Every Friday, SAfm’s radio anchor speaks to Martin Creamer, publishing editor of Engineering News & Mining Weekly. Reported here is this Friday’s At the Coalface transcript:

Host: A South African company this week surged ahead in the key area of adding value to the manganese we mine.

Creamer: Beneficiation is a big word in South Africa and the whole idea of just mining ore and sending it out is no longer favoured in Africa. We see now in Mbombela a massive breakthrough where you actually add value to manganese in a very big way. That is being done by a company called MMC, Manganese Metal Company. They have managed to make battery-grade high-purity manganese sulphate, which is in demand around the world, because this is for batteries for electric vehicle cars, as well. So, Japan is one of the biggest off-takers. The company has just completed the construction of a large factory, and already the plans are in place to treble the size of that. So, this is the sort of thing we need in South Africa, where South Africans add major value to South Africa’s metals and minerals,

Host: A promising new rare earth elements project is being developed in South Africa’s mineral-rich Northern Cape.

Creamer: Yes, so that well-endowed Northern Cape is coming to the party yet again. This time it is a foreign direct investment coming through from Frontier Rare Earths, but they have partnered with South Africa's State-owned Industrial Development Corporation, which is helping to fund the study there. They are developing what is called the Zandkopsdrift project. They are hoping to be producing by 2030 and that will be a 25-year life of mine. So, that is again what we are looking for. A separate project is a lithium project because lithium is a critical metal that people are looking for around the world and if we can mine it in South Africa it will sell very well. Lithium Africa is the company that has popped up with this lithium project, which is also in the Northern Cape, where the project has been named the Springbok project. So, these are the sort of developments we need in our country.

Host: This week’s Junior Indaba highlighted the big role that small mining businesses can play in Africa.

Creamer: That was a big emphasis, that small mining companies can do big things on this continent and there were many minerals and mining ministers that spoke from the various countries in Southern Africa, and also extending up to Angola. It was emphasised that what are called juniors in the mining space are transforming the continent, because they get in early, they take the risks and then the big companies come in and normally buy them up, but by that stage, these juniors have already done a huge job in identifying where the metals and minerals are on our continent. That is why we must have proper mining licencing systems all over, including South Africa and also incentive schemes for these small mining companies that can do big things on the continent of Africa.

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