JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) production of platinum group metal (PGM) fell by 41% or 521,600 ounces in the second quarter because of shutdowns in South Africa and Zimbabwe due to coronavirus crisis, it said on Thursday. Total PGM production for the quarter was 665,100 ounces, Amplats said.

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Amplats platinum output fell 41% in second quarter

GABORONE (Reuters) &#8211; Botswana expects its economy to shrink by 8.9% in 2020, less severe than its previous forecast for a 13.3% contraction, boosted by better than expected mining output and a shorter lockdown, the central bank said on Tuesday.



“The ministry of finance now sees a lower economic contraction in 2020. The first number was based on an assumption of a longer lockdown and larger contraction in mining activities,” said Tshokologo Kganetsano, director of research and financial stability at the central bank.

open-pit-mining-3559203_960_720

Botswana expects smaller economic contraction in 2020

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has fired 850 workers, many of them from refineries, amidst the coronavirus pandemic, an oil union said on Tuesday.



The workers are both skilled and unskilled contractors, including technicians who helped maintain Nigeria’s oil refineries, said Lumumba Okugbawa, general secretary of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), speaking on the phone.



The NNPC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.



Layoffs in Nigeria’s oil sector are a tense issue, with frequent stand-offs between the NNPC and unions. Nigeria is dependent on crude sales to prop up its struggling economy, now at risk of its worst recession in four decades due to the coronavirus and the pandemic tanking global oil prices.



Yet Nigeria’s refineries are barely operational. Almost all of the country’s fuel supply is processed overseas at great cost, despite Nigeria being Africa’s largest crude producer.



In May, the NNPC said it had more than 6,600 staff.

1024px-NNPC1

Nigeria’s NNPC fired 850 workers, many from refineries, oil union says

MELBOURNE/SYDNEY (Reuters) &#8211; When mining giant Rio Tinto blew up two ancient caves in Western Australia’s iron-ore rich Pilbara with state approval, the destruction was met with anger from indigenous landowners for whom the sites were of deep cultural and sacred importance.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The blasts in late May became one facet of the Black Lives Matter protests in Australia, which saw thousands of people demanding an end to racial inequality in a country where Aboriginal groups have long suffered higher rates of imprisonment, unemployment and lower life expectancy.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Now, however, the ground may be shifting.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Western Australian government told Reuters it would push for indigenous groups, rather than a departmental committee, to be responsible for evaluating the importance of sacred sites.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The state’s planning department said the legislation, which followed a two-year review of cultural heritage laws, would be introduced to the state parliament before the end of the year.



The bill is in the final stages of drafting and will be released soon for final consultation, it added.



The proposed legislation may fall short of demands of some indigenous groups since it is unlikely to give them a veto on development and could face opposition by lawmakers who see too much red tape, indigenous activists and a land rights lawyer said.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But the bill comes at a time when public outrage over the caves’ destruction, fuelled by the Black Lives Matter movement, could yield different outcomes from a legal structure that has almost always greenlighted mining development at the expense of cultural sites.



&nbsp;&nbsp;Western Australia accounts for nearly all production of Australia’s most valuable export &#8211; iron ore &#8211; which the government expects to be worth more than A$100 billion ($69.64 billion) this financial year.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Since July 2010, miners have submitted more than 460 applications to disturb or destroy sites of potential cultural significance in the region, according to state parliament records, including Rio’s Pilbara request. All but one of those applications were approved. &nbsp;



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Now there are signs of change &#8211; the sole request to be declined occurred last month.



The decision came after the Rio blasts at Juukan Gorge, which destroyed a site that showed 46,000 years of human occupation and focused attention on the heritage laws.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Rio acknowledged that it had blasted two caves as part of its expansion of the Brockman 4 iron ore mine and apologized for the distress it caused the traditional landowners, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) people.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In addition to the detonated caves, Rio was cleared in 2013 by the state government to destroy four additional rock shelters at Juukan, according to government records, as part of its application to disturb the ancient gorge.



Artefacts had previously been found at or near the sites, records show, and permission was granted before more extensive archaeological work could be conducted, with no ability to review that decision later.



Mapping data that Rio filed with the state’s Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage and viewed by Reuters indicate two of the caves were within metres of the ones blasted in May. The other two are about 170 metres away.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Reuters could not independently verify whether the four additional sites have been damaged. Rio declined to comment on the four additional sites and referred to its May 31 statement saying it was reviewing all work in the area since the May 24 blast. &nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; POWER IMBALANCE</h3>



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Rio case highlights the power imbalance in the world’s biggest iron ore precinct between miners and indigenous Australians who have no legal veto over development projects on their ancestral land, said indigenous academic Marcia Langton.&nbsp;



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Unlike their title suggests, traditional owners don’t own the land and are only sometimes considered stakeholders in its management.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “The missing ingredient in all of these arrangements is the right of the traditional owners to consent or refuse requests to destroy their sites,” she said.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Under state rules, miners can destroy heritage sites like the ones at Juukan Gorge &#8211; where archaeologists had previously salvaged part of a 4,000-year-old belt made of plaited hair that provided a direct genetic link to the present day PKKP &#8211; for mine development by applying for an exemption to its Aboriginal Heritage Act.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As part of the state exemption process, a review is made by a departmental committee, which considers the economic value of the project rather than acting solely on behalf of traditional owners who have no right of appeal in the process.&nbsp;



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The inclusion of indigenous voices in the heritage legislation is potentially an improvement, if it includes relevant local groups, said land rights barrister Greg McIntyre, who said he has was yet to see the details.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But the new legislation won’t affect existing agreements with miners where there is a clause that prohibits traditional owners from filing any formal objections with state or federal authorities.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “After the event, there is no remedy for Aboriginal people if the site is damaged,” said McIntyre, who led a historic case in the 1980s and 90s that recognised land rights of traditional owners had existed since before British settlement.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The&nbsp;Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME) said it supported a review of current legislation.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“CME and its members remain committed to working with Government towards reforms to the Aboriginal Heritage Act that will provide positive, mutually-beneficial outcomes for both industry and Indigenous Australians,” it said in a statement.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Rio declined to comment on clauses in its contracts but referred Reuters to an earlier statement.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“As a company with strong ties and a long history of partnership with Indigenous Australians we are committed to updating our practices and working together so that we can co-exist for mutual benefit.”&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; DEMOLITION OF SITES</h3>



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The decision to go ahead with the blast has confounded industry watchers given Rio had developed a strong reputation in the industry for its work with indigenous communities.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; High standards that Rio had set in the past have been eroded by departures of senior archaeologists as social responsibility reporting has become a largely tick-the-box exercise that can be done from an office, said Glynn Cochrane, an anthropologist and former senior advisor for Rio Tinto for nearly two decades.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “They’ve lost their base. They’re not dealing with communities anymore. They’re not interested in these folks at village level,” said Cochrane, who left Rio Tinto in 2015.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Rio said its iron ore team had around 100 people doing communities work in the Pilbara, many of whom have been with Rio Tinto for years.



&nbsp;&nbsp; “We employ anthropologists, cultural heritage experts, archaeologists and many Indigenous people, many of whom are based at our assets and embedded in our operations,” it said in a statement to Reuters.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To be sure, many miners have spent years developing relationships with traditional owner groups. And, besides royalty and tax benefits for governments, mining also drives employment.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But the too frequent demolition of heritage sites has become a burning issue, particularly with companies under more pressure to show they are supportive of racial justice and acting in the best interests of all stakeholders.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “I don’t see family plots or churches demolished at a rate of knots where there is a city development,” said Nolan Hunter of indigenous land rights group the Kimberley Land Council.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “Why would they have a different expectation when it comes to Aboriginal people?”



To see an immersive graphic mapping mines, heritage sites, and explaining what happened at the gorge, open&nbsp;<a href="https://graphics.reuters.com/AUSTRALIA-MINING/INDIGENOUS/oakpearaepr/index.html">here</a>&nbsp;in an external browser.

Sacred sites blast exposes Australia’s laws skewed to mining

DUBAI/ LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; Angola has agreed with OPEC to comply fully with a global pact on supply curbs and will compensate for previous overproduction by cutting more from July to September, two OPEC sources said.



The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, a group known as OPEC+, agreed to cut oil output from May by a record 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) after the coronavirus crisis destroyed a third of global demand.



The record cuts are now due to run to the end of July, before tapering to 7.7 million bpd until December.



But some OPEC members, including Angola, have not fully delivered on their agreed production cuts since May.



Two sources told Reuters that Angola had now committed to improve its compliance with its quota and to make up for its May and June overproduction by cutting more in July to September.



“Angola has agreed to comply as per (its agreement) with the JMMC,” one of the sources said, referring to the OPEC+ panel, the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), which advises OPEC+ and holds its next meeting on July 15.



The JMMC, which is chaired by Saudi Arabia and monitors adherence with the oil curbs, has been pressing Angola and other laggards in the pact, such as Iraq, Kazakhstan, Nigeria and Gabon, to commit to improved compliance.



Angola’s Ministry of Mineral Resources and Petroleum and state oil company Sonangol did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.



In May, Angola pumped 1.28 million bpd, according to OPEC data, or 100,000 bpd more than its target. It trimmed production to 1.24 million bpd in June, based on a Reuters survey, 60,000 bpd above its target. OPEC/O

oil-rig-industry-oil

Angola agrees to comply fully with oil cuts after OPEC pressure, sources say

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Barrick Gold’s Kibali gold mining joint venture in Democratic Republic of Congo will be able to get $500 million out of the country very soon, CEO Mark Bristow told Reuters on Monday.



The gold miner has been in discussions with Congo’s government over how to get the money out of the country for months. A resolution was close in January, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Bristow said in a telephone interview.



Bristow said he expected the cash to be cleared for exit “very soon”, declining to give a specific timeline, after intensive discussions with the central bank, the mines minister, and the prime minister.



Under Congo’s 2018 mining code, miners must repatriate 60% of revenue from mineral sales back into the Congo, to help develop Congo’s economy.



The $500 million is the excess left over after Kibali repatriated 60% of revenue and paid all its in-country expenses, Bristow said.



Barrick needs the $500 million in order to pay back loans and dividends, Bristow said. AngloGold Ashanti, which owns 45% of Kibali, is entitled to half the money after dividends are paid, he said.



AngloGold Ashanti declined to comment, referring Reuters back to Barrick.



In May, Bristow had said the issue of the $500 million “keeps us awake at night”.



Barrick’s push to get the money out comes as Congo’s economy is under significant strain from the pandemic, with foreign currency reserves shrinking and mining companies taking longer to repatriate the 60% of mineral sales.



“Unfortunately, we have noted that repatriation of the 60% is currently erratic,” mines minister Willy Kitobo Samsoni told Reuters, adding he had warned mining companies to repatriate that capital immediately, or risk sanctions as set out in the mining code.



Delayed repatriation of funds is among the pressures facing the mining sector, a critical contributor to Congo’s economy, Samsoni said on Saturday.

Gold_mines

Kibali’s $500 million will be cleared to leave Congo ‘very soon’ – Barrick CEO

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Barrick Gold’s Kibali gold mining joint venture in Democratic Republic of Congo will be able to get $500 million out of the country very soon, CEO Mark Bristow told Reuters on Monday.



The gold miner has been in discussions with Congo’s government over how to get the money out of the country for months. A resolution was close in January, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Bristow said in a telephone interview.



Bristow said he expected the cash to be cleared for exit “very soon”, declining to give a specific timeline, after intensive discussions with the central bank, the mines minister, and the prime minister.



Under Congo’s 2018 mining code, miners must repatriate 60% of revenue from mineral sales back into the Congo, to help develop Congo’s economy.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="960" height="640" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/open-pit-mining-3559203_960_720.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-375523" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/open-pit-mining-3559203_960_720.jpg 960w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/open-pit-mining-3559203_960_720-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/open-pit-mining-3559203_960_720-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/open-pit-mining-3559203_960_720-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/open-pit-mining-3559203_960_720-696x464.jpg 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/open-pit-mining-3559203_960_720-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" /></figure>









The $500 million is the excess left over after Kibali repatriated 60% of revenue and paid all its in-country expenses, Bristow said.



Barrick needs the $500 million in order to pay back loans and dividends, Bristow said. AngloGold Ashanti, which owns 45% of Kibali, is entitled to half the money after dividends are paid, he said.



AngloGold Ashanti declined to comment, referring Reuters back to Barrick.



In May, Bristow had said the issue of the $500 million “keeps us awake at night”.



Barrick’s push to get the money out comes as Congo’s economy is under significant strain from the pandemic, with foreign currency reserves shrinking and mining companies taking longer to repatriate the 60% of mineral sales.



“Unfortunately, we have noted that repatriation of the 60% is currently erratic,” mines minister Willy Kitobo Samsoni told Reuters, adding he had warned mining companies to repatriate that capital immediately, or risk sanctions as set out in the mining code.



Delayed repatriation of funds is among the pressures facing the mining sector, a critical contributor to Congo’s economy, Samsoni said on Saturday

Why people seek refuge in gold during crises like COVID-19

Kibali’s $500 million will be cleared to leave Congo ‘very soon’: Barrick CEO

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Australian-listed Prospect Resources said on Monday it had picked Renaissance Securities Capital as its exclusive financial advisor for the possible sale of shares in Zimbabwe’s Arcadia Lithium mine to Russian energy firm Uranium One.



Uranium One, a unit of Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy firm Rosatom, agreed with Prospect last December to start talks towards buying equity in Arcadia and an offtake agreement.



Zimbabwe is pushing lithium as a major draw for investors as it looks to attract capital to its mining sector.



Prospect said in a statement that Renaissance Securities would advise “in relation to the potential sale, directly or indirectly, of the Company’s economic or other participation in, or the whole or part of the licence and/or the assets of, the Arcadia Lithium Project”.



Prospect said discussions with Uranium One were ongoing but there was no guarantee this would lead to a formal binding agreement.



In December, Prospect appointed African Export-Import Bank to arrange and syndicate a $143 million project finance debt facility for the Arcadia lithium project.

Ëåíèíãðàäñêàÿ àòîìíàÿ ñòàíöèÿ (ËÀÝÑ)

Australia’s Prospect Resources picks advisor for sale of Zimbabwe lithium mine

MAPUTO (Reuters) &#8211; South African petrochemicals giant Sasol Ltd has opted to give up its licence to explore for gas off the Mozambique coast, the company said on Sunday.



“Sasol will return Block 16/19 in its entirety to the Government of Mozambique. To this end, a withdrawal notification has already been sent to the relevant Mozambican authorities”, the firm said in a statement.



Sasol was awarded the research licence in 2005. In 2013 it abandoned the deep water part of the licence, retaining the shallow water allotment to assess its hydrocarbon potential.



It is still exploring for gas onshore in the fields of Pande and Temane, in the northern province of Inhambane.



Sasol, the world’s top producer of motor fuel from coal, is trying to shed assets to pay off its debt pile and avoid a rights issue of up to $2 billion.

Sasol_Garage_in_Boksburg

Sasol gives up licence to seek offshore gas in Mozambique

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Insecurity around Société Minière de Bisunzu’s (SMB) coltan mine in Democratic Republic of Congo could get worse if it is cut out of supply chains following a deadly grenade attack there, the company running the mine’s mineral tracing scheme said. Up to three people were reported killed in the attack on June 23 in Kisura village, which is on an unmined part of SMB’s vast mining concession known as PE 4731.



SMB, which has some of Africa’s largest deposits of the tantalum-rich ore coltan, has been using a digital tracing system since January 2019 to show its minerals are not mined by children or fund warlords and corrupt soldiers.



The system, called the “Better Sourcing Program” (BSP), is run by Berlin-based RCS Global.



“A disengagement from purchasing PE 4731 material, or for mining activities to stop, would be hugely detrimental to the security in the area and could worsen tensions, as occurred in 2018 when mining activity was temporarily suspended,” RCS Global said. “DRC government and international stakeholder engagement will be beneficial to move the underlying tensions towards resolution,” RCS Global said in a statement due to be released to smelters and stakeholders on Monday.



Tantalum is used in electronic goods such as smartphones, laptops and video game consoles. Companies that use the mineral are under pressure from regulators and investors to show the metals have been sourced responsibly.



SMB and the mineworkers cooperative which works on the site have given diverging accounts of what happened in the attack last month. Miners accused police hired by SMB of using excessive force, which SMB and the police deny.



In its statement, RCS Global said SMB was in the process of implementing a series of corrective actions it had recommended to address concerns about SMB’s supply chain following the incident.



These included training mine police on the respect of voluntary principles on security and human rights, engaging with provincial bodies, and requesting support from national authorities. BSP, which has four full-time monitoring agents on SMB’s concession, said it was unclear who launched the grenade attack.



SMB said last month that two policemen were targeted in a nighttime grenade attack, which was followed by gunfire. Three people were killed and three, including one policeman, were hurt and taken to hospital, it said.

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Keep SMB’s Congo coltan mine in supply chains, says mineral tracker

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Democratic Republic of Congo mines minister Willy Kitobo Samsoni plans to meet with mining companies to agree a moratorium on confining workers to mine sites due to the coronavirus.



Civil society groups last month demanded an end to mandatory mine-site confinement policies put in place by copper and cobalt mining companies to avoid coronavirus outbreaks.



Samsoni said in a statement released on Sunday that he would engage with mining companies and deliver a moratorium to them in order to end confinement while taking into account their individual needs.



All mining firms must find “appropriate solutions in order to protect both the economy, and the workers who have been separated from their families for a long time,” Samsoni said.



Samsoni, speaking in the heart of Congo’s copper belt, also touched on the difficulties the pandemic has caused for the mining sector, a critical part of the economy which generated 32% of GDP and 95% of export revenue in 2018.



“Coronavirus has dealt a fatal blow to mining activities, with the impossibility of repatriating capital, importations of products for the industry coming to a halt, the dizzying drop in metals prices on global markets in March,” he said.

Congo mines minister to meet with firms on confinement moratorium

LUSAKA (Reuters) &#8211; Zambia’s Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), a unit of diversified miner Vedanta Resources, has closed part of its open-pit mine as a portion of the pit is about to collapse, the chief executive officer said late on Thursday.



KCM predicted that part of the Nchanga Open Pit in Chingola in Zambia’s Copperbelt area will cave in “anytime” in the next five days after geo-technical assessments detected some slope instability.



The slough &#8211; or caving in of the ground &#8211; manifested so far through tension cracks opening up is likely to stretch approximately 350 metres (0.2 mile) and the estimated volume of the area involved is 8 million cubic metres, CEO Christopher Sheppard said in a statement.



Production was continuing elsewhere except for the at-risk areas which have been shut, a KCM spokesman said.



KCM has implemented measures to protect communities around the mining area and employees from the impact of the slough, Sheppard said.



“I must state in no uncertain terms that our priority is to ensure the safety of people first, and also make sure that KCM, public and private property are safe-guarded.”



The mine has marked out a 90-metre wide hazard exclusion zone in which the potential collapse is expected to occur. It is “at least” 60 metres away from nearby communities, he said.



Apart from the Nchanga open pit, KCM also operates the Nchanga and Konkola underground mines, concentrators, a smelter, a tailings leach plant, and a refinery.

Vedanta’s Zambia copper unit warns part of Nchanga open-pit mine about to collapse

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe’s Landela Mining Venture has reached agreements to take over and revive four idle state-owned gold mines and is in talks to buy more assets from a privately-owned bullion producer, its chief executive said on Friday.



Unlisted Landela is majority-owned by Kudakwashe Tagwirei, an adviser to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and one of the most prominent business people in the country.



Commodities trader Trafigura partnered with Tagwirei in the lucrative fuel sector until buying him out earlier this year. Landela has been on a buying spree of local mining assets since 2019.



Chief executive David Brown, former Impala Platinum Holdings CEO, told Reuters that Landela’s takeover of gold mines run by state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) would be funded through debt and equity.



The mines were put up for sale in 2018 but the government cancelled the process last year without giving a reason.



“Agreements are in place, but a close-out of the process is still subject to being finalised with the appropriate authorities,” Brown said in e-mailed responses to questions.



“I would expect it to be completed in Q3 and will be funded through a mixture of debt and equity.”



The four mines have a capacity to produce at least 85,000 ounces a year, according to ZMDC.



Gold is the single biggest forex earner in Zimbabwe and controlling its production gives Landela greater access to dollars, which are in short supply in the country.



Brown said Landela last month restarted operations at the 21,000 ounces a year Shamva mine after buying it from Metallon Corporation, owned by South African businessman Mzi Khumalo.



Landela plans a bigger open pit mine at Shamva and is in talks to purchase Metallon’s three other gold mines, said Brown.



A Metallon spokeswoman declined to comment.



Until 2017, Metallon was Zimbabwe’s largest gold miner, producing 100,000 ounces a year. A 2016 estimate showed Metallon had a mineral resource of 8.3 million ounces of gold.



“If we can have time to develop the assets properly with the appropriate amount of capital, this will be a significant business,” Brown said.



Last year Landela became partner of Russia’s Vi Holding in the Darwendale platinum project and bought Freda Rebecca gold mine.

Zimbabwe’s Landela agrees to buy state-owned gold mines, seeks more assets

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Harmony Gold raised $200 million after issuing more than 60 million new ordinary shares to partly fund its purchase of rival AngloGold Ashanti’s last remaining South African assets, the company said on Thursday.



Harmony agreed in February to buy AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng mine, the world’s deepest gold mine, and its Mine Waste Solutions assets for about $300 million.



The deal will make Harmony South Africa’s biggest gold producer.



Harmony said it issued 60,278,260 new ordinary shares at a price of 57.50 rand per share, representing around 11% of the company’s issued ordinary share capital before the placing.



“We intend replicating our success in South Africa, with decades of acquiring, operating, and extending the life of mines, and extracting additional value from mining operations,” said Harmony CEO Peter Steenkamp.

South Africa’s Harmony raises $200 million in share sale

The coronavirus pandemic is set to pave the way for “the age of copper,” according to the director of energy, climate and resources at Eurasia Group, as governments double down on investments that will drive up demand for the red metal.



The commodity, which is widely seen as a bellwether for the general state of the economy, has taken a hit during the coronavirus crisis.



Slumping demand drove prices down at the height of the pandemic in March. However, benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange was trading around $5,909 per metric ton Tuesday, up 0.5%. That’s close to its five-month high of $5,928 hit earlier this month, Reuters reported.



Eurasia Group’s Henning Gloystein said in a research note on Tuesday that the pandemic is expected to accelerate trends in government-supported environmental investments and digitalization, which “heralds a coming boom in copper demand.”



“Huge green and digital stimulus programs, especially in Asia and Europe, will create the conditions for a boom in copper demand — electric vehicles, 5G networks, and renewable power generation all require large amounts of the red metal,” Gloystein said.



Demand for copper could fall by as much as 5% in 2020 due to the pandemic-driven recession, he projected. But, widescale fiscal stimulus measures would help drive demand for the metal back to pre-crisis levels next year, he noted, with traders and miners expecting consumption to rebound by 4% in 2021.



Bank of America analysts&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/01/bank-of-america-ups-copper-forecast-as-red-metal-rises-for-second-month.html">increased their price forecast</a>&nbsp;for the metal earlier this month, expecting prices to rise 5.4% in 2020 to $5,621 a ton. They kept their projection for 2021 unchanged at $6,250 per ton. The forecasts, they said, were down to “remarkable fiscal stimulus packages” and an expectation that there would be more purchases of raw materials as countries emerged from lockdown.



Analysts at Morgan Stanley also expect the sector to quickly bounce back to pre-pandemic levels, according to Reuters, with global stimulus measures, Chinese infrastructure spending and supply disruptions expected to boost demand.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Green investments</h2>



According to Eurasia Group’s note, clean energy and digitalization programs were expected to push average annual growth demand for copper up by 2.5% this decade, which would likely drive consumption toward 30 million tons by 2030.&nbsp;



Policy changes in Asia and Europe would play an important role in the surge in demand, Gloystein said, with shifts in transportation expected to be the “biggest single driver of copper usage.”



“The electric vehicles industry currently makes up just 1% of copper demand. By 2030, many analysts expect that figure to reach 10%,” he said.



China was expected to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in digitalizing its economy over the coming decade, Gloystein noted, while countries all over the world had committed to massive investments in green infrastructure and electric vehicles.



“Copper will be a key input for virtually all the industries that are now being promoted,” he said. “Welcome to the age of copper.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Political fallout</h2>



While Gloystein acknowledged that Southern Hemisphere nations with large copper mining sectors would key beneficiaries from rising copper demand, he noted that China’s influence in the industry could see it gain political leverage in both Australia and South America.



“The rise of the copper economy will have political implications,” he said. “China’s dominant position as a buyer of the raw material will likely give it more political leverage over copper mining regions.”



China is the biggest single user of refined copper in the world, according to Eurasia Group, with the country consuming around 13 million tons of the commodity last year.



Tensions between China and Australia have ramped up in recent years after the latter&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/24/huawei-australia-ban-on-5g-products-politically-motivated.html">barred Chinese telecoms giant Huawei</a>&nbsp;from its domestic 5G networks, supporting the U.S. in claims that the company’s presence in the infrastructure posed national security risks.



Relations have been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/12/china-may-impose-trade-curbs-on-australia-but-cant-stop-buying-iron-ore.html">damaged further recently</a>&nbsp;by Australia’s government calling for an investigation into China’s role in the coronavirus outbreak, and by China slapping import tariffs on some Australian goods.



While there is some support among Australian lawmakers to recalibrate exports away from China, Gloystein noted that rising copper demand could limit the country’s ability to achieve this goal.



Meanwhile, Chinese influence would likely rise in Chile – the world’s largest exporter of copper – which is a participant in China’s Belt and Road trade initiative, he added.



“Chile’s sales to China already represent about one-third of total exports,” the note said. “Higher copper sales will likely increase this reliance and expose the country to Beijing’s political pressure in many areas, including in Pacific trade negotiations, the use of Huawei equipment, and relations with the U.S.”



The same, Gloystein warned, was true of Peru, which exports almost twice as many goods to China as it does to Europe or the United States.

Zambia_2

‘Welcome to the age of copper’: Why the coronavirus pandemic could spark a red metal rally

BT200

Is SA’s mining industry too deep in the COVID-19 crisis?

In these difficult days of COVID-19 it seems a bit of renewed pragmatism is creeping into mining as it negotiates its way through the crisis.



From June 1 deep level mines will be able to ramp up to full production after a lengthy lockdown due that has cost the country between 8 to 10 % in production. There is a lot at stake. More than 400,000 pay packets rely upon unearthing mineral wealth in South Africa that creates 8.1% of the country’s GDP.



For years it has been daggers drawn between government and mine owners in disputes over mining regulations that the latter fear are driving away investors from starting new mines. As I write a court case launched by the mine owners and calling for a judicial review of the Mining Charter – the voluntary document that promote black ownership in the industry. In the past mine owners have seen the document as cumbersome and expensive to comply with.



Roger Baxter, the CEO of the Minerals Council of South Africa – that represents most of South Africa’s major mines said in a CNBC Africa virtual online discussion on mining that negotiations with mining minister Gwede Mantashe, in these difficult days, had been frank and fruitful.



“The mining minister calls me Frank Baxter and I call him Candid Mantashe – that give you an idea of how serious and open these discussions are because we all want to improve the mining over the long term and get the economy growing again. If we can get back to between three and five per cent growth it could turn everything around,” says Baxter.



The CNBC Africa discussion also saw pragmatic words from mining veteran Bridgette Motsepe, an ambassador with the Pan African Parliament, who had worked with Chinese miners in Africa.



“When they come with a project they come with a plan and get things done,” says Motsepe.



All agreed on the panel that the government had done a lot of work to help contain COIVD-19 in the mines. Deshnee Naidoo, the former Vedanta CEO, said tens of thousands of tests had been done in the mines since the pandemic and work was well advanced to set up a tracing system to contain outbreaks.



Mantashe was answering questions in Parliament on COVID-19 during the online discussion and couldn’t take part.

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Botswana expects smaller economic contraction in 2020

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Angola agrees to comply fully with oil cuts after OPEC pressure, sources say

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Is SA’s mining industry too deep in the COVID-19 crisis?

Quite frankly, be candid… What African mining bosses and the minister call each other behind closed doors

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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