OVERVIEW Mining
OVERVIEW Mining Gauteng is the home of mining and minerals research. SECTOR INSIGHT Petra’s expansion plans will see diamond production soar. • The Chamber of Mines is set for a major rebranding. • AngloGold is scaling back production in Gauteng. Boosting productivity The mining industry’s employer body is the Chamber of Mines. The Chamber’s address in Hollard Street, Marshalltown, Johannesburg, reflects the fact that the city of Johannesburg was founded on gold. A 400km gold reef stretching across most of Gauteng and some of the neighbouring provinces was for many years the backbone of South Africa’s mining industry. Gold production has generally been in decline for some years, with older mines such as AngloGold’s TauTau either closing unprofitable shafts or being put on care and maintenance (Kopanang). Global demand for gold has see-sawed in recent years. Cullinan, east of Pretoria, is the site of one of the greatest finds in diamond mining history. The eponymous diamond was cut into several smaller diamonds, including the 530-carat Great Star of Africa. Today, Petra Diamonds continues to mine Cullinan as one of its four South African projects. In the six months to December 2016, Petra Diamonds reported a 24% increase in production and a 48% improvement in overall revenue. At Cullinan the orebody contains a diamond resource of 194 Mcts which is why Petra is expanding with a goal of annual production of 2.2 Mcts by 2019. A R1.6-billion processing plant is being built at Cullinan, with a throughput capacity of 6 Mtpa. Petra established a Women in Mining Committee in 2015. In 2016, 43% of intern positions were held by women and 58% of scholarships were taken up by girls from local schools. All miners have been trying to mine more efficiently. Mechanisation has not been a seamless success but the CEO of Anglo American told the African Mining Indaba in early 2017 that productivity improved by 40% since 2013. Mark Cutifani credited advanced analytics, the efficient use of data and integrated systems thinking for improved safety and reduced spending on maintenance. Anglo American was one of several South African companies to benefit from the uptick in global resource prices in 2017. Shares in AngloGold doubled by the end of March 2017, Sibanye’s stock improved by 124% and Harmony Gold did even better. South Deep did not do so well, but remains convinced that its mechanisation project will deliver. Because of improved prices in ferrochrome, Mogale Alloys has converted its furnaces from the GAUTENG BUSINESS 2017/18 46
OVERVIEW production of silicomanganese to making ferrochrome. Mogale Alloys is based in Krugersdorp and owned by Afarak Mogale. West Wits Mining, an Australian junior miner, is hoping that it can mine productively in an area that has been the scene of excavations for more than a hundred years. It is calling its project the Soweto Cluster Gold Project, located between Roodepoort and Soweto. Research Gauteng is home to most of the research and training bodies associated with mining. AECI, the explosives and chemicals company which has been involved in mining in South Africa almost as long as there has been a mining industry, supports the Virtual Reality Mine Design Centre located at the University of Pretoria. Mintek is an autonomous body based in Randburg which receives about 30% of its budget from the Department of Mineral Resources. The balance comes from joint ventures with private-sector partners, or is earned in research and development income, the sale of services or products and from technology licensing agreements. An example of collaboration is Project AuTEK which has found a way of getting gold catalysts to play a role in improving fuel cell efficiency. Mintek teamed up with the Department of Science and Technology and AngloGold Ashanti. The University of the Witwatersrand School of Mining has two houses that are partfunded by mining houses and equipment suppliers including Xstrata, Lonmin, De Beers, Anglo Platinum and Sandvik. Pretoria University has a Department of Mining Engineering, the University of South Africa offers three national diplomas in minerelated fields, the University of Johannesburg has mine-surveying courses and the Vaal and Tshwane universities of technology have engineering faculties. Mine bodies In 2017 the Chamber of Mines announced that it would be undergoing a rebranding and examining its identity for the modern era. The Chamber’s new president, Exxaro Resources CEO Mxolisi Mgojo, will lead the chamber in identifying a new way of operating. A charter that has recently been developed, the Zambezi protocol, suggested ways of operating in Africa in a sustainable way that helps communities. Developed by the Brenthurst Foundation, the charter is likely to guide the rebranded chamber in its deliberations. Mgojo wants to see mines developing agriculture on land adjacent to projects. The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) has set up two clusters to encourage innovation and collaboration amongst all the relevant parties in mining in South Africa. These are the Mining Equipment Manufacturers of South Africa and the South African Mineral Processing Equipment Cluster (SAMPEC), which falls under the South African Capital Equipment Export Council, a dti company. SAMPEC looks for opportunities for import replacement and local beneficiation along the value chain. A typical application in the mineral sector is the development of fuel cell technology. In a world looking for green solutions, South Africa’s abundant supply of platinum could be a big problem-solver, and a big earner for the country too. All of the bodies that oversee the South African mining industry are located in Gauteng. CONTACT INFO Chamber of Mines: www.chamberofmines.org.za Council for Geoscience: www.geoscience.org.za Department of Mineral Resources: www.dmr.gov.za Mining Qualifications Authority: www.mqa.org.za Mintek: www.mintek.co.za Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: www.saimm.co.za South African Minerals Processing Cluster: www.saceec.com/sampec 47 GAUTENG BUSINESS 2017/18
