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Gold Fields' South Deep mine has signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Sibanye-Stillwater, AngloGold Ashanti, Mienara, Phahama School of Specialisation and Westcol Technical and Vocational Education and Training College (WTVETC) to support a collaborative initiative aimed at addressing the growing gap between skills development and employment opportunities.

The collaborative Siyakha Sonke initiative is South Deep mine's contribution to the Gold Fields group legacy programmes portfolio, a collection of long-term social investments designed to create sustainable opportunities and lasting benefits for host communities beyond the life of mining. Its programmes aim to strengthen community resilience, support sustainable development and promote long-term socioeconomic stability in host communities.

The initial MoUs bring together mining companies, educational institutions and growth sectors such as renewable energy and manufacturing to help prepare people for employment opportunities in a rapidly changing economy.

Additional partnerships are currently being explored and developed. In the West Rand, where mining remains a significant employer, unemployment, particularly among young people, continues to be a critical challenge. Siyakha Sonke, which means "we are building together", is a multi-stakeholder initiative catalysed by Gold Fields' South Deep mine and piloted in the West Rand.

The programme seeks to align and strengthen existing efforts across industry, education and other stakeholders to develop a scalable model that improves pathways to employment and supports more resilient local economies over the long term.

As technology, innovation and automation reshape industries, the programme aims to help ensure that skills development keeps pace with changing workforce requirements and that communities are better prepared for future opportunities.

"The resources we mine are not infinite, and technology is advancing rapidly. We need to close the gap between the skills required today and those needed tomorrow by developing capabilities that are future-ready and transferable across mining and other growth industries," Gold Fields South Africa senior VP Benford Mokoatle explained.

No single organisation can solve South Africa's skills and employment challenge. To support greater collaboration, Siyakha Sonke held its first working group meeting in June, bringing together stakeholders to map regional assets, identify collaboration opportunities and develop practical pilot initiatives to strengthen links between education, training and employment.

The programme is currently laying the foundation for four key workstreams aimed at aligning skills development with industry demand, identifying transferable skills that support mobility across sectors, strengthening pathways to employment, and fostering collaboration between industry, education institutions, government and other stakeholders.

Sibanye-Stillwater executive VP: stakeholder relations Thabisile Phumo pointed out that as the mining industry evolved, the skills required would change. "This partnership gives us an opportunity to identify potential replacement skills and create pathways for employees and communities to transition into successor economies. This is an important element of preparing for the future and strengthening the resilience of communities beyond the life of the mine."

The release to Mining Weekly stated that Siyakha Sonke's aim was to strengthen the link between skills development and employment opportunities.

The initiative, the release stated, brought together partners from the mining, education, training, government and private sector to help prepare communities for a changing economy and create pathways to future employme...

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.

To meet 2050 lithium demand, the equivalent of 134 new lithium mines will be needed, says supply chain researcher Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

This equates to a new mine every two months for the next 24 years, explains Benchmark Mineral Intelligence lithium product director Dr Cameron Perks.

He adds that demand growth between 2040 and 2050 alone will require 44 new lithium mines each producing about 36 000 t/y of lithium carbonate-equivalent (LCE).

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence forecasts that global lithium demand will reach about seven-million tonnes of LCE in 2050, with 76% of this driven by electric vehicles (EVs).

This is an increase of 4.8-million tonnes from demand of 2.11-million tonnes of LCE in 2026.

"Meeting 2050 demand will require more than $100-billion of investment before any contribution from recycling, rising to more than 180 mines in our upside scenario," says Perks.

"The biggest challenge is sustaining that investment through price cycles, while competing for capital with AI, defence and the wider energy transition."

DEMAND DRIVERS

Between 2026 and 2050, lithium demand is forecast to more than triple, with the vast majority of this growth driven by the battery market.

Batteries account for 92% of lithium demand in 2026, up from around 70% in 2020.

EVs currently account for 55% of lithium demand, and this is forecast to grow to 76% by 2050 as the rapid recent growth in stationary storage moderates.

"Lithium demand from stationary storage has grown more than 60% a year for the past two years, but we expect that pace to slow significantly, to around 5% a year to the end of the decade," Perks points out.

SOURCES

Australia is expected to be the largest producer of mined lithium in 2026, accounting for 29% of mined supply. However, Australia's share of forecast mine supply is set to fall to 20% by 2050, even with large-scale brownfield expansions such as PLS's P2000 factored in for a start around 2030.

"Many of Australia's mines will be depleting by 2050. Price volatility has made financiers hesitant, and the regulatory burden is growing. It's not too late, but if Australia doesn't back growth, other regions will take that share," Perks emphasises.

In contrast, China's share is set to remain relatively stable at around 25%, supported by continued investment in domestic resources and an emphasis on battery supply chain dominance.

North American supply is set to increase from 1.7% of mined supply in 2026 to 13% by 2050, as the region works to meet its own domestic requirements and reduce reliance on China. North America currently accounts for 6% of lithium demand from cell production, which is forecast to increase to 12% by 2050.

Europe is similarly targeting domestic and allied supply chain development. The region currently accounts for less than 1% of mined supply, despite accounting for 7% of lithium demand from cell production.

By 2050, 5.5% of mined lithium is forecast to come from Europe, which will take 8% of demand.

"Europe and North America face their own unique challenges. Many of the largest and most promising projects require novel technology or face environmental and community concerns. These aren't insurmountable, but they create significant delays, and they mean mines built in these regions simply cost more," Perks states.

HIGHER CASE

This analysis assumes Benchmark's base case. The number of mines could be significantly higher if Benchmark Mineral Intelligence's upside scenario of almost nine-million tonnes LCE of demand is realised, which would be largely driven by EV and energy storage policies worldwide.

Perks explains that in the firm's upside case, the equivalent number of mines rises to around 180, which would require well over $150-billion of new investment...

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Australia's Northern Star Resources on Wednesday flagged the potential for asset sales as the miner focuses on delivering its turnaround plan under a new CEO, amid pressure from both activist investor Elliott and suitor Gold Fields.

Northern Star reported a 7.2% rise in first-quarter revenue from gold sales, helped by higher average gold sale prices that offset lower volumes from planned shutdowns, but missed market expectations. It, however, kept its full-year guidance intact.

The result was the first time CEO Suresh Vadnagra faced investors since he took the helm of Australia's biggest gold miner on October 5.

Vadnagra said his first focus was to deliver against company projections as processing at its Kalgoorlie operations ramps up, and flagged that he would assess the company's assets for value including for potential sales.

The focus on delivery comes after Elliott in June called for a review and new leadership, citing repeated "operational missteps", including seven outlook misses in four years, and a share price that vastly underperformed its peers.

Asked by an analyst on a results call about whether management saw potential value from asset divestment, Vadnagra said: "It's clear that there's an active process by the site team and the planning team to look at each (of our) assets and assess ... the way we're operating those assets, and is there a way for us to unlock further value or improve the resilience?"

"Obviously, I'd like to apply my own lens to it as well with time, and it's an area that's high on the agenda."

He declined to comment on the A$38.7-billion ($27.16-billion) takeover offer by South Africa's Gold Fields that the miner rejected. Northern Star's management has previously said that the offer was opportunistic.

Gold Fields' CEO last week played down market speculation that it would raise its offer for Northern Star.

Four Western Australian assets identified by Barrenjoey for potential sale include Jundee, Thunderbox, Carosue Dam, and some of its Kalgoorlie operations.

HIGHER PRICES OFFSET LOWER VOLUMES

Bullion traded higher during the September quarter, as central bank buying and geopolitical uncertainty helped the gold miner report a higher average realised gold price of A$4 999/oz, compared with A$4 452/oz a year earlier.

This made up for the lower volumes owing to planned major shutdowns that hit its three production centres. The miner said quarterly gold sold totaled 364 000 oz, compared with 381 100 oz from a year before.

Revenue from gold sales came in at A$1.82-billion for the quarter ended September 30, compared with A$1.70-billion a year earlier. That missed the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of A$1.93-billion.

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Namibia tin producer Andrada Mining on Wednesday, October 21, reported a quadrupled-plus gross profit and an 80% revenue surge.

Supporting this high performance in the six months ended August 31 was a 13% increase in tin production and an effective 57% tin price increase to $52 131/t.

Revenue of this London Aim-listed Namibia-focused company rose to £20.6-million and gross profit to £8.3-million-plus, with the margin increasing to 40.3%.

Compared with a £3-million loss in the comparative period, an after-tax profit of £2.5-million was recorded, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation increasing to £4.5-million.

The £4.9-million cash generated from operations in the half-year exceeded financial year 2026's full-year cash generation of £4.7-million, with period-end cash reaching £15.6-million.

"These results mark a significant turning point for Andrada, with strong operational performance at Uis translating into a step-change in profitability and cash generation." Andrada CEO Anthony Viljoen pointed out in a media release to Mining Weekly.

The site of the opencast hard rock polymetallic Uis tin mine in Namibia's Erongo region, also hosts lithium and tantalum.

"We enter the second half of the financial year from a considerably stronger position with a critical minerals platform of three assets or value creators.

"We have demonstrated the earnings and cash-generation potential of the business. The priority now is to convert our funded investment programme and strategic partnerships into higher production, measurable project progress and sustainable shareholder value," Viljoen stated in a release to Mining Weekly.

The latest high performance has been achieved ahead of its next phase of production increase from fully funded plant upgrades that include the on-schedule ore-sorting circuit installation at Uis.

At the same time, two growth opportunities across tin, lithium, tungsten, copper and tantalum are being advanced by Andrada's partnerships with SQM at Lithium Ridge and BWCAM at Brandberg West.

The Lithium Ridge project is being advanced under a strategic earn-in partnership with SQM International, the lithium-producing subsidiary of Chilean mining company SQM, while Brandberg West is a tin and tungsten asset being developed in partnership with BWCAM, an affiliate of the private investment firm ACAM LP that entered into a funding agreement with Andrada to develop the Brandberg West copper/tungsten/tin project.

"Together with our renewed board, this gives Andrada a clear platform to execute on growth across all three assets," Viljoen explained.

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Gold tailings mining company DRDGOLD has reported a strong start to its 2027 financial year (FY27), with higher gold production, improved yields and stronger operating profit for the quarter ended September 30.

Gold production increased despite a 5% reduction in tonnage throughput to 6.2-million tonnes. Revenue increased by 31%, supported by a 14% increase in gold sold and a 14% improvement in the average rand gold price received.

"We've had a good start to the financial year, with higher gold production and with the gold price still working in our favour, allowing us to continue to invest in the future of the business," DRDGOLD CEO Niël Pretorius stated in a release to Mining Weekly.

DRDGOLD's Vision 2028 capital programme continued to advance, with major infrastructure projects approaching key delivery milestones. Growth capital expenditure decreased by 29% to R555.7-million as certain Vision 2028 projects progressed towards completion, while all-in costs declined by 10% to R1 562 538/kg.

By quarter-end, construction of the Regional Tailings Storage Facility at Far West Gold Recoveries (FWGR) was 77% complete, with 99% of the work required for beneficial occupation completed. The timing of occupation remains subject to regulatory approvals and favourable weather conditions.

The DP2 Plant expansion to double the monthly plant throughput to 1.2-million tonnes a month, is substantially complete, with commissioning scheduled for October 2026.

Construction of the Libanon reclamation station began in September, while Ergo's Daggafontein Tailings Storage Facility was commissioned in July.

Group cash operating costs increased by 12% quarter-on-quarter to R1.3-billion, mainly owing to higher reagent and diesel costs, the purchase and processing of higher-grade third-party material and increased labour and other costs at FWGR ahead of commissioning the DP2 Plant expansion and the elution and smelthouse facility.

DRDGOLD generated free cash inflow of R725.8-million during the quarter and ended September 2026 with cash and cash equivalents of R2.5-billion, after paying a final dividend of R1-billion for FY26.

The JSE–, A2X– and NYSE-listed DRDGOLD remained free of bank debt with the company's strong cash position allowing it to continue to fund its capital programme without taking on debt.

The group is also favourably positioned to consider an interim dividend in February next year.

DRDGOLD remains on track to achieve its FY27 production guidance of 160 000 oz to 170 000 oz of gold, with cash operating costs expected to remain within guidance of about R1 099 000/kg and all-in sustaining costs at about R1 230 000/kg.