Mining Mirror May 2019 | Page 7

Industry intelligence Energy company Novo Energy launched its large-scale natural gas compression facility at the Highveld Industrial Park in eMalahleni, Mpumalanga. The R130-million facility represents the most advanced compressed natural gas infrastructure in the world and will provide cleaner, more reliable, and cost-effective energy compared to coal and other petroleum products. In South Africa’s energy-throttled environment, this new facility will play a significant role in helping unlock the country’s power constraints, while reducing carbon intensity, and in so doing support the objectives of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (dti) Gas Industrialisation Programme. Commenting at the launch, Novo CEO Andri Hugo said that natural gas will play a key role in South Africa’s energy mix through power generation, thermo-industrial applications, and transportation. “The vast natural gas discoveries on the African continent will provide the key to unlocking our gas economie,” said Hugo. The eMalahleni plant, which took less than six months to build and will operate 24/7, 365 days a year, is a fully automated site with substantial compression capacity and access to very large gas supplies. It is described as a gas aggregation hub and it has a unique configuration of compressors and loading facilities and can handle a lot of logistics through the site and rapidly load the Novo logistics fleet. It has the ability to refuel vehicles on site, too. Implats to build palladium mine in 2021 Impala Platinum (Implats) plans to start building a new palladium mine that could begin producing as soon as 2024 as the company’s outlook for metals turns bullish. According to Nico Muller, CEO at Implats, the company plans to start work on the Waterberg project in South Africa in 2021. The producer is also considering boosting output at its jointly held Mimosa mine in Zimbabwe by 30%, as it bets on a long-term shift in platinum-group metals prices, says Muller. A surge in palladium prices and a weaker rand are dispelling the gloom that gripped South African miners just a year ago. The metal used in pollution-control devices for car engines is forecast to remain in deficit for an eighth straight year in 2019, and Implats isn’t the only company seeking new sources of supply. The world’s top platinum supplier, Anglo American Platinum, is studying plans to ramp up palladium output through the expansion of its flagship Mogalakwena mine. “I believe the change in PGMs is structural and not cyclical, so we are fully confident that the buoyant market we see today is going to prevail for the next 10 years,” Muller told reporters in Johannesburg after announcing earnings recently. Implats will exercise its options to increase its stake to more than 50% from 15% of the Waterberg project, which is being developed jointly with Platinum Group Metals and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. The deposit could produce about 450 000 ounces of palladium and about 290 000 ounces of platinum a year, initial studies show. The high proportion of palladium means raising money is unlikely to be a major concern, says Muller said. “I don’t see financing to be a material barrier to our ability to execute the project,” says Muller. Palladium’s surge — an acute shortage has sent prices soaring. The high proportion of palladium means raising money is unlikely to be a major concern. www.miningmirror.co.za Natural gas compression station launched Novo Energy’s gas compression area. Bauba’s chrome plant on target JSE-listed Bauba Platinum’s new wash plant at its Moeijelijk chrome mine in Limpopo, which was commissioned and started production in November last year, is producing a spiral feed of about 35 000 tonnes per month. These throughput levels are exactly what the company expected when the plant started operating in January this year. According to Bauba’s CEO, Nick van der Hoven, the plant enables the company to upgrade Moeijelijk’s run-of-mine (ROM) chrome ore saleable product into foundry, chemical, and metallurgical grade concentrates for the Chinese market. SA granite company targets export market Quarrying company Liciatron Granite, involved in the beneficiation of dimension stone, has targeted the export market for its granite. The company, set up five years ago by businessman and founder of the Don Suite Hotels Group, Thabiso Tlelai, has mining rights for quarrying and beneficiation of the dimension stone in the Great Kei Municipality, near East London. Granite is the world’s most heavily quarried dimension stone. The global granite market was valued at USD14-billion in 2016. The global market achieved an annual growth rate of 3.3% from USD13-billion in 2013. The growth is forecast to continue to 2021, with the global market growing to USD17.68-billion. Liciatron will be able to extract the black granite from the mine for the next 23 years, says Tlelai. MAY 2019 MINING MIRROR [5]