While those making long-term mining projections are invariably bullish, many caught in mining’s current short-term turmoil are in survival mode. If the current fall in mining fortune turns out to be merely an abrasive palate cleanser ahead of an upcoming main course – as Investec Asset Management strategist Michael Power describes it – mining companies that come through the current impasse and those which snap up stressed assets now are likely to look back at this time as a period of great opportunity. Read on page 20 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the expectation that the population of the world will grow by 115% in the next ten years and set off a 40% increase in energy demand within the next 20 years. With coal remaining the primary source of power in South Africa, meeting projected demand remains a tall order for the producers and developers of coal mines and the generators of coal-fired electricity, as mining equipment manufacturer Sandvik points out.
In spite of the current lull in new mining development, some are still securing project funding to develop new production capacity. This week’s development story is on the London Alternative Investment Market diamond company Firestone, which has secured financing for its Liqhobong diamond mine in neighbouring Lesotho, where the UK-based Gem Mining is already active mining diamonds in the Maluti mountains, 3 000 m above sea level. Firestone has started construction of the Liqhobong project’s main treatment plant and supporting infrastructure and expects to complete the mine within budget in the first half of 2016. Read on page 44 of this edition of Mining Weekly of Firestone reporting that it has signed engineering, procurement, construction and management contracts and started rebuilding the access road and establishing the residue slimes retaining wall. Major equipment deliveries have been aligned to the baseline development schedule.
Reports coming out of London at the time of going to press suggest that South African miner Anglo American is to auction some of its platinum mines that have been severely impacted on by the five-week strike in Rustenburg’s platinum belt. Britain’s Sunday Times said in unconfirmed reports that Anglo had appointed South African First Rand banking group’s Rand Merchant Bank to conduct the auction of the yet-to-be-named assets that are unlikely to meet Anglo’s 15% return-on-capital hurdle. JSE-listed mining companies that have gone public on their potential willingness to bid on platinum mines that Anglo may sell include Sibanye Gold and the China-backed Wesizwe Platinum. The Sunday Times said that Anglo’s board had agreed to the disposal programme at a strategy meeting last month in an attempt to raise up to $4-billion. Investec Securities speculated that platinum users wanting security of platinum supply might show interest in biding for the assets, with Anglo retaining smelting and refining rights. Other Anglo assets up for sale are said to include copper mines in Chile and the company’s nickel business.