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At this time of crisis in the Middle East, the supply chain strength of South Africa's Omnia is of major relevance from a mining perspective.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Omnia has a strong grasp of ammonia-based emulsion and explosives inputs as well as key detonator capability, which adds value to mines by providing appropriate fragmentation and ensures that mines have the inputs to blast when they need them, which is so relevant amid what is being faced today – Middle East supply chain disruption.

"Our teams are very busy moving things around due to the situation in the Middle East, to make sure that our farmers and our mines have strong supply chains to allow them to plant and to blast," Omnia CEO Seelan Gobalsamy highlighted in an interview with Engineering News & Mining Weekly in Johannesburg on Wednesday, March 25. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

From an explosives and mining perspective, Omnia expresses the belief that it has the strongest supply chain of ammonia-based emulsion and explosives inputs and that its detonator capability and technology add value through appropriate fragmentation, and enable mines to blast and have the inputs to blast when needed – "and that's so relevant in what the world is facing today, with the crisis in the Middle East".

Omnia, which is strongly rooted in South Africa, has 200 of its own ammonia rail tankers that transport as well as an ammonia storage capability.

It is a 70-year-old business that began in agriculture, and over the years moved into explosives, and chemicals, and today finds itself making a profound difference in the mining and agriculture markets.

Over the last five years, Omnia's mining explosives business has grown by 40% plus to the point of last year overtaking the agriculture business.

Omnia is a strong provider of food security and a deeply embedded provider of mining explosives across the African continent and across the world with operations in 23 countries.

"Our North Star is to be a very strong explosives provider across the world, not just in South Africa, and that's why we're investing in detonator plants, emulsion plants across the world, with partners. Our strong underpin is a business with values and a business with strategies and products that are doing what is right for the environment, not just for our generation, so that when our kids, when our grandkids, when their kids and grandkids walk the earth, it can be a better place than what it was when we walked the earth. Food can be healthier, there can be fewer chemicals being used, less water being used, and overall, the environment and the earth being better," Gobalsamy projected.

The company has a market capitalisation of just under R15-billion, zero debt and has been able to expand and recruit.

"We invest in a lot of young people. We hire 1% of our workforce a year as young graduates. We give them a job for a year, and then we expect them to find something in Omnia or elsewhere.

"A few years ago, we also decided to give everyone in our company shares. Everybody, no matter how senior or junior, got 300 shares, and we redid that programme a year later.

"Our belief is, if you do good, if you run a good business, the profit should follow. We've got a very noble purpose in enhancing life, and we believe everyone must share in that gain," Gobalsamy opined.

"Omnia was started by two very entrepreneurial individuals. They started, initially trading lime, and eventually moved into fertiliser.

"If I walk through the generations, in 1980 the company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Since then, the company has continued to build large plants and if I talk through some of those milestones, we have the largest nitric acid plants in the Southern Afric...

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

One sensed at last year's PGMs Industry Day that Nornickel's Palladium Center would be back with much more growth opportunities for South Africa's platinum group metals (PGMs).

That impression turned out to be beyond correct when Dmitry Izotov, the director of Nornickel's Palladium Center, outlined the centre's strategy to develop new palladium applications beyond the automotive sector at this year's high-spirited PGMs Industry Day, where hydrogen-enabling PGM horizons also resurfaced amid Northam Platinum's promising China findings.

Speaking during a panel discussion at the PGMs Industry Day on quantifying PGMs demand in automotive and non-automotive applications, Izotov focused on three potential major long-term growth areas where the Palladium Center was concentrating development efforts.

The first of these centred on solar energy, which he hailed as "the main alternative source of energy, the future source of energy".

Putting forward his contentions that current silicon solar cells have reached a maximum efficiency of around 30% and describing their thickness as rendering them relatively costly to produce, Izotov reported a transitioning to tandem PV panels combining silicon with perovskite materials. "The perovskite has a wider fill factor, so it can better catch the light during sunset and sunrise," Izotov contended. On that basis, PV panels that combine silicon with perovskite materials uplift efficiency, while their thinness cuts costs.

Of the two types of palladium-based products that are being developed by his company for this sector, the first is an additive to the perovskite active layer that has already demonstrated a 15% efficiency boost in testing, and the second is a tandem cell configuration with three palladium layers designed to address lifetime issues by leveraging palladium's proven barrier function characteristics for microelectronics applications.

"We really think it is a big opportunity for palladium, because currently in China the largest solar panel producers do not have this technology ready," Izotov reported. "By the end of the year we will have this first prototype and we expect to distribute these technologies to the big Chinese market."

The projected new demand for palladium is 0.5-million ounces to one-million ounces a year from around 2030 to 2035.

MICROELECTRONICS

Microelectronics, where gold dominates with nine-million ounces of annual demand, was highlighted as a second potential major long-term growth area. "It's still nine-million ounces, so it's like palladium total demand. For our PGM metals, it's a huge opportunity and a huge market," he noted.

With data centres for AI driving demand for next-generation printed circuit boards (PCBs) and high gold prices creating cost pressures, two product streams are being developed, one being new gold-palladium layer combinations that reduce gold content while increasing palladium, and the other using palladium-copper bonding wires to replace gold-based applications.

Izotov expressed the belief that while there was room for more gold reduction, gold would remain a perfect metal in terms of electroconductivity and corrosion resistance, but in smaller volumes.

The projected new demand is for at least one-million ounces a year, again from around 2030 to 2035.

LITHIUM-SULPHUR BATTERIES

The third potential major long-term growth area where the Palladium Center is concentrating development efforts is in lithium-sulphur battery technology, which it sees as offering advantages over lithium-ion batteries in several fields of application. This is because lithium sulphur is cheaper, lighter and has a higher density than lithium-ion.

On the negative side it has a short lifespan, which stems from formation of soluble polysulfides ...

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

Uranium development company Neo Energy Metals stated in a London Stock Exchange announcement on Tuesday, March 24, that it is negotiating an agreement with Sibanye-Stillwater to secure unrestricted access to the New Beisa Complex uranium and gold site.

Also provided by Neo, headed by CEO Theo Botoulas, was additional information on the development of the New Beisa project and the Henkries Complex mining right application.

The New Beisa project aims to restart uranium and gold mining operations at the former Beatrix 4 shaft while a Henkies Complex mining right application to South Africa's Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) is expected to be approved by December 2026 – a timeline in accordance with the contractual agreement reached with Desert Star Uranium.

The initiatives span South Africa's Free State and Northern Cape provinces.

Access to the New Beisa Complex, Neo stated, would allow certain preparatory work to begin while a Section 11 approval process is under way. Section 11 approval involves mandatory written consent from the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy for the transfer of mining and prospecting rights in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act.

Security contractors already appointed are reportedly liaising directly with Sibanye-Stillwater's management amid mineral rights specialists working with Sibanye-Stillwater in parallel to support the implementation of the Section 11 process.

Unnamed quantity surveyors, project managers and contractors are reportedly appointing entities with requisite mining engineering, process engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, environmental, health and safety, and tailings management expertise needed to achieve the targeted medium-term production timeline date of December 2027.

Sibanye-Stillwater Section 11 and Section 102 applications have, Neo reported, been submitted to the DMPR, with approvals required to be completed by June 6. A Section 102 application is a formal request to amend, vary, or extend existing permissions, including prospecting rights and mining rights.

In accordance with the contractual process, the second Section 11, being Neo's own application, would be submitted following approval of Sibanye-Stillwater's Section 11 application process, which the agreement stipulates must be completed by December 6.

To support this, unnamed professional mineral rights consultants had been appointed to ensure that Neo's documentation for the Section 11 application was properly prepared for immediate submission.

While the Section 11 process is under way, executive management is finalising a Neo-Sibanye contracting agreement, which is intended to provide immediate site access to begin certain on-site work as well as analyses to enable Neo to meet the targeted December 2027 medium-term production timeline.

As part of the implementation assessment, Neo is also updating resource statements to reflect the improved operating and price environment.

NEW EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS

A new head governance and legal has been appointed by Neo to support compliance with regulatory and legislative requirements, the establishment of clear policies, and assistance with South Africa and UK secretarial functions.

Two line managers have been appointed, one for the Northern Cape Henkries Complex and another for the Free State New Beisa Complex, and notification was given that the management team would continue to be strengthened and expanded as the company developed.

Incorporated are three new subsidiary companies to complete the implementation assessment at New Beisa, and assist with efficient administration of Henkries.

May is the proposed month for Neo's upcoming AGM in London, where shareholders will be...

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

As a result of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, South Africa's coal company Thungela is prioritising the safety and well-being of its 16 employees in Dubai, where the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed coal mining and marketing company has its international marketing base.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is "a matter of profound concern", Thungela CEO Moses Madondo emphasised during a media conference following the company's release of its 2025 financial results, which saw 17%-lower group revenue of R29.6-billion, in a year of strong operational performance but within the context of a challenging thermal coal market environment.

"The ongoing conflict in the Middle East following the US-Israeli actions involving Iran has raised new levels of uncertainty and has caused concern, not only for the global economy but for peace, safety and security in the region. We continue to provide support to our colleagues in Dubai, prioritising their safety and well-being," Madondo reiterated on Monday, March 23.

In response to Mining Weekly, Madondo explained that Thungela's 16 Dubai-based international marketing employees have been permitted to leave Dubai and operate remotely.

"The 16 people that work out of our Dubai business originate from a variety of countries, including Singapore and even Finland.

"While all of them are still essentially working through the Dubai office, they're working from home, whether that may be in Finland," Thungela CFO Deon Smith explained.

Only three Dubai nationals remain with opportunities being sought to ensure their safety.

Meanwhile, product flow remains unaffected, and the business remains in a healthy shape from a cash generation perspective amid producing currencies strengthening owing to the US dollar weakening.

Operating free cash flow for 2025 was R396-million and net cash as at December 31 was R5.1-billion.

A final cash dividend of R2 a share has been declared, taking the full-year dividend to R4 a share. In the form of both dividends and share buyback, some 700-million is the total returned to shareholders in 2025, reflecting continued board confidence in the ongoing generation of returns.

Current coal prices point to greater cash generation than in the second half of last year, with cash now being generated on its way towards being highlighted in the 2026 interim results.

Thungela, which means to ignite, has operations in South Africa and Australia. In South Africa, a strong performance at Mafube and the ramp-up at Annea Colliery supported export saleable production of 13.9-million tonnes and in Australia, the overcoming of challenging geological conditions resulted in export saleable production of four-million tonnes.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of R1.2-billion were generated and operational cash flow hit the R2.4-billion mark.

Regarding the availability of fuel for the company and Transnet during the supply chain disruption, Smith pointed out that it was not only fuel that was of concern to mining and transport companies but also a number of other energy inputs into its business, all of which were being closely monitored.

"Our estimates at the moment are that there should be sufficient fuel storage for the bulk users, and we have engaged our suppliers to give us confidence and comfort they are able to withstand the current supply crunch.

"It might come at a slightly incremental cost, but that cost for our business, given that we spend about 6% of all of our operational expenditure on fuel energy-related costs, isn't going to be as pronounced as what the tailwind is on our revenue," said Smith.

Thungela has considerable storage across its mines and its key suppliers. The potential price impact of holding higher st...

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the Mooi Plaats solar photovoltaic project that has begun commercial operation in the Northern Cape; the first gold pour from Qala Shallows; optimism about “great" opportunities for gold mine development in South Africa.