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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
In 2016, let’s make mining and stop trying to break mining
By: Martin Creamer 11th December 2015 The South African mining industry’s delicate make-or-break phase was outlined earlier this year by some of the sector’s leading lights, who made it clear that that only a give-and-gain approach from all sides will prevent the struggling industry from losing colossal value. →
From COP to COP, platinum fuel cells make some progress but far short of what’s needed
By: Martin Creamer 4th December 2015 The window of opportunity is still wide open for fuel cells to take their rightful place as efficient, versatile and scaleable energy sources of clean, reliable and cost-effective power. →
Tragic Brazil slimes dam disaster forcing relook at mine waste storage
By: Martin Creamer 27th November 2015 The destructive collapse of the large iron-ore slimes dam at the Samarco mine in Brazil is putting pressure on companies to have their tailings technologies reviewed by independent auditors – as well as forcing a relook at the efficacy of how mine waste is currently stored. →
Private sector must drive mining industry collaboration with all the might at its disposal
By: Martin Creamer 20th November 2015 The South African mining industry needs to claw its way back along a new path of collaboration, convergence and shared value. →
Streaming to lower debt, Lonmin on a knife edge, Zambian mining cries out
By: Martin Creamer 13th November 2015 Streaming is in to raise cash quickly; Lonmin's future growing grimmer; Zambian mining in a dire state; and a production hiatus is forecast for gold mining. →
Worker investment success, platinum offtake agreement, market cap decimation
By: Martin Creamer 6th November 2015 South African mineworkers plough their money into education and training; R750-million is going into a second furnace at a Limpopo platinum smelting comples; and PwC calculates the cost of another annus horribilis for mining. →
Mining must lobby hard for revision of Davis tax committee’s misguided recommendations
By: Martin Creamer 30th October 2015 By now the mining industry and individual mining companies will have submitted their objections to the potentially crippling recommendations of the Davis Committee on Tax and now the industry must also go out and lobby for the committee’s misguided recommendations to be expunged from the next... →
Time for radical change to way mining CEOs are incentivised, boards must stop rubber-stamping skewed M&A
By: Martin Creamer 23rd October 2015 Boards of directors of mining companies should play on th eoperational strengths of their CEOs when it comes to incentives and put an end to the traditional of share bonus schemes. →
Implats’ R4bn for shafts, another platinum bid, equity raise for coal
By: Martin Creamer 16th October 2015 Impala Platinum is raising money to complete two big shaft projects; Sibanye intends unlocking synergies of R800-million a year; and Wescoal wants more money to conplete its flagship colliery project →
South Africa needs to carve out a far more clear-cut policy on coal
By: Martin Creamer 9th October 2015 There was a shock revelation at the Fossil Fuel Foundation conference in Johannesburg last week when coal fundi Xavier Prevost told the meeting that top quality South African coal was no longer a sought-after commodity on world markets. Once the darling of global markets, he revealed that local... →
Platinum fuel cells are the answer in VW emissions snarl-up
By: Martin Creamer 2nd October 2015 The debacle that Volkswagen has caused by misrepresenting the volume of emissions that emerge from the exhaust pipes of its vehicles may just be the catalyst that the world needs to accept platinum fuel cells, which do not emit a single speck of environmental nasties. →
Modernising Obuasi, optimising blasts, uranium opportunity
By: Martin Creamer 25th September 2015 Plans are being rolled out to revive Ghana's under-performing Obuasi gold mine; a company outlines how to save money by blasting precisely; and a nuclear body is projecting a likely under supply of uranium in the years ahead. →
South Africa needs strong new national mining champion to invigorate the local economy
By: Martin Creamer 18th September 2015 The South African economy needs a national mining champion to inject new vigour into the economy as well as the mining board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). The primary listing in London of Anglo American and the loss of the old Gencor assets into Australian hands has left the JSE with... →
Glencore management's own cash ploughed into business
By: Martin Creamer 11th September 2015 Global commodities mining and marketing company Glencore is taking sweeping financial steps to stave of the commodity price downturn. →
Mine of the future, managing coal, manganese terminal
By: Martin Creamer 4th September 2015 Universities are designing the mines of the future; a call has been made for South Africa to ensure future coal reserves for essential domestic use; and engineering design is imminent for the new Ngqura Manganese Export Terminal →
The indispensable nature of South Africa’s mining industry needs to be widely acknowledged
By: Martin Creamer 28th August 2015 The modern world would be much the poorer without mining, which is something to be borne in mind as the industry takes huge strain under the collapse of commodity prices. As often outlined by Chamber of Mines of South Africa CEO Roger Baxter, mining and the minerals are integral to society and... →
Copper, nickel projects sell-off, more royalty-linked disposals, gold attracting private equity
By: Martin Creamer 21st August 2015 Mining majors are disposing of assets to ensure returns and maintain credit ratings, exemplified last week by global mining and marketing major Glencore selling out of copper in the Philippines and nickel in the Dominican Republic and Côte d’Ivoire for $290-million. →
Coal mine in business rescue, royalty tied to gold mine sale, mine money to community
By: Martin Creamer 14th August 2015 Optimum Coal in business rescue; AngloGold sells for value; platinum mining boosting Bakgatla-Ba-Kgafela community. →
Mining distress flags unfurl, diamonds ducking, diving, zinc investment marches in
By: Martin Creamer 7th August 2015 While mining distress flags unfurl, the diamond-mining industry is ducking and diving, gold is cutting back, platinum is selling off and most commodities are under the whip – but enough confidence is being shown in zinc to prompt new investment. →
Globally aligned oil, gas code, Mintek coal sorting plan, art used to tell mining’s story
By: Martin Creamer 31st July 2015 Code published to protect oil and gas investors on the Johanesburg Stock Exchange; Mintek may site coal-sorting test plant at Vlakfontein; art used to illustrate mining history. →
Kenya drawing master plan, Thabazimbi mine closure, cutting road-delivered coal
By: Martin Creamer 24th July 2015 Kenya drawing up mining masterplan; Kumba closing Thabazimbi iron-ore mine; Eskom transporting too much coal by road →
Coal mines and Mpumalanga roads, Arctic platinum spin-off mulled, Chinese coal project in Australia
By: Martin Creamer 17th July 2015 Mining companies are helping to maintain and build roads; Arctic platinum resources may be separately listed; and the Australian government has given the thumbs up to the Chinese building a coal mine in New Soiuth Wales →
Eskom miss Optimum opportunity, govt’s curious AMD snubbing, honesty needed on errant policy
By: Martin Creamer 10th July 2015 Eskom would have done well to take up Optimum's export coal; government's snubbing of an acid-mine drainage solution raises questions; and a call has gone out for honest commentary on errant government policy →
Farlam wants workers housed, Mining Charter goes to court, coal firms transform for Eskom
By: Martin Creamer 3rd July 2015 The Farlam inqiry into the Marikana massacre is firm on Lonmin meeting its employee housing obligations; the Chamber of Mines of South Africa is not not giving up on court battle to clear up the issue of once empowered, always empowered; and Wescoal and Keaton are becoming black controlled. →
Pressure builds for clean coal, rare earths moves at Mintek, artisanal mining killing children
By: Martin Creamer 26th June 2015 Pressure is build for the introduction of clean-coal technologies; Minek in rare earths drive; and concern grows about dangerous ore processing during artisanal mining in Nigeria. →
Nonconflict minerals boost for DRC, Botswana likes Canada safety model, Glencore funds community mentoring
By: Martin Creamer 19th June 2015 A tighter clamp is stopping minerals getting to DRC warlords; Botswana likes Canada's safety model; Glencore funds twentyfirst-century mentoring of rural teenagers close to its South African coal mines →
Prices weigh heavily on top 40, no work for mining graduates, research revolution urged
By: Martin Creamer 12th June 2015 Depressed markets rattling top-40 companies, mining graduates are struggling to find jobs; renewed call for mining clusters →
Glencore finds refinancing a breeze, bank’s $540m African financing, Namibia’s ‘sensible’ mining policies
By: Martin Creamer 5th June 2015 CUTTING’S THE NEW PROFIT – With cost cutting now baked into numbers, the main drivers of relative profitability in the iron-ore sector will be foreign exchange lifts, freight, premiums and discounts for grade and quality. So says London mining analyst firm Liberum Capital, which says that these... →
‘Front foot’ return for mining, election run-up challenges, operating cash for gold mine
By: Martin Creamer 29th May 2015 The Chamber of Mines is showing new resolve to put South African mining back on the front foot; the mining industry has been cautioned on risk mounting ahead of the 2016 local government elections; and Central Rand Gold wants to raise cash to fund its surface operations and plant upgrades. →
UN body spells out the potential blows commodity riches can deal to national economies
By: Martin Creamer 22nd May 2015 A study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has commodity over-dependence warning lights shining brightly on both the African and South American continents. →
New UK law may set transparency pace for mining companies
By: Martin Creamer 15th May 2015 The stringent new legal approach to mining transparency in the UK could well begin reverberating through the mining world generally. Issues such as the banking scandals have led to calls for greater transparency and it is against that background that the Reports on Payments to Governments... →
Cullinan diamond mine overhaul, reputational risk and diamonds, mines and the new digital age
By: Martin Creamer 8th May 2015 Cullinan diamond mine to be modernised; diamond bourses to take on synthetic diamond nondiscloseure; and a company spells out how mines can make the best of the digital age →
Making State enterprises transparent, ‘China Go West’ set to drive demand, market outlook for strategic metals
By: Martin Creamer 1st May 2015 How to make State enterprises more transparent; expectations of a new commodity driver in China; unexciting strategic metals outlook →
Glowing investment endorsement, BEE court referral wins plaudits, acid water commercialisation call
By: Martin Creamer 24th April 2015 Favourable Goldman Sachs endorsement of South Africa, BEE referral to courts praised, commercialisatin solution proposed for acid mine drainage →
Mechanised mining gets union nod, call for older miner retirement age, Glencore shows alacrity Down Under
By: Martin Creamer 17th April 2015 Gold Fields blazes a new wage-negotiaion trail; Solidarity wants the retirement age for mineworkers to be increased to 63 and 65; and Glencore's alacrity in offering to relocate its coal trading from Singapore to Australia puts it in a good position with the tax authorities →
Platinum needs marketing boost, Village buy-out given the nod, Master Drilling’s earnings up
By: Martin Creamer 10th April 2015 Chamber of Mines unveils platinum feul cell; Chinese buying Village Main wins approval; Mast4er Drilling does well in troubled times. →
Exciting platinum technology possibility, mining tax needs good Davis outcome, Bakubung platinum project milestone
By: Martin Creamer 3rd April 2015 New Pallinghurst technology poised to advance platinum processing; new calls are being made for South Africa to adopt Canada's flow-through shares scheme; the Bakubung platinum project has intersected more reef. →
Palabora’s R9.3bn Lift II, Bauba’s first chrome blast, junior conference on cards
By: Martin Creamer 27th March 2015 Update on Palabora Copper's R9.3-billion expansion project, Bauba's first chrome blast, junior mining conference in June, Belarus funds Zimbabwe coal mine's new equipment →
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