Mining in focus
Fortune Mojapelo, CEO of Bushveld Minerals, participating in the panel discussion.
commodity,” explained Harwood. A great mineral coupled with poor timing could have a detrimental impact on the success of a project involving a particular mineral. In Bushveld’ s case, commodity prices for vanadium were low when the company was negotiating the Vametco deal.“ The prices of vanadium at the time were quite low. I think at the time that we made our pitch for Vametco, prices were as low as USD13.50 per kg for vanadium,” said Mojapelo.
The vanadium commodity prices did eventually change for the better, and according to Mojapelo, Vametco’ s low-cost project remained sustainable until the turn in prices arrived.“ For us it came at an absolutely beautiful time. By the time we completed the acquisition, prices had doubled, and they’ ve continued rising,” he said.
Challenges for junior miners
The outlook for battery metals may be encouraging; however, many challenges still remain for junior miners to break into the battery metals space and exploit abundant opportunities in the sector.
Financing for explorations and projects remains a major stumbling block for junior miners.“ Funders look at a good business first and they want some certainty in terms of supply,” explained Paul Ranamane, executive chairman of Opal Mining. Countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo( DRC), Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Namibia are known for having minerals used to produce batteries. However, political and economic instabilities could potentially put off investors from investing in any explorations or projects that junior miners might have in the pipeline.
Another major challenge is related to the beneficiation of battery metals. Bertie Strydom, Industrial Development Corporation( IDC) senior project development manager in new industries, highlighted that there were various battery storage technologies on the market( some in development), all of which used different mineral resources. According to Strydom, the minerals were dependant on market demand.“ We see a segregation coming in the market between power-type solutions versus energy-type solutions,” Strydom said.
“ One is where you’ ve got a lot of energy for a small period of time, up to three or four hours, and then you’ ve got your energy supplies, where you’ ve got energy storage that delivers up to 10 hours. The chemistries and the technologies are different.” A situation arises where there is an increase in
South Africa is rich in minerals and we need to make sure we benefit from those opportunities.
prices for minerals and a decrease for end product pricing, which puts the middleman in a difficult position, because their margins are constantly under threat.
The value and supply chain is another factor that junior miners need to tackle. Popovic pointed out that in the battery metals industry, batteries often had to go via midstream processes, before finally reaching automotive manufacturers.“ Aligning that value chain and supplier chain, when it grows at 10 %, 15 %, or 20 % per annum, is going to be quite a difficult challenge for the sector for the upstream and for the downstream going forward,” Popovic added.
Tony Harwood, Montero CEO and president, giving his input at the Junior Indaba.
What does the future hold?
Technological innovation, as seen with BEVs and energy storage, has been a major factor in the rising demand for battery metals. As such, the demand for lithium, cobalt, lead, vanadium, and other minerals used in producing batteries will also increase. This is good news for African countries rich in minerals used in the production of batteries.
South Africa’ s ranking in terms of lithium and cobalt deposit is not that high; however, the country is considered to be one of the front runners with vanadium. Ranamane mentioned South Africa as one of the top vanadium producers in the world, along with China and Russia.
“ If I speak for vanadium, I would definitely say that the opportunity for juniors is there. The price run we’ ve seen in the vanadium market is a sustaining one,” explained Mojapelo. He added that the Bushveld Complex where vanadium is found is a consistent and large mineralised structure.“ When you go there you know you are going to find very good deposits,” Mojapelo said.
From a beneficiation viewpoint, Strydom emphasised that it was important for South Africa to establish where it can leverage within value chain opportunities where a sustainable competitive advantage over extended periods can be gained.
He also suggested collaborating with established international companies that are familiar with the battery metals industry, as opposed to“ reinventing the wheel”. Added to that, Ranamane said research and development was essential from a technical perspective.“ South Africa is rich in minerals and we need to make sure we benefit from those opportunities,” Strydom said. b
[ 20 ] MINING MIRROR AUGUST 2018