Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

South African miners face a conundrum: increasing palladium and rhodium output to take advantage of soaring prices risks depressing the already fragile market for sister metal platinum.

That’s because palladium and rhodium are mined as by-products, with every extra ounce of the former typically coming with two to three additional ounces of platinum.

Stricter emissions standards have boosted palladium and rhodium consumption in autocatalysts for gasoline cars. By contrast, the backlash against diesel vehicles, where most platinum gets used, has seen the metal languish.

Consequently, some of the world’s biggest platinum miners, including Sibanye Gold and Impala Platinum are loathe to boost production, even as palladium’s eight-year supply deficit could widen in 2020.

“They can’t increase production because the main metal is platinum and they don’t want to make the price come down,” said Rene Hochreiter, an analyst at Noah Capital Markets in Johannesburg.

Platinum has rallied 15 percent this year from a decade low, but demand is forecast to drop in 2020, pushing the market back into a surplus. Palladium has jumped 40 percent in 2019, while rhodium has surged 144 percent.

“Expanding production to try and benefit from higher rhodium and palladium prices can be quite risky,” said James Wellsted, a Johannesburg-based spokesman for Sibanye.

“Most companies seem reluctant to raise production in South Africa due to the possible impact it will have on the platinum price.”

The rally in palladium and rhodium is extending the life of older shafts along Rustenburg’s platinum belt, but producers aren’t rushing to invest in new mines, according to Johan Theron, a spokesman for Implats.

Boosting production would make the platinum market “even more supplied,” he said.

Given the geological and market restraints, Implats expects output from South Africa’s mines to start declining over the next five years.

New projects in South Africa would take years to develop, while those in neighbouring Zimbabwe may be stymied by political and economic uncertainty, he said.

Anglo American Platinum Ltd., the most profitable of South Africa’s producers, will make a final decision on whether to expand its Mogalakwena mine at the end of 2020, according to spokeswoman Jana Marais.

Unusually, the company’s flagship mine produces more palladium than platinum, but Amplats must weigh the prospects for power supply from South Africa’s troubled state-owned utility before moving forward, she said.- Bloomberg.

Environment, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu this week told BBC HardTalk host Stephen Sackur that Africa should be allowed to benefit from its natural resources as it is also playing its part to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.

He said despite the drive toward renewable energy such as solar, coal will remain a source of energy in the foreseeable future.

“For coal we will not move at a faster pace because we still believe our emissions are very insignificant compared to developed nations.

“You will agree with me that the major emitters have moved slowly out of that because they know that it’s benefiting their economies. I think we need to also give Africa a chance. I think Africa can still benefit from its resources,” said Minister Ndlovu.

Minister Ndlovu and Zimbabwe, it seems, are not the only ones who think coal still has a future.

For all the talk of ditching fossil fuels to fight climate change, coal remains king in much of the world.

The amount of electricity generated from coal jumped 7 percent in the developing world last year, according to BloombergNEF’s annual Climatescope report that evaluated more than 100 nations. It’s the biggest increase in five years.

While coal consumption is sliding in the US and Europe, it’s still cheaper than wind or solar in many emerging markets. That makes it an appealing choice in China, India and other nations seeking cheap electricity to lift residents from poverty.

Since the start of the decade, coal use has jumped 54 percent in the developing world, presenting huge challenges to the push to stave off the most dire impacts of climate change.

“If we really want to limit global warming, we need to start replacing coal plants,” said Luiza Demoro, lead author of the report.

“If we need to rely on economics, it’s going to take a really long time.”

The study also found investments in clean energy fell 21 percent, to $133 billion, across emerging markets last year, as China, India, and Brazil all cut back.

The report comes as the impacts of climate change become increasingly stark. In the last month alone, wildfires have devastated swaths of Australia, floods have paralysed Venice and California utilities have plunged millions of people into darkness to prevent live power lines from sparking blazes after years of drought.

The continued use of coal in the developing world highlights the uneasy relationship the world has with the fuel. While many developing nations including China and India have pledged to limit emissions as part of the Paris climate accord, they’re faced with the dilemma of also bringing affordable electricity to rural regions.

Renewable power won’t be cost-competitive with coal in some developing countries until about 2025, Demoro said.

That’s why BNEF expects carbon emissions from power plants in emerging markets to increase through the middle of the next decade.

Coal accounted for about 47 percent of all generation last year in the nations BNEF studied, which include most of South and Central America, Africa and Asia, and parts of Eastern Europe. Globally, it accounts for about 40 percent of power.

This year, the amount of electricity overall coming from coal-fired generation plants is forecast to fall 3 percent this year, according to Carbon Brief. But it still dominates in emerging markets. While clean energy accounted for just over half the capacity added in developing nations last year, wind and solar farms can’t run around the clock. So new coal and gas plants will actually supply more electricity.

“There’s more bad news than good news,” Demoro said. — Bloomberg

BINDURA Nickel Corporation (BNC) says it is lobbying for the increase of foreign currency retention up to 80 percent citing inadequacy of the foreign currency as substantial amount of money is being directed towards dedicated power imports from South Africa.

The revelation was made during the Bindura Nickel Mine tour where the company indicated that it was spending substantial amount of foreign currency on direct power imports from Eskom in order to alleviate power outages currently obtaining in the country and improve the mine’s uptime.

Consequently, the nickel producing concern cited that the 50 percent they are currently retaining is minute to meet the overall foreign currency requirements for the mine given what is consumed by power imports thereby pleading with government to consider upward revision of foreign currency retention by the nickel miner.

The company also highlighted that it had reached an arrangement to remunerate its skilled workforce in foreign currency so as to retain expertise and avoid skills flight. Bindura Nickel Corporation managing director Batirai Manhando told Business Weekly in an interview that his firm was anticipating an upward review of above 80 percent in order to meet their foreign currency demands.

“We actually prepaid power from South Africa for us to guarantee constant supply and this has constrained US dollars that are available for other operations and the 50 percent retention is clearly inadequate we have lobbied the Government to say, can you increase what we retain, I think Government is still looking at that, we are looking at retention northwards of 80 percent for us to remain viable.

“And since we started this there has been a steady supply of power. Fine we get loading shedding here and there but by and large we are getting a better supply of power,” said Manhando.

BNC is one of the selected companies that have resorted to power imports to deal with obtaining power outages.

Solar Power

The firm, whose 75 percent shareholding was acquired by Sotic International, hinted on moving towards powering the mining operation with solar power in the near future saying it had already consulted companies on the feasibility.

Without smelter operations the firm uses an average of 15 megawatts per day, power consumption BNC expects to triple when the smelter operations kick in.

“We have plans to go solar, we are consulting a lot of companies at the moment to tender supply of solar power and also the funding modalities.

“We intend to have a solar plant that can power the entire mine especially during the day and create enough battery capacity to support evening operations.

“The guys we are talking to right now are talking of 45 MW facility and with current operations, we are using 15 megawatts but when smelter begins operations we will reach 45 megawatts,” he said.

BNC is currently producing an average of 500 tonnes per month and is hopeful the commodity price will be on an upward trajectory in years to come especially if the traction about electric vehicles continues to gain momentum_Business Weekly

The newly constituted Zesa Holdings (Pvt) Ltd board will have its work cut out as it faces a daunting task to light up its generation capacities amid a crippling skills flight.

Energy and Power Development Minister Fortune Chasi last week announced the return of Dr. Sydney Gata to the power utility as executive chairman.

He will be deputised by Tsitsi Makovah in a board that also includes economist Professor Ashok Chakravati, investment banker Jonathan Wood, engineer Wadzanai Chigwa, business executive Stella Nkomo, Rosemary Siyachitema, accountant Caroline Mathonsi, and seasoned lawyer James Muzangaza.

Addressing a media briefing after their inaugural meeting with Minister Chasi on Wednesday, Dr. Gata said his first three days back in office had him seeing a dedicated and enthusiastic workforce at the power utility but its efforts could be curtailed by a skills flight.

Dr Gata said records at the power utility show that close to 600 former Zesa technical staff had left for greener pastures in the United Kingdom, Australia and neighbouring South Africa.

“The task ahead of us is a very tough one,” said Gata.

“I have been in my office now for three days since my appointment. I do find that while (workers’) spirit (to do the job) is very high, the capacities have depleted very much.  If we just factor the fact that for instance the national grid of the United Kingdom they are 72 ex-Zesa employees.

“One utility in Australia has got 65, Eskom about three months ago, the count was 430 ex-Zesa technical staff . . . so the organisation has been severely depleted of the capacities it used to command. That will be a major challenge,” he said.

In response to the deficit, Zesa has turned to South Africa and Mozambique for imports to cover the gap but this again has not been sufficient as the neighbours are also grappling with depressed generation.

Lack of foreign currency to pay for the imports has also hampered Zesa.

“(Minister) you said you wanted to see a hands-on board, this is a critical condition for success, the board has to be present.

“Intellectually present in the deliberations of this industry otherwise we won’t succeed,” said Dr. Gata.

The Zesa board gets into office to find a damning forensic audit report which details several cases of corruption on the desk_BunessWeekly

Power output at Kariba South will remain curtailed, Zesa Holdings says, but the plant will not be shut down due to critically low water levels, as onset of the rainy season has seen inflows into the dam gradually increasing.

This comes as Zimbabwe faces a crippling power shortage, which has forced the country to rely on rolling power cuts (which mostly last 18 hours) and imported power, at a time it faces critical shortage of foreign currency.

There were concerns, even from the State power utility’s officials earlier in the year, that with Zimbabwe and Zambia heavily dependent on Kariba for their main source of power, the Kariba Dam level would continue to fall at a fast rate than its inflow, leading to possible depletion of the reservoir.

Zimbabwe has become ever more dependent on Kariba, given the reliability issues that frequently dog the country’s second and only other major power plant, Hwange.

The fact that the power plant is now old, and has suffered from limited or negligent maintenance, has made it prone to frequent break downs.

Ordinarily, Kariba Dam requires a minimum of three good rainy seasons to fill up if the water drops to a critical level.

Kariba South Power Station had its generation capacity increased from 750 megawatts to 1050MW, which was completed in March last year resulting in it becoming the country’s single largest power (hydro) plant.

Kariba Dam is designed to operate at maximum level of 488 metres at the dam wall, but the drought that ravaged north of the Zambezi River, the main feeder river of the dam, has caused the water level to fall to 477,19m.

Low water level in the Kariba Dam prompted the Zambezi River Authority, which administers the affairs of the lake, to ration water to both Zimbabwe and Zambia for power generation; allow them to do a maximum 357 to avoid depleting the dam.

While the water level appears high enough to sustain high power output, the reality is that only a percentage of the water, known as live water – between 488m and 475m (with 0,70m) freeboard – is usable for purposes of generating electricity.

At current level, the dam is 12 percent (of live water) full while at the same time last year, with the lake water level sitting at 483,49m the dam was roughly 59 percent full, in terms of the water used to generate electricity.

At the current 477,19m it means only 2 meters of remaining water can be used to generate power and below that threshold, the dam can only holds what is technically called “dead water”, which only usable for recreation and fishing.

But Zesa spokesman Fullard Gwasira allayed fears this week that the Kariba South power plant could be forced to shut down to save the reservoir the danger of depleting it too dangerous levels.

“Kariba will not shut down. Production will remain curtailed due to the low water levels.

“With the onset of the rainy season, we expect inflows to improve and incrementally production to increase,” Gwasira said.

But power utility Zesa, together with their counterpart in Zambia, can make a decision to maintain power generation at constant levels that enable them to let water out of the dam via the power stations and down the river at the same rate the water flows in.

The hydro-metric network used for the control and day to day operations of the Kariba reservoir comprise of 13 stations where water levels are monitored daily. Flow measurements are carried out at eight of these stations which include the Victoria Falls, one of the key stations on the Zambezi River.

The maximum flow recorded at Victoria Falls was during the early construction phase of Kariba Dam in March 1958 at 10 000 cubic metres per second.

The lowest flows recorded to date at Victoria Falls were during the 1995/96 season which had an annual mean flow of 390 cubic metres per second.

The Long Term Mean Annual flow at Victoria Falls is 1 100 cubic metres per second. Flows at Victoria Falls increased during the week under review before closing at 204m3/s on November 25, 2019, from 189 m3 /s just under a week ago.

Last year on the same date, the flow on the Zambezi was 244m3/

Business Weekly