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Electrolytic hydrogen enables long-term energy storage way beyond what batteries can provide, which is exemplified by a 200 MW hydrogen plant in the United States having larger storage capacity than all the batteries currently linked to the electricity grid in the United States, including the batteries from Tesla.

"That's the big thing about hydrogen," Nel ASA president and CEO Håkon Volldal emphasised during question time, following the Norway-based company's presentation of first-quarter results in Oslo on Wednesday, April 22.

"We need to take a fresh look at our energy system and a stronger focus needs to be placed on renewable hydrogen, which can be produced locally and close to end-users," said Volldal after reporting a second purchase order by Mesure Process for containerised proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser equipment. PEM electrolysers make use of platinum and iridium, platinum group metals (PGMs) which South Africa hosts in abundance.

"The momentum for containerised PEM solutions is picking up. The good thing about that solution is that we have a fairly short delivery time on containerised PEM solutions.

"We can deliver systems in less than 12 months. The order we booked in April will be delivered in 2027. If we get orders now until the year end, I think we have an opportunity to deliver all of those, or close to all of those, in 2027, so we're hopeful that we can book more containerised PEM solutions," Volldal enthused.

The goal for the next generation PEM under development is to slash the stack cost by a whopping 70%.

Mining Weekly: When do you expect to launch the next-generation PEM?

Volldal: If I could give you an exact date, I would, but if there's one thing we learned is that technology development is uncertain, it takes time. There are always tricky things that you need to overcome that could be pertaining to the concept design itself, could be pertaining to availability of materials, or you end up with a cost that you don't like, so you have to re-engineer it. With PEM, we have the ambition to build a full prototype stack this year. Then that has to be tested, and then we need to spend some time to get partners to help us industrialise it. So, it will take a couple of years - whether that means we can launch it in mid- 2028 or late 2028 or in 2029, I'm not able to say at the moment.

The benefit of the new PEM platform is that our goal is to take the cost down by 70% on the stack level, and in a PEM system, the stack is the most expensive component. That means we can significantly reduce capital expenditure (capex). It will be a low capex, low opex solution, so that's the Holy Grail. You get the cake and you can eat it. It's comparable with pressurised alkaline. It might have even better energy efficiency, and it could have a smaller footprint at a lower cost. The response is, as always with PEM, fantastic. So, it's more dynamic than pressurised alkaline, even though, I have to say, for larger pressurised alkaline systems, you also have fantastic dynamic capabilities. But we believe that this is something that will be even more competitive than the new alkaline product that we will launch on May 6, and that's why we continue to work on it.

Should I read PEM equals PGM?

Yes, but the iridium loading and the platinum loading is very limited. We will utilise much less iridium and platinum. The use of these will be at a very different level compared with what we see today.

IDEAL FOR CONTAINERISED PEM

In addition to the promising smaller projects that are ideal for a containerised PEM, larger projects in the 50 MW to 150 MW range are also emerging and these are expected to take on final-investment-decision status over the next quarters.

"The reason why containerised PEM ha...

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.

The global aluminium market is experiencing a "black swan" event as disruptions due to the Middle East war trigger a supply shock that will lead to major shortages this year, according to the top metals analyst at commodity trader Mercuria.

The region accounts for about seven-million metric tons of annual aluminium smelting capacity, or roughly 9% of the estimated global supply this year. Aluminium is a key material for the transport, construction and packaging industries.

"The scale of the supply shock we're seeing in the aluminium market is probably the largest single supply shock a base metals market has suffered in the post-2000 era," Nick Snowdon, head of metals and mining research at Mercuria, said on the sidelines of the Financial Times Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"We are already in a 'black swan' event. No one could have foreseen something on this scale," he told Reuters.

Concerns about supplies due to disruptions stemming from the US-Israeli war with Iran fuelled a rally on the London Metal Exchange, pushing aluminium prices to a four-year high at $3 672 a ton on April 16.

Mercuria estimates the market will face, at a minimum, a deficit of roughly two-million tons between now and the end of the year. Snowdon said this estimate may prove conservative, as it assumes a near-term improvement in alumina flows via the Strait of Hormuz will enable some smelters to restart production this quarter.

"That shortfall compares with about 1.5-million tons of visible inventory and just over three-million tons of total global stock, including non-visible units, leaving the market with limited buffers," Snowdon said.

A larger deficit is possible if the conflict is extended and flows of alumina - a feedstock for aluminium production - to the Gulf are limited, he added.

Middle East aluminium cannot easily be replaced. In China, the world's top producer, there is an annual output limit of 45-million tons, while the US and Europe have little idled capacity that could return.

Snowdon said the US and Europe were particularly exposed to the supply shock because of low stocks.

Of the 3.4-million tons of primary and alloyed aluminium that the US imported last year, the Middle East accounted for nearly 22%, according to Trade Data Monitor, an information provider.

Europe imported around 1.2-million tons, or 18.5%, of its primary and alloyed aluminium from the Middle East last year, according to TDM.

Premiums paid on top of the LME price for physical metal also have surged, hitting a record $1.14 per lb or $2 521.50 per ton in the US and a nearly four-year high of $599 per ton in Europe early in April.

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.

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.