The need for pressure to be applied to the platinum mining industry to go ‘green’ was expressed at Nedbank CIB Market Research's recent conference on fuel cells, in Cape Town. While platinum-group metals (PGMs) have been used for decades to stop air pollution in the major cities of the world, steps are only now starting to be taken to halt carbon emissions at PGM mining operations – and then only by some companies. In the mining sector, the cost of underground ventilation could be reduced by replacing diesel machines with zero-emission fuel cell electrical equipment. “This is a good commercial case,” HySA Infrastructure director Dr Dmitri Bessarabov assures. Mining Weekly will be publishing a feature on fuel cells and companies wanting to advertise in the feature should contact Creamer Media COO: sales and marketing Reinette Classen at +27 11622 3744.