to generate green hydrogen in large volumes so that when it is used to make steel, it can also be done in a green manner. This will give South Africa a lot of benefit in that as the coal demand falls, the expectation is that our green product demand will lift and take coal’s place.  

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