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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
New deepest gold mine in Sept, Dominion clawing its way back, another uranium trading arm
By: Martin Creamer 30th May 2008 AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng gold mine in Carletonville will become the world’s deepest in September when it goes below 3 777 m. A month later, Mponeng management will ask AngloGold Ashanti’s October board meeting to approve the new R9-billion Carbon Leader project, which has the... →
KwaZulu-Natal coal resurgence, mine royalty burden lightened, UN Global Compact signatories
By: Martin Creamer 23rd May 2008 Plans to further unlock the coal potential of northern KwaZulu-Natal have won the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) vocal support, if last week’s Miranda Mineral Holdings’ unveiling is anything to go by. Read on page 6 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the supportive... →
Some very encouraging news
By: Martin Creamer 16th May 2008 Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, today reveals the fastest-growing South African websites over the last year and the most popular sites today. →
Anglo gets rights holus-bolus, 'unhedged' coal opportunity platinum jewellery hit hard
By: Martin Creamer 9th May 2008 In was not that long ago that government appeared to have placed Anglo American in the lowest rung of hell. But with CEO Cynthia Carroll at the helm, Minerals Minister Buyelwa Sonjica and even fiery unionist Senzeni Zokwana have elevated Anglo to the heavens. →
State capital changing mining, 'Enormously tight' platinum, Americans sue Harmony Gold
By: Martin Creamer 2nd May 2008 Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) with “massive State capital behind them” are “ambitiously striking out” into mining investment from their domestic bases and “substantially” changing the rules of the mining consolidation game, says Anglo American CEO Cynthia... →
Mining Weekly relaunches website, new Rand Uanium plans to list, new Trans Kalahari rail line mooted
By: Martin Creamer 25th April 2008 Creamer Media has relaunched MiningWeekly.com to include a full-screen television option. “This is an exciting step for us,” says Creamer Media CEO Kenneth Creamer. “MiningWeekly.com represents the fulfilment of our vision to be a leading news media publisher that fully uses... →
More sea water for Namibian mines, price-hit Japanese resort to 5-ct gold, Pamodzi Gold upgrading Pres Steyn
By: Martin Creamer 18th April 2008 Namibian utility NamWater says that construction of a second water desalination plant to cater for increasing water demand for uranium mines will start in October. Read on page 4 of this edition of Mining Weekly of a second plant accommodating the water needs of ten-plus uranium mines. →
Chamber president on skills deficit, Wesizwe's self-generation caution, new ANC to 'push' mining 'harder'
By: Martin Creamer 11th April 2008 “The debate on how nations compete is one which South Africans need to pay a huge amount of attention to, because it’s how we will win or lose,” says Gordon Institute of Business Science’s Professor Nick Binedell. →
Coal bid winner must build power station, DRC 'clean' metals initiative backed, fifth uranium listing on Namibian exchange
By: Martin Creamer 4th April 2008 A sign of the times is that the successful bidder for Zambia’s largest coal producer, Maamba colliery, will be required to construct a 350-MW thermal power station, necessitated by the copper-mining boom causing an energy crisis. Read on page 17 of this edition of Mining Weekly of 30... →
Botswana & diamond beneficiation, cobalt price & new supply outlook, Australia Africa's top deal doer
By: Martin Creamer 28th March 2008 Botswana’s beneficiation plans are rolling out with a roar. The country is aiming to cut and polish $550-million worth of rough diamonds next year. →
Double tax hits diamond mine, commodity investing favoured, Barrick has $10bn gold plan
By: Martin Creamer 21st March 2008 The world’s largest diamond producer, De Beers, has raised concerns about paying double taxation to the State. It says that the third draft of the Royalty Bill would result in its Northern Cape-based Finsch diamond mine operating closer to marginality. →
Moore & carbon capture, new Kendal coal mine, power & megawatt ounces
By: Martin Creamer 14th March 2008 Carbon capture and storage (CCS), which coal-miners worldwide hope will guarantee a future for coal as an energy source, may not be viable, technically, economically, and in terms of liability. →
Diamonds & beneficiation, BEE & South Africa, clean coal & power stations
By: Martin Creamer 7th March 2008 New South African Diamonds and Precious Metals Regulator head Steve Phiri is calling for “fearless aggression” in Africa’s fight against global vested interests intent on thwarting local diamond beneficiation on what, he says, is still denigrated as the ‘Dark... →
ANC’s Mantashe hints at creation of State platinum enterprise
By: Martin Creamer 29th February 2008 Vocal newly elected secretary-general of the ruling African National Congress, Gwede Mantashe has called for the creation of yet more State-owned enterprises, especially in the mining sector, once the successor government to the current Thabo Mbeki-led administration is installed. At a Centre for... →
South Africa and skills, Angloplat and output, Northam and electricity
By: Martin Creamer 22nd February 2008 Impala Platinum CEO David Brown has made an impassioned plea to government and business to get together to sort South Africa’s skills drain - or face the prospect of “costs spiralling of control”. Read on page 13 of this edition of Mining Weekly of Brown seeing this spiral... →
Quality diamonds standing up to subprime, gold junior's lower cost, better safety bid, Zambia urged to renegotiate power deals
By: Martin Creamer 15th February 2008 Demand for better-quality diamonds is continuing in the subprime-impacted US but, because of a disproportionate volume of lower-quality, cheaper diamonds sold there, the subprime crisis is “obviously a worry”, De Beers chairperson Nicky Oppenheimer says in an exclusive interview,... →
'My cellphone is melted,' says Gold Fields Cockerill on global reaction to mines blackout
By: Martin Creamer 8th February 2008 “My cellphone is melted,” says Gold Fields CEO Ian Cockerill on the reaction of international investors to South Africa’s mines blackout. “The saddest thing is that South Africa has had tremendous support from the international investment community throughout the years. →
Far cheaper to hire world's best to end power crisis than to stop mines from producing
By: Martin Creamer 1st February 2008 It would be far cheaper for the South African government to recruit the best power-generation brains in the world at top dollar than to order South African mines to stop producing. →
Credit woes & mining, commodities outlook up, high iron-ore expectation
By: Martin Creamer 25th January 2008 If the main adverse impact of current global credit market woes serves only to worsen mine undersupply, a very good outlook indeed remains for metals and minerals prices in 2008. An illustrious equity researcher suggests this on page 18 of this edition of Mining Weekly. →
Aquarius Platinum & safety audit, De Beers & US reputation, Norway & African governance
By: Martin Creamer 18th January 2008 Listed platinum company Aquarius’s claim that its mines were first past the post in the Presidential mine safety audit programme has sparked a furore. →
Belated coal Christmas present as long-awaited projects go ahead
By: Martin Creamer 14th December 2007 Two of the world’s largest mining companies have at last approved two new major coal projects in South Africa, at a combined value of R6,4-billion. →
The season of diamond sales, where gold gets minus value, scouring sea floor for metals
By: Martin Creamer 7th December 2007 While the gifting season is on hand, it is appropriate to point out that 85% of diamonds are gifted from man to woman. It is thus romance that keeps the diamond industry in buoyant business, which those watching diamond-miners at work at the base of dusty openpits may be forgiven for sometimes... →
R4bn manganese project, coal-energy aspirant, rising diamond star
By: Martin Creamer 30th November 2007 South Africa is to get its first integrated greenfield manganese project since the late seventies. →
Platinum & price threat, uranium production dip, gold project slippage
By: Martin Creamer 23rd November 2007 Not that long ago, platinum-miners feared a platinum price that soared too high, in case platinum users searched for and found substitutes as a response. →
Metal accounting code, more on Platinum City, new shaft at platinum mine
By: Martin Creamer 16th November 2007 Establishing a code of practice for metal accounting in the mining industry is seen to be necessary. Envisaged is the creation of a set of standard generic procedures for obtaining credible figures of metal quantities processed and produced. →
Cutifani on mine safety, deep-level trasparency, Finsch automation elation
By: Martin Creamer 9th November 2007 "As CEO, I take full responsibility and accountability for safety management and, together with every employee of the company, we will strengthen our partnerships in creating a new standard upon which we will manage together and for each other. →
Company Announcement: Botswana lifts diamond bar, uranium warning, mining’s poverty alleviation
By: Martin Creamer 2nd November 2007 Botswana is lifting Africa’s beneficiation bar in significant initiatives aimed at realising what, up to now, has been only a hopeful African dream – cutting, polishing and trading diamonds out of Africa. →
Compliance and growth, Lula on Brazil in Africa, novel mine 'railveyor'
By: Martin Creamer 26th October 2007 Sasol's Dr Benny Mokaba celebrates Mining Charter compliance as a simultaneous provider of growth opportunity. →
Sasol Mining compliance, scramble for Africa, new platinum aspirant
By: Martin Creamer 19th October 2007 Sasol mining was once considered late with the introduction of black economic empowerment (BEE). But if its latest transaction goes through, it will end up being seven years early. →
DRC’s rich copper grades, South American uranium, stopping mine ghost towns
By: Martin Creamer 12th October 2007 Politics and infrastructure permitting, Central Africa is the place that could help to stave off a spike in the copper price, which is foreseen for 2008. While the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia have fewer resources and reserves than Chile or Peru, they have far higher grades and... →
R3,2bn nickel expansion, taking uranium all the way, DRC mining-licence review
By: Martin Creamer 5th October 2007 At last, phase two of Nkomati Nickel is going ahead at a cost of R3,2-billion. This phase was mooted several years ago. With the benefit of hindsight, one can now say that it should have gone ahead several years ago, when first proposed by the then Avmin to the then coshareholder, Anglo American.... →
China’s re-entry into Africa, securing power for mines, zeppelin exploration in SA
By: Martin Creamer 28th September 2007 The “Chinafication of Africa” is currently the world’s “quietest and most powerful revolution”, says Paladin Resources MD John Borshoff. His view is reported on page 10 of the print edition of Mining Weekly, just after this week’s page 8–9 cover story,... →
SA and carbon capture, inputs and beneficiation, hushed Zim diamond find
By: Martin Creamer 21st September 2007 Anglo American plc energy head Roger Wicks suggested to the Pittsburgh Coal Conference in Johannesburg last week that the developed world select a developing country like South Africa as the location of the next carbon-capture and storage demonstration plant. →
Clampdown on coal NOx, copper target attainable, platinum realignment
By: Creamer Media Reporter 14th September 2007 The demand for clean coal is coming thick and fast. Conscious of the polluting effects of emissions, Europe is imposing strict regulations on the use of coal as an energy source. →
Harmony in intensive care, platinum & diesel engines, Zimplats & Zimbabwe
By: Martin Creamer 7th September 2007 Harmony gold is going into intensive care as the big guns throw their full weight behind its recovery. In their hands are the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people as well as this country’s reputation as a reliable investment destination. →
Trillion-rand achievement, copper corporate favourite, exploration ship comes in
By: Martin Creamer 31st August 2007 Those who witnessed the remarkable morphing of Gencor into Billiton and then BHP Billiton will marvel at this week�s cover story on page 8 of the print edition of Mining Weekly, which highlights the merged entity�s ascendancy to trillion-rand status. Its latest profit is a staggering... →
The Charter and the Code, adding value to uranium, new gold joint venture
By: Martin Creamer 24th August 2007 The mining Charter and the Code that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has introduced for empowerment are coexisting at present, but some feel that the two need to be aligned. Others say that, if they had a choice, they would opt for the implementation of the DTI Code rather than the... →
New Harmony leadership, IDC offer to juniors, irony of truck tyre shortage
By: Martin Creamer 17th August 2007 “The coming quarter will be better,” says new acting Harmony Gold CEO Graham Briggs in this week’s Mining Weekly cover story, beginning on page 8 of our print edition. He points out that the “terrible” upcoming quarter should be seen as extraordinary, both in respect... →
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