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Gold mining company Aurous Resources, which has been ticking away quietly off the radar with its revived Blyvooruitzicht and Doornfontein gold mines, is looking to adding 1 000 more employment opportunities in the near term.

Both the Blyvooruitzicht mine, which was established in 1937, and the Doornfontein mine, established in 1947, are located 70 km to 80 km west of Johannesburg, near Carletonville.

Aurous, founded by CEO Richard Floyd, is looking to grow its current production of around 25 000 oz of gold a year, which is achieved with a workforce of close to 2 000 people.

"We're just shy of 2 000 at this point, with near-term plans to add an additional 1 000. Ultimately, that will go up a further 1 000, so a doubling over the next five years, and largely from the local community, over 90%.

"So, really proud of that, and it has been, over the last decade, a real loyal, committed, driven, skilled, and safe workforce, and we really have a great chemistry and a great synergy," an upbeat Floyd said of his employees, who have seen to the delivery of well over two tons of gold to South Africa's Rand Refinery.

Following the initial reestablishment phase, growth plans have been coming to fruition amid Aurous' focus on unlocking long-term value. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Mining Weekly: What did you see about these assets that perhaps others did not see?

Floyd: It's fundamentally about counter cyclical investing. Gold price was weak in that era. South Africa was in a different space politically and economically, and both of those have had a more recent turnaround. Ultimately, we saw incredible, massive sunk costs in the investment of the underground. Access to the orebodies over 40 000 meters of underground development worth billions, which massively reduced the forward-looking cost to roll out the ramp-up production that we currently are undertaking, and ultimately having the conviction and the long-term mindset in the commodity, as well as the jurisdiction, despite the naysayers.

You've often said that turning around an historic underground mine is a marathon rather than a sprint. Looking back, what have been the biggest milestones in getting Blyvooruitzicht and Doornfontein to where they are today?

It requires persistence and patience, but the transition from legacy inefficient operations to a stabilised, modern, and safer model of execution took great grit. We invested intensely in leveraging the existing massive infrastructure, which has saved us great time and money in delivering on our growth plans, and it's been a long-term march towards sustainable production, profitable production.

You've spoken before about disciplined execution. What does that mean in practice?

We're all about walking the walk and not talking the talk. To us, discipline is the application of experienced operational leadership to an existing wealth of data, trusting in the data and not arm's length scepticism, focusing on concrete outcomes, returning these legacy operations to profitability through steady, continuous improvement and rigorous cost control, of course, helped by recent commodity price tailwinds. We've put a strong emphasis on building a sustainable business by focusing on operational realities, sometimes hard realities, rather than chasing market headlights. So we've been ticking away quietly off the radar, and largely our plans have been coming to fruition, and we're very proud to say so.

If I went out to the mines now, what would I see?

You would see a committed, loyal workforce, a team mentality, very clear understanding of collectively working and fighting for a prosperous future. You would see a hyper focus on safety. You would see a strong resolve to grow the business and enjoy the econom...

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.

London-, Toronto- and New York-listed precious metals streaming company Wheaton Precious Metals has reported record year-to-date net earnings of $1.1-billion and record operating cashflow of $1.4-billion.

The company generated a record $929-million of revenue, net earnings of $543-million and operating cashflow of $650-million in the second quarter alone.

Wheaton's year-to-date revenue reached $1.8-billion, which president and CEO Haytham Hodaly attributes to solid production across the portfolio, robust margins and the strength of the company's streaming model despite commodity price volatility and cost pressures so far in the year.

The company, which has streaming and royalty agreements on 22 operating mines, 20 development projects and 15 exploration and other stage projects, declared a quarterly dividend of $0.195 apiece.

The group's attributable gold-equivalent production amounted to 202 200 oz in the second quarter, marking a 6% year-on-year increase.

As at June 30, about 157 600 gold-equivalent ounces were produced but not yet delivered, representing about 2.6 months of payable production.

Hodaly says Wheaton's cash balance of $100-million and $2.6-billion of available liquidity puts it in good stead to pursue accretive streaming opportunities while continuing to advance one of the strongest growth profiles in the industry.

"Backed by a diversified portfolio of high-quality assets and a compelling pipeline of growth, we believe we are well positioned to deliver long-term value for all stakeholders."

Wheaton's estimated attributable production in 2026 is forecast to be between 400 000 and 430 000 oz of gold, between 27-million and 29-million ounces of silver and between 19 000 and 21 000 gold-equivalent ounces of other metals, resulting in yearly production of between 860 000 and 940 000 gold-equivalent ounces.

This production will increase by about 50% to reach 1.2-million gold-equivalent ounces by 2030 through 2035.

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.

Despite South African mining ending up tenth in a ten-country global benchmarking exercise, two-thirds of the respondents who participated in a survey appear to be more intent on just doing the same things better rather than modernising meaningfully.

Despite the sustainability of South African mining being under pressure, the majority of the coal, gold, uranium, platinum group metals, diamond, iron-ore, manganese, copper, and industrial minerals profile surveyed are not modernising. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

The required transformative shift toward broader sustainability lacked emphasis and even environmental considerations ended up as "a secondary dimension".

Spelt out was the need for a shift from legacy practices towards technology solutions, greater operational resilience, and future-facing strategic approaches.

At South Africa's Mining Modernisation Showcase – where Minerals Council South Africa, the Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability, the Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators' specialised research unit within South Africa's Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC-CeSTII), PwC Smart Mining, the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, and the National Advisory Council on Innovation locked arms impressively – modernisation of South Africa's mining sector was described as "an urgent strategic priority for the South African economy".

But the outcome of the survey into the patterns and capabilities of research, development and innovation (RDI) pointed to most of South Africa's miners and mining services providers not prioritising modernisation that is transformative.

Fewer than half had introduced any significantly improved goods, services or business processes in the three years in question.

The most common activities of RDI activists from 2021 to 2023 were the training employees and the buying assets to increase efficiency and productivity – marking time quicker and better, as it were, without moving any new needles.

Most workforce training is largely bypassing universities and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges.

International training is virtually off the chart. Access to international sources of infrastructure is also low, and intellectual property- (IP-) related activities are within a hair's breadth of being zero.

Most firms are technology adopters and not creators and traditional research-and-development- (R&D-) intensive innovation has largely fallen by the wayside.

HSRC-CeSTII research specialist Dr Amy Kahn told the showcase audience that 54% of firms reported engagement in employee training activities, which displayed emphasis on building human capital to support innovation.

Forty-four per cent engaged in activities related to the acquisition or lease of tangible assets, highlighting a blend of traditional and technology-driven approaches to modernisation efforts.

Forty per cent reported engaging in engineering, design, and other creative work activities, which underlined the uptake of existing technologies, rather than the development of new technologies by the firms themselves.

Only a third reported in-house R&D, with an even lower percentage engaging in IP-related activities.

Digital innovation in the form of software development and database activities saw moderate 37% engagement, with the most prominent RDI-activity outcomes being more personnel, increased output, improved asset use, and fewer health-and-safety incidents.

Overall, the positive outcomes align with the core objectives of RDI investments: boosting operational efficiency, workforce capability, and sustainability, the audience at the event covered by Mining Weekly heard.

The most commonly developed and used technology was comp...

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.

Donor network and platform Trust, Accountability and Inclusion Collaborative (TAI) has published a report that challenges the assumption that deregulation will accelerate critical minerals development.

As governments race to secure the minerals needed for renewable energy, electric vehicles and other emerging technologies, TAI is of the view that procedural fairness, effective regulation, environmental stewardship and meaningful community participation are among the most important drivers of public trust in mining.

That trust, the report concludes, is essential to preventing the conflicts, legal challenges and regulatory disputes that can delay projects for years and cost companies hundreds of millions of dollars.

"The critical minerals debate has become trapped in an adversarial loop," says TAI independent consultant Sefton Darby, adding that governments and industry often treat community engagement and regulation as obstacles to speed, while communities are expected to accept greater risks in the name of the energy transition.

"But when people have a meaningful voice, confidence in oversight and assurance that environmental and social concerns will be addressed, problems can be identified earlier and resolved before they escalate into opposition, litigation and costly delays."

TAI's 'Mined the Gaps: Trust and Critical Minerals' report also calls for greater precision about which minerals are genuinely necessary for the energy transition.

The report finds that about 60% of the minerals included on major critical minerals lists in the EU, US and Australia have no direct energy-transition use case.

Some are classified as critical because of their importance to defence, domestic industry or geopolitical competition, particularly concerns about China's dominant role in mineral processing and refining.

Combining these different priorities under the broad banner of "critical minerals," the report warns, can result in environmental, development and philanthropic initiatives inadvertently supporting defense or trade agendas rather than the transition to clean energy.

Among the report's key findings, survey research from Australia, Canada and mining communities around the world consistently identifies procedural fairness, confidence in oversight and effective environmental management as leading drivers of public acceptance.

The report also challenges the heavy policy emphasis on developing new "greenfield" mines. In the near term, much of the growth in mineral supply is expected to come from expansions of existing "brownfield" operations, where longstanding patterns of community engagement, environmental impact and benefit distribution may already be difficult to change.

For new projects, TAI explains, many of the most serious risks emerge long before a company applies for a mining permit.

"Exploration is often led by small, undercapitalized junior mining companies focused primarily on identifying geological resources, with limited funding, incentives or regulatory obligations to address environmental and social concerns. By the time a larger company takes over, those problems may already be deeply embedded," TAI states.

The report also cautions against treating financial benefits as a substitute for trust. It says communities care about receiving a fair share of a project's benefits, but the research suggests that having a meaningful voice, confidence in regulation and assurance that environmental impacts will be addressed often matter more.

"Meeting the world's clean energy needs will require more than increasing the supply of minerals. It will require changing the way governments, companies and funders work with the people who live alongside mining operations," says TAI executive director Michael J...

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the new South African smelting technology that uses 70% less electricity; Bokoni and Nkomati being poised to unlock significant long-term value for African Rainbow Minerals; and the demand for the higher-grade iron-ore and lump produc