JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The gazetting of the area dedicated to platinum-using fuel cell development in the Springs area is expected to be complete by May this year, Impala Platinum (Implats) group executive refining and marketing Sifiso Sibiya said this week.

Responding to Mining Weekly Online during the Implats media roundtable on Thursday, Sibiya confirmed that the company would be donating around 16 ha of land adjacent to its Springs refinery for the platinum group metals (PGMs) special economic zone (SEZ).

Sibiya said that Implats is working very closely with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Gauteng Industrial Development Zone (GIDZ) in developing a PGM SEZ focused on fuel cell manufacturing.

He said that technical and financial feasibilities had been completed, with the land portion received approved for designation in November last year.

“Gazetting of the area is expected to be complete by May 2019,” Sibiya revealed to Mining Weekly Online.

The objective is to fast-track local manufacturing of fuel cells and componentry within a proposed SEZ  in the Springs region.

The localisation strategy is premised on partnerships with international manufacturers and in time, the backward integration of local South African subcomponents.

“We see this as a critical step in supporting the promising fuel cell industry through economically viable prototype demonstration and research and development projects that aim to reignite industrialisation, and skills and job development within the region,” he added.

Mining Weekly Online can report that in terms of the manufacturing, Implats is collaborating with HyPlat, the South African fuel cell technology company that produces membrane-electrode assemblies and PGM catalysts for the low temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell sector; Hydrogen South Africa, the custodian of this country’s hydrogen strategy; and mineral research organisation Mintek, in developing membranes for fuel cells.

The main aim is first to bring international companies to build their fuel cell stacks in the SEZ and then migrate the local manufacturing of these high technology products.

The land will be leased to the GIDZ as this provincial body collaborates with the DTI and the Department of Science and Technology for funding for on-site construction.

In September, attendees of the PGMs roundtable organised by policy think-tank Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra) discussed policies, mechanisms and strategies to improve local participation in fuel cell and hydrogen technology industries, with Mistra executive director Joel Netshitenzhe noting that commercial hydrogen fuel cell trains had been introduced in Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, France and Canada, with plans to introduce these in more cities. 

The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association of the US is continually announcing new breakthrough applications for platinum-catalysed hydrogen fuel cells, as does Hydrogen Fuel News, which reports on the linking of renewable energy and hydrogen applications.

Because South Africa has better combined solar and wind resources than just about any other country, as well as the majority of world platinum resources, it is seen as being well positioned to use competitively priced renewable energy to generate hydrogen, which can, in turn, be used to generate electricity and heat from platinum-catalysed fuel cells.