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Without compromising the positions of any stakeholders or the credibility of the process, a way must be found to fast-track a good logistical future for South Africa's very important manganese mining industry.

Needed is a very clear position that is bankable and then South Africa Incorporated must move forward – and do so very fast to avoid South Africa losing out to its nimbler global manganese competitors.

Reducing logistics costs is an absolute must. It doesn't make sense for any country with such a valuable manganese endowment to be rendered uncompetitive by State-operated logistics.

State-owned Transnet and the State-run Department of Transport (DoT) must look at the issues very carefully because unless manganese mining makes the necessary structural changes to ensure that the next phase of investment can stay close to what it has been in the past, South Africa is, without doubt, heading towards a cul-de-sac – and as the window of opportunity closes, nobody will know where to go next.

What must be top of mind is giving the people of South Africa the best return.

While Kalahari has a wonderful manganese endowment, its 1 000 km distance from any port turns South Africa's manganese mining into a mining-plus-logistics business, with the mining in private hands and the logistics in generally much slower public hands.

As things stand, manganese mining won't always be of the lower-cost opencast variety; investment decisions about going underground at higher cost will have to be taken progressively from now on.

With logistics already making up a third of the cost of manganese mining, the private sector is intent on collaborating with the public sector to ensure that those costs are slashed.

While people will probably still buy South African manganese even if our competitors overtake us, an evacuation network as costly as the existing one will result in money to fund even future stay-in-business growth becoming increasingly scarce and greenfield growth will be shelved.

Currently, there are two transport corridors, one to Saldanha and the other to Gqeberha.

The Saldanha corridor is a good one, despite having port constraints that must be sorted out. Why this corridor is a good bulk-commodity transport route is because very little else travels along it.

But considerably more complicated is the rail line to Gqeberha, which is a multi-freight line with passenger and automotive connections at different points. The manganese ore is also made to wend its way through a four-terminal port complex that pushes up costs.

Several manganese mining companies tell Mining Weekly that the way to go is for 12-million tonnes a year to go down the Saldanha line, and a matching 12-million tonnes to go through Gqeberha – and not the current 16 t to Gqeberha and 8 t to Saldanha.

Fortunately, a lot of research is available for the DoT and Transnet to use for the good of South Africa's economy.

THE RESPONSES OF MANGANESE MAJORS

Will South Africa's ore advantage translate into long-term competitiveness?

South Africa holds one of the world's most substantial manganese ore resource endowments. Yet the limits confronting the sector today are increasingly defined not by what lies underground, but by what happens above it.

The country remains one of the world's most important sources of manganese ore, with the Kalahari Basin estimated to hold between 75% and 80% of global geological resources. This has supported decades of mining activity and export earnings. However, this natural advantage is under growing pressure for reasons largely unrelated to resource scarcity.

The central challenge is whether manganese ore can be moved to global markets competitively and reliably, year after year, in an increasingly contested global envir...

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.

TSX-V-listed Spanish Mountain Gold has entered into a royalty agreement with Canadian streaming company Wheaton Precious Metals Corporation whereby Wheaton will acquire a 1.5% net smelter return royalty on gold and silver produced from the Spanish Mountain Gold project for aggregate cash proceeds of $55-million.

The proceeds will be paid in three instalments.

Spanish Mountain president and CEO Peter Mah says entering into a definitive financing agreement propels the project feasibility study forward, which the company aims to complete in 18 months to enable a build decision in 2028.

"This financing secures the company's vision and strategy as an emerging precious metals developer in the Tier 1 Cariboo District, in British Columbia," Mah explains.

Wheaton president and CEO Haytham Hodaly comments the Spanish Mountain Gold project is within a jurisdiction that the company knows well and the project's scale and long-term potential aligns with its own disciplined approach to growth in established mining jurisdictions.

The first $22.5-million instalment is expected in the coming weeks, with the second instalment of $12.5-million being due once Spanish Mountain completes 60 000 m of drilling on the project.

The third instalment of $20-million is payable to Spanish Mountain once the project garners government approval for construction, development and operation.

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.

TSX- and NYSE-listed B2Gold has developed a preliminary revised mill processing plan for the Goose mine, in Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Canada, following a fire incident on April 16.

While the company confirmed no injuries to personnel, nor damage to the mine's mill or power facility, it did find localised fire damage worth about C$10-million to the crushing circuit area.

The Goose mine currently has mobile crushers available on site and the preliminary operational plan is to use these mobile crushers to feed crushed ore directly to the fine ore stockpile. B2Gold has sourced additional temporary crushing capacity, which will be transported to the mine in the second quarter to supplement the mobile crushers.

B2Gold estimates the repairs to the crushing circuit will be completed in the third quarter and will coincide with the company's previously announced addition of a run-of-mine bin and apron feeder.

The Goose mine crushing circuit will be able to operate at an average daily capacity of about 3 200 t by the end of the third quarter.

Gold production is expected to continue over the near-term, albeit at a reduced level than previously anticipated in the second quarter owing to lower throughput rates of crushed ore.

The prior estimate was that Goose would produce 29 000 oz in the second quarter, which has been revised down to between 18 000 oz and 20 000 oz.

B2Gold left its guidance for the full year unchanged at between 170 000 oz and 230 000 oz owing to the impact of the fire damage being limited to the second quarter of the year, and the availability of crushed ore in the second half of the year remained unchanged from previous estimates.

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Growth is not an entitlement and capital investment is not a given. These were two key points that Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane emphasised during a Mining Equipment Manufacturers of South Africa (Memsa) event at Montecasino on Friday.

Scrutinised were the implications for South Africa of the Middle East conflict, with the big focus on what this country's original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can do in the face of geopolitical disruption.

How South Africans can work together to best effect during the current period of geopolitical uncertainty was highlighted.

"Yes, we need to fix our electricity and logistics infrastructure but I think there's a lot more work that we need to think about, that we need to do, that will be sustaining for the long term," Mthenjane pointed out during a panel discussion, which was moderated by Baletsema Holdings' Bokang Kelepa, with panel members including Memsa chairperson Matimba Mahange, who is also the CEO of JA Engineering, Leschaco sub-Saharan Africa CEO Pieter Schmidt-Loffier, Export Credit Insurance Corporation economist Nezo Sobekwa and many of the large contingent of attendees who put across many vital points during one-on-one interviews with Mining Weekly.

Countries with rich mineral endowments, such as South Africa and many others in Africa, often assumed wrongly that mining development and economic growth should automatically follow, "but a wise geologist once said, whilst it's still in the ground, it's rock, and so we can attribute a lot of money to it, trillions and trillions of dollars. We can talk about how wealthy we are beneath the surface of the earth… but it's only capital investment that will enable the conversion of the deemed minerals to prosperity," Mthenjane recalled.

"As we've seen in the past, when mining performs the whole country performs," he said, while adding that mining development is the way to create inclusive economic growth that floats all boats.

"Whether it's in South Africa or outside of South Africa, we actually all know what needs to be done and the question is, well then, why aren't we doing it?

"I've kind of reduced it to the fact that to do it, the thinking of leadership has to be aligned, bold decisions have to be taken that are selfless, that benefit the country and steps have to be taken to advance the vision of how this country can be a better country."

Emphasised was how South Africa's OEMs should tackle global, continental and local opportunities with collaboration paramount and local mining development needing to be comprehensively stimulated.

When it comes to fostering growth, Mahange emphasised the importance of collective policy-influencing action to grow South Africa's OEM base for self-reliance.

Mahange drew strong attention to the critical role of local production and also, during this period of major fuel uncertainty, the vital importance of Sasol in maintaining South Africa's energy mix.

"If we didn't have Sasol…where would we be?," Mahange asked, while also advocating the advantage of Memsa members "hunting in packs" in facing today's challenges.

Mahange then introduced Mining Weekly to Bell Equipment CEO Ashley Bell, who spoke of the need for South Africa's OEMs to come to terms with the new state of normal being global uncertainty.

"We've got to focus on influencing what's in our control. We've got some markets that are doing all right for us and other markets that are struggling at the moment.

"Africa has been good for us. It's been good for the last couple of years. We remain passionate about South Africa, contributing to the economy here, providing employment to people, standing by our customers, and ensuring that we maintain a leading position in the space that we play in.

"But ...

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Results from metallurgical test work at the Bengwenyama platinum group metals (PGM) project in South Africa's Limpopo province indicate that up to a fifth of Southern Palladium's future revenues could come from chrome.

In an announcement on the ASX and JSE on Friday Southern Palladium reported that the results from its latest metallurgical test work not only confirm the high-grade nature of the Bengwenyama upper group two (UG2) mineral resource but also suggest that chromite concentrate recoveries of more than double initial estimates are achievable.

"Metallurgical test work has once again confirmed the grade and robust nature of the UG2 Mineral Resource, but the doubling of chrome recoveries is potentially company-changing; it elevates chrome from a by-product to a parallel output," Southern Palladium CEO Johan Odendaal highlighted in a media release to Mining Weekly.

On a three-element basis, the metallurgical sample indicates an average combined platinum, palladium and gold grade of 7.35 g/t and a prill split of 49.9% platinum, 48.6% palladium and 1.5% gold with a chromium oxide grade of 29.71%.

These mineral resource grades confirm that the metallurgical sample is representative of the first 10 years of the planned development and could add about 350 000 t of chrome concentrate to production.

Recoveries of 65% were achieved in the test work compared with 30% assumed in the optimised prefeasibility study (OPFS) released in July last year.

Improvements in the high-grade chrome concentrate recoveries have a materially positive impact on project revenues, with chrome comprising 12% of revenue in the original OPFS.

As part of the test work, composite samples that included the footwall were put through dense media separation (DMS) and gravity test work. DMS was not part of the processing circuit outlined in the OPFS circuit, but the positive results of the test work have encouraged Southern Palladium to include it in its definitive feasibility study (DFS).

"DMS as a waste rejection stage in UG2 beneficiation is a well-established industry practice for removing barren footwall and hanging wall material included in the mining cut. The key benefits of this approach are a substantial reduction in the milling and flotation circuit load, together with a marked increase in both PGM and chromite head grades to the concentrator," Odendaal explained.

The higher mass yield of chromite concentrate, and DMS waste removal, will materially reduce the quantity of feed to the PGM mill/flotation circuit and also lessen the risk of PGM concentrate penalties.

This allows Southern Palladium to introduce a smaller PGM mill/flotation circuit, reducing upfront capital and accelerating project development.

Southern Palladium reports that it is continuing to make strong progress at advancing DFS workstreams and early mine development planning and the latest results are being refined into the final DFS-level work on plant design and metrics.

Located on the eastern limb of South Africa's Bushveld Complex, the Bengwenyama PGM project is one of the world's largest remaining undeveloped PGM resources.

The project encompasses the UG2 and Merensky reefs, spanning from surface to a depth of 1 100 m over a downdip extent of 10 km. These reefs represent primary economic deposits exploited by other platinum mining companies in the region.

Southern Palladium is focused on the UG2 reef, which is the predominantly mined reef in the area.

The project benefits from proximity to existing mining operations and established infrastructure, enhancing its strategic value and development potential.