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The catalytic properties of platinum and palladium are being researched and developed as a potential source of significant upliftment for drones.

The higher energy density that platinum and palladium can provide is being viewed as an extender of operating time, increased payload capacity and improved performance.

A newly funded development programme will focus on manufacturing and testing pouch-cell prototypes in several performance configurations, optimising catalyst formulations and evaluating performance in target applications that include drones.

The resulting data will inform further commercialisation plans, the Toronto- and New York-listed Platinum Group Metals Limited stated on Thursday, October 1, when it reported that its majority-owned subsidiary, Lion Battery Technologies, had completed the first phase of independent testing and scale-up of its proprietary platinum- and palladium-based lithium-sulphur battery technology.

Headed by CEO Frank Hallam, Platinum Group Metals is developing South Africa's Waterberg platinum group metals and base metal project in Limpopo, together with joint venture partners Mnombo Wethu Consultants, Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security, and Impala Platinum.

While this takes place, next-generation battery technologies using platinum and palladium are being advanced by Lion Battery Technologies, in which the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Valterra Platinum is a 48% shareholder. Valterra mines, smelts and refines platinum group metals in South Africa and Zimbabwe and has integrated marketing hubs in London, Singapore and Shanghai.

Research and development has reached the level of pilot-scale manufacturing of commercial pouch-cell prototypes for high-energy drone and other applications to serve as stepping stones for scaling advanced battery chemistries.

Independent testing by the Battery Innovation Center in Newberry, Indiana, has validated Lion's proprietary electrode technology in prototype lithium-sulphur cells, with palladium-rich formulations have been delivering the strongest overall performance.

"At the heart of lithium-sulphur battery chemistry are complex reactions that directly influence performance and after more than five years of research and testing, the results show that the catalytic properties of platinum and palladium can help address critical challenges in this chemistry and deliver meaningful performance improvements," " Florida International University's Dr Bilal El-Zahab stated in a release to Mining Weekly.

El-Zahab is supported by a team of battery and materials science specialists and postdoctoral researchers, with members of the independent advisory board that provides additional strategic guidance and technical validation including Dr Seth Miller, a PhD chemist, entrepreneur and consultant, and Sam Jaffe, who serves as business development and product VP at Mana Battery, a sodium-ion cell and electrolyte developer.

To date, the US Patent and Trademark Office has granted eight patents related to the technology, with additional applications pending.

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.

Global miner Rio Tinto said on Thursday it has reached agreements with the Australian and Tasmanian governments to secure the ongoing operation of its Bell Bay Aluminium smelter in northern Tasmania through the end of 2031.

As part of the agreements, Hydro Tasmania will supply electricity to Bell Bay Aluminium until December 2031, while the Australian and Tasmanian governments will provide additional support to continue operations.

Bell Bay's current power supply arrangement with Hydro Tasmania ends on December 31, 2026, Rio said, adding that the additional support will help maintain the smelter's international competitiveness and its contribution to the Tasmanian economy.

The Bell Bay support package follows a series of government interventions to back energy-intensive metals and manufacturing assets.

In August, the Australian and New South Wales governments pledged A$2.5-billion to help secure power supply for Rio Tinto-backed Tomago Aluminium beyond 2028.

Bell Bay Aluminium, fully owned by Rio Tinto, began operating in 1955 and produces about 190 000 tonnes of aluminium a year.

The smelter has about 550 full-time employees and indirectly supports more than 1 200 jobs, while spending about A$260-million annually with 180 suppliers, Rio said.

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The plan-beating sale of manganese ore by Jupiter Mines in its financial year 2026 (FY26) included 828 000 t going through the Port of Lüderitz in Namibia, the ASX-listed company stated in its annual report on Wednesday, September 30.

Jupiter owns 49.9% of Tshipi é Ntle Manganese, which operates the Tshipi manganese mine in South Africa's large, low-cost Kalahari manganese field. South Africa's JSE-listed Exxaro Resources owns 50.1% of Tshipi, which sold 3.5-million tonnes during this reporting period, exceeding full-year targets and its historical average of 3.4-million tonnes a year.

Use was made of multiple export ports and the ability to shift volumes between rail and road in response to logistics conditions and market demand.

This flexibility strengthened logistics resilience and helped maintain consistent sales despite some variability across the broader South African rail network.

Overall, rail availability during the year exceeded planning assumptions, supported by Tshipi's continued engagement with State-owned rail enterprise Transnet.

Total rail volumes were 2.6-million tonnes amid Tshipi working with Transnet on KuGompo City (East London) rail capacity and tariff settings, while maintaining discussions with transport providers to secure commercially feasible arrangements and access additional rail capacity as it became available.

Road haulage costs increased during the period as Tshipi used additional road capacity to support offshore exports and respond to rail disruptions, including derailments and planned Transnet shutdowns.

As with other producers in the Kalahari manganese field, logistics represents the largest component of Tshipi's cost base, reflecting the 1 000 km distance between the mine and export ports.

Tshipi, which transports ore by both rail and road, seeks to maximise the use of lower-cost rail capacity where available.

Tshipi received higher-than-anticipated rail volumes during FY26, reflecting improvements in rail capacity and reliability. These included fewer derailments and cable theft incidents, the introduction of larger wagons and upgrades to rail infrastructure to accommodate them.

Lower-than-expected rail utilisation by emerging miners also increased available network capacity. Continued engagement with Transnet contributed to these improvements, supporting greater logistics efficiency during the year.

A key strategic development was Tshipi's participation in the long-term Manganese Export Capacity Allocation (MECA3) public-private logistics framework between Transnet and manganese producers. MRCA3 provides participating producers with greater rail and port allocation certainty over a ten-year period, replacing the previous annual allocation process with a longer-term, demand-led model.

For Tshipi, this supports long-term logistics security and improved coordination across rail, road, and port channels.

The agreement is part of a broader industry initiative to improve logistics certainty for South African manganese exporters. Within this framework, focus remains on optimising available capacity, maintaining logistics flexibility, and supporting cost-competitive export performance over the long term. Tshipi's flexible multi-port network and lower-cost export channels strengthen resilience and support future growth, Jupiter noted in its annual report to Mining Weekly.

Previous export-efficiency improvements have included scaling lower-cost channels through KuGompo City and Lüderitz. Tshipi, in partnership with Tradeport Namibia, is planning a transshipment project at the Port of Lüderitz that would enable larger vessels to load at anchorage, which would reduce overall freight costs. In FY26, the project progressed with ongoing development and expansion work, h...

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Research firm Market Data Forecast estimates the value of the global tungsten market to have been $5.14-billion in 2025, which will likely widen to $5.56-billion in 2026 and further to $10.45-billion by 2034.

This equates to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.2% between 2026 and 2034.

Another research firm, The Business Research Company, puts the tungsten market value at $6.66-billion in 2026 and at $9.62-billion by 2030, which is a CAGR of 9.6%. Grand View Research, in turn, measures the tungsten market value at $1.84-billion in 2024 and expects it to rise at a CAGR of 4.7% to $2.84-billion by 2033.

Although forecasters differ on how large the tungsten market is, they agree on the direction, particularly given price movements. Canada News Group, which is a paid media commentary channel for GoldHaven Resources Group, says tungsten concentrate prices was assessed by Fastmarkets at between $750 per metric tonne unit (mtu) and $850/mtu at the start of the year, but held between $2 500/mtu and $2 800/mtu since May 29.

This marks a tripling of the price in five months, which Canada News Group says is largely explained by supply policy.

In December 2025, China authorised only 15 companies to export tungsten in 2026 and 2027, which is a decision having been formalised through the dual-use items catalogue. In the US, the Bureau of Industry and Security published a temporary final rule on August 6 which implemented a Directive Allocation Order requiring US sellers of tungsten waste and scrap to allocate 100% of their monthly sales to domestic buyers through August 27, 2027.

Procurement rules also add a hard date. Through the end of 2026, the US's restrictions for defence procurement on tungsten sourced from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea turn on where material was melted or produced. From January 1 next year this clause widens to the mine or ore stage and names recycled and scrap material explicitly, therefore material passed through a recycling system no longer resets its country of origin.

In turn, Canada added tungsten to eligible materials under the Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit in 2025, which provides a 30% credit on flow-through agreements entered into after November 4, 2025 and on or before March 31, 2027.

Globally, policy, price and procurement deadlines are pulling tungsten exploration money toward historic ground in North America.

Current North America-focused tungsten developers include Nasdaq-listed Almonty Industries with its Sangdong mine in South Korea; NYSE-listed Guardian Metal Resources which is advancing two tungsten projects in Nevada; NYSE-listed Kennametal, which produces tungsten carbide tooling for metal cutting and wear applications; Nasdaq-listed Elmet Group, which owns the Blue Moon's Springer tungsten project in Nevada and is developing an ammonium paratungstate facility.

GoldHaven itself has the Magno project, in British Columbia, as its flagship operation where diamond drilling is currently active at the Kuhn tungsten target.

South Africa's complementary A2X exchange attracts another mining listing

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The ordinary shares of precious metals mining company Sibanye-Stillwater have been approved for inclusion in the list of qualifying equity securities to be traded on South Africa's complementary A2X stock exchange.

With effect from October 6, the secondary A2X listing is poised to support liquidity and provide investors with greater access to the ordinary shares of Sibanye-Stillwater, which at the time of going to press had a market capitalisation of R117-billion.

Sibanye-Stillwater, the primarily listing of which remains on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), also has a secondary listing of American depositary shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

Interestingly, the A2X listing will bring the instruments available for trade on A2X to 167, including 31 Top 40 constituents, with a combined market capitalisation of R12-trillion-plus.

Other mining companies with secondary A2X listings include Harmony Gold, Impala Platinum, Gold Fields, and AngloGold Ashanti.

Sibanye-Stillwater's issued share capital on the JSE remains unaffected by its A2X listing, for which there is no cost.

"We're delighted to welcome Sibanye-Stillwater to A2X. This listing reflects the growing confidence issuers have in A2X as a credible, cost-effective secondary market, and gives investors greater choice in how they access one of South Africa's leading mining companies," A2X CEO Kevin Brady stated in a release to Mining Weekly.

A2X is regulated under the Financial Markets Act by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and the Prudential Authority.

Sibanye-Stillwater is one of the largest producers and refiners of platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium and ruthenium and is a top-tier gold producer. It also produces nickel, chrome, copper, silver, cobalt and zinc. The company has also diversified into mining and processing battery metals and has increased its presence in the circular economy by expanding recycling and secondary-mining globally. Geographically, its operations span Southern Africa, North America, Europe and Australia.

On Monday, September 28, Sibanye-Stillwater received formal notification that the total ordinary share interest held by JPMorgan Chase had risen to 5.04% of the total issued ordinary shares of Sibanye-Stillwater, which followed notification on September 18 that the total ordinary share interest held by UBS Group AG had risen to 5.03%.