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Martin Creamer
Martin Creamer is Creamer Media Publishing Editor of Engineering News and Mining Weekly.
Tel: +2711 622 3744
First Word
Nine platinum shafts closed, platinum M&A opportunities, tough Amplats action on way
By: Martin Creamer 14th December 2012 Nine platinum shafts have closed in the last six months; merger-and-acquisition opportunities are surfacing in platinum mining; and Anglo American Platinum has let it be known that tough action is on the way to right-size and reshape the business. →
Align, mine and shine, new coal mine planned, new Eskom buy-back
By: Martin Creamer 7th December 2012 The mining sector has the potential to multiply indirect job creation; ASX coal explorer ZYL is planning a new anthracite mine in Mpumalanga; and Ferrochrome producer Hernic has voluntarily shut two of its De Kroon furnaces until March. →
SA’s 25% failed-State chance, mineral rich but mining poor, union money in breach of law
By: Martin Creamer 30th November 2012 Scenario planner Clem Sunter has adjusted South Africa’s post-Marikana probability of becoming a failed State to 25%; Free Market Foundation executive director Leon Louw says that South Africa has already been reduced to a minerals-rich, but mining-poor country; and Pretoria University sociology... →
Mozambique’s coal contribution, Australia’s cost disadvantage, Petra funds diamond expansions
By: Martin Creamer 23rd November 2012 Coal has become Mozambique’s number two export earner; project costs in Australia have risen faster than elsewhere; and diamond miner Petra has secured new debt facilities to make the funding of its expansions more "comfortable". →
New Chamber president confident, new social compact for mining urged, US challenges China on rare earths
By: Martin Creamer 16th November 2012 New Chamber of Mines of South Africa president Mark Cutifani is confident that South Africa’s stricken mining sector will find creative solutions to its current problems of labour unrest, social deficits and dismal productivity. “We’re going to turn it around together,” Cutifani assures in a... →
Pilot titanium powder plant, ‘rapid results’ at Voorspoed, Implats’ hydrogen research
By: Martin Creamer 9th November 2012 A new titanium pilot plant is expected to be operational next year; De Beers' Voorspoed diamond mine is lifiting its game; and Impala Platinum is spending on the development of the platinum market. →
Marikana mirrors SA’s ills, Amplats cuts more capex, mining funds rural schools
By: Martin Creamer 2nd November 2012 Economic enfranchisement’s lagging of political enfranchisement may have sparked Marikana, a conference on the tragedy at the Rustenburg platinum mine has heard. Read on page 14 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the contention that South Africa’s platinum sector is a microcosm of the political,... →
‘There’s a chance to settle mine labour in villages, not compounds’ – Cry, the Beloved Country, 1948
By: Martin Creamer 26th October 2012 “There’s a chance to settle mine labour in villages, not compounds, where a man can live with his wife and children,” Alan Paton wrote in Cry, the Beloved Country, which was published in February 1948, shortly before the National Party came into power and introduced apartheid. On pages 148 and... →
Labour law must be reviewed, migrant labour and unrest, ‘mine of future’ launch soon
By: Martin Creamer 19th October 2012 South Africa’s Labour Relations Act needs radical reform; migrant labour systemmust conform to global best practice; and Exxaro plans to lauch a 'mine-of-the-future'concept next month. →
Strife-torn platinum industry going all out to co-craft new dispensation for sector
By: Martin Creamer 12th October 2012 The beleaguered South African platinum industry is going all out as a collective to co-craft a new dispensation for the strife-torn sector, but worry centres on the disconnect with those striking outside of union affiliation. The structure of the roundtable engenders confidence, but the... →
Every major mine should add education and training to operational activity
By: Martin Creamer 5th October 2012 South Africa’s mineral endowment, which is exceedingly valuable to the economy of the country, is the victim of a dereliction of duty by all South Africans. There is a lack of widespread awareness of the key niches that this county can fill in the modern global economy. →
Will Porter’s ‘shared value’ concept emerge as mining industry’s new post-Marikana strategy?
By: Martin Creamer 28th September 2012 The January 2011 Harvard Business Review article, Shared Value, written by Michael Porter, is providing a basis on which the South African mining industry appears to be moving forward. Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) CEO Steve Phiri quoted from it at length as he sketched the way forward during... →
It’s time to recreate prosperous and equitable South African mining industry
By: Martin Creamer 21st September 2012 The best South African response to the post-Marikana mining-industry crisis is to sit down collectively and recreate a mining industry that is more prosperous and equitable than ever before. It is essential that the words prosperous and equitable follow in that order because without the growth of... →
Strike damage judgments, mineral detection assertion, business’s Marikana response
By: Martin Creamer 14th September 2012 Court judgements on damage caused by strikers analysed; strong claims on new mineral detection technology; and Marikana mayhem prompts corporate rethink. →
Cutting to match spend forecast, implementing Dodd-Frank, social investments to the fore
By: Martin Creamer 7th September 2012 Joy Global planning to accelerate cost cutting in response to “softer market”; nongovernmental organisations want swift implementation of Dodd-Frank; governments spotlighting social investment that needs to accompany mining. →
Platinum pay fiction, manganese plant shut, gold mine faces closure
By: Martin Creamer 31st August 2012 Rock drill operators (RDOs) across the South African platinum industry are paid between R10 000 and R12 000 a month, and not the R4 000 a month beamed across the world; BHP Billiton has shut its South African Metalloys silicomanganese plant “permanently”; and the troubled Buffelsfontein gold mine... →
Big gold CEO clear-out, Botswana ousts London, graphite deal in Malawi
By: Martin Creamer 24th August 2012 Five of the top 20 Canadian gold producers by market value, including world leader Barrick Gold, Kinross Gold and Centerra Gold, have named new CEOs this year – and an exit closer to home is that of former Great Basin gold CEO Ferdi Dippenaar. →
BEE mismanagement fears, dodgy DRC tax assessments, Moz govt gets 5% of Moatize
By: Martin Creamer 17th August 2012 Black-economic empowerment fears at community level; tax authorities in the DRC gerrymandering; Mozambique government takes 5% of promising coking-coal asset. →
Investment caution abounds, Anglo cuts capital spend, BHP bosses forego bonuses
By: Martin Creamer 10th August 2012 Capital investment caution abounds at the moment; Anglo American is making capital expenditure;BHP Billiton top-brass are foregoing their bonuses for 2012 to acknowledge ther responsibility in financial write-offs. →
Near-term weak but long-term trending to strong commodities demand
By: Martin Creamer 3rd August 2012 There is near-term weakness in the mining business but the future points to trillions of dollars worth of growth. Tough short-term demand conditions do confront the industry, but long-term demand and supply scenarios continue to point to the modern world being mining’s oyster. Projections to... →
Kumba starts work on expanding just-built Kolomela operation
By: Martin Creamer 27th July 2012 Fast-growing Kumba Iron Ore is already moving to expand Kolomela, its just-commissioned nine-million-ton project still in ramp-up phase. The JSE-listed company, which is one of the world’s best performing in iron-ore-mining companies, remains committed to producing 70-million tons of iron-ore a... →
One mining job benefits 26 people, says South Africa’s second anti-mine-nationalisation document
By: Martin Creamer 20th July 2012 For every person who works on a mine in South Africa, 26 other people benefit, South Africa’s latest anti-mine-nationalisation research document finds. The 370-page study, which was funded by the mine-dependent Bafokeng community, follows the publication by the ruling African National Congress... →
SA bets on clean coal success, Europe quickens coal burn, use mining to grow economy
By: Martin Creamer 13th July 2012 The realisation of coal’s worth to South Africa is being reinforced at the highest level; Europe is using more coal; Anglo American says mining should be used to grow the South African economy →
70Mt iron-ore target, cleaning mine mess, take-or-pay logistics
By: Martin Creamer 6th July 2012 Anglo American's Kumba Iron Ore believes it will be exporting 70-million tons of iron-ore a year from South Africa by 2019; a new JSE-listing wants to make money out of cleaning up South Africa's dirty mining legacy; and black economic-empowerment subsidiary of the ASX- and JSE-listed Resource... →
Another platinum mine closes, more platinum project rein-in, but platinum juniors march on
By: Martin Creamer 29th June 2012 Platinum miner Aquarius Platinum has placed another operation on care-and-maintenance; black-owned Royal Bafokeng Platinum has comes up with its own bad platinum news; but two sanguine platinum juniors press ahead with capital investment. →
Commodities ‘no man’s land’, New Largo coal cooperation, platinum start-up unfazed
By: Martin Creamer 22nd June 2012 Commodity prices are in “no man’s land”; public-private cooperation is on the go on the energy-coal front; and platinum’s bleak short-term outlook has not stopped the Garatau project goahead. →
Platinum cuts expected, SA policy at crossroads, deep mining innovation
By: Martin Creamer 15th June 2012 Platinum mining is in a state of flux; crucial policy choices on way for South Africa’s mining industry; and automation way to go for deep-level mining. →
Cameroon iron-ore pact, Eastplats stops project, Evander gold mine sale
By: Martin Creamer 8th June 2012 New Cameroon agreement to boost iron-ore; Eastplats stops platinum projects; Pan African happy to have the EVander gold mine all to itself. →
Indian gold demand down, commodities fall extends, court halts tungsten bid
By: Martin Creamer 1st June 2012 Gold is not playing the role of safe haven in bad economic times, Bearish conditions also persist in commodities and equities and the order against tungsten in the Western Cape is reiterated. →
Private rail participation, union rivalry intensifies, Fraser Alexander turns 100
By: Martin Creamer 25th May 2012 Private sector participation with South Africa’s State-owned rail enterprise is seen as critical to the success of upcoming expansion; there is new tension between rival mining unions; and Fraser Alexander turns 100. →
Fuel cell makes loco debut, better than asteroid mining, big demand change needed
By: Martin Creamer 18th May 2012 A platinum-using fuel cell is driving a locomotive in a South African platinum mine; a platinum miner quips about asteroid mining; and current weak platinum demand is seen as hugely problematic. →
Mining, biodiversity planning, Zim platinum miners coalesce, Congolese to manage Kibali
By: Martin Creamer 11th May 2012 South Africa is to launch a new national mining and biodiversity guideline; Zimbabwe’s three beleaguered platinum miners have formed an association; already, more than half of the new Kibali gold project's management team are Congolese. →
Anglo puts State back into steel, competitive bid for Ezulwini, CoAL beating odds at Vele
By: Martin Creamer 4th May 2012 Diversified miner Anglo American has put the South African State back into steel making;TSX- and JSE-listed gold-and-uranium miner First Uranium is about to face minority shareholder resistance over its recent disposals; and Coal of Africa Limited continues to move ahead at Vele. →
Canada softens enviro rules, Australia eases miner listings, India finds platinum elements
By: Martin Creamer 27th April 2012 Canada has unveiled a plan to streamline the environmental approval process; The Australian Security Exchange (ASX) is taking steps to making listing easier; and the Geological Survey of India (GSI) reports that it has discovered platinum group elements. →
Gold catalyst advance, mining output falls, rare earths reach far
By: Martin Creamer 20th April 2012 After years of research, South Africa’s Project AuTEK is able to supply gold catalysts for use in a range of applications; South Africa’s mining output is down again; rare earths continue to attract attention →
Court halts tungsten dig, new call for chrome tax, platinum mining right
By: Martin Creamer 13th April 2012 The Cape High Court has granted an interim interdict to stop tungsten prospecting; South African ferrochrome aspirant Ruukki has added its voice to the debate on the export of raw chrome; and Canada’s Platinum Group Metals has been granted mining rights for its flagship South African project. →
IDC invests big in revamped Platmin, Wits plans major mine research thrust, Rio moves mine automation to India
By: Martin Creamer 6th April 2012 South Africa’s State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has made its biggest single investment in five years - R3.24-billion - in Platmin’s comeback as an integrated mining and beneficiation Newco; Wits University is resuscitating large-scale mining research; and Rio Tinto is moving... →
ArcelorMittal’s iron-ore investments, Australian gold exploration in W Africa, S Africa in low mining destination rung
By: Martin Creamer 30th March 2012 Steelmaker ArcelorMittal is investing more in iron-ore in South America and Africa; Australian junior Middle Island is pushing exploration hard in West Africa, and South Africa a low 20th on mining investment destination ladder. →
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