MiningWeekly.com Audio Articles

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer tells us about how AI is helping to develop alloys for use in new applications; the study that’s shown that there is considerable room to increase mining’s innovation intensity; and Sasol’s PEM electrolyser that was recently launched.

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.

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reports that mining production decreased by 4% year-on-year in June, with the largest negative contributor being platinum group metals (PGMs), which recorded a decline of 8.4% year-on-year, contributing -2.4 percentage points.

Coal production decreased by 6.6% and contributed -1.7 percentage points, while iron-ore production declined by 10.2% and contributed -1.5 percentage points.

Seasonally adjusted mining production increased by 0.3% in June compared with May. This followed month-on-month changes of -5.2% in May and 3% in April.

Seasonally adjusted mining production decreased by 2.7% in the second quarter of this year compared with the first quarter.

The largest negative contributor was PGMs, which declined by 6.4% and contributed -1.8 percentage points.

Manganese ore production declined by 5.3% quarter-on-quarter and contributed -0.4 of a percentage point, while gold declined by 3.2% and contributed -0.3 of a percentage point.

Additionally, seasonally adjusted iron-ore production declined by 2% quarter-on-quarter and contributed -0.3 of a percentage point.

Meanwhile, mineral sales at current prices increased by 27.2% year-on-year in June.

The largest positive contributors were gold, which increased by 125.7% and contributed 17.1 percentage points; PGMs, which increased by 27% and contributed 7.3 percentage points; and chromium ore, which increased by 49% and contributed 3.7 percentage points.

Iron-ore, however, declined by 16.1% and contributed -1.7 percentage points and 'other' non-metallic minerals declined by 35.5% and contributed -1.3 percentage points. These were the only negative contributors.

Stats SA adds that seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices increased by 2.7% in June compared with May. This followed month-on-month changes of -4.4% in May and 3.1% in April.

Seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices decreased by 1.6% in the second quarter of this year compared with the first quarter.

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.

ASX-listed Brazilian Rare Earths' newly published scoping study on the Rocha da Rocha rare earths project, in Brazil, particularly its anchor Monte Alto deposit, finds the potential for life-of-mine average production of 5 276 t/t of neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) oxide and 2 253 t/y of heavy rare earth concentrate, containing about 247 t of dysprosium and terbium and 989 t of yttrium.

This scale positions Brazilian Rare Earths as a potential leading supplier for a growing market that needs more heavy rare earth feedstocks.

The company identified the Rocha da Rocha's flagship deposit, Monte Alto, in February 2024 and deems it the anchor of a broader critical minerals province with the potential to become one of the most important new sources of rare earth supply globally.

Monte Alto's primary and residual mineralisation averages 11.3% total rare earth oxides, which gives Brazilian Rare Earths a high-grade structural advantage that few rare earth projects can match globally.

The scoping study reports an after-tax net present value of $7.9-billion, an after-tax internal rate of return of 89% and a payback period of 1.1 years. The Monte Alto operation can generate life-of-mine average yearly earnings of about $1.37-billion.

CEO and MD Bernardo da Veiga says the high grades at Monte Alto changes the entire development equation, since fewer tonnes, a smaller mining footprint and lower processing intensity is economically viable.

The scoping study finds Rocha da Rocha to be the lowest-cost non-Chinese rare earth project and the second-lowest-cost project globally on Benchmark Mineral Intelligence's rare earth cost curve at $21/kg of NdPr-equivalent, before potential future cost credits from uranium, scandium, nobium and other co-products.

The company has determined a simple initial development strategy focused on a seperated NdPr oxide and a heavy rare earths-rich concentrate containing significant amounts of dysprosium, terbium, yttrium and gadolinium.

Brazilian Rare Earths says uranium is being advanced as a strategic co-product and future value pathway, while scandium, nobium and tantalum provide additional upside for future studies.

"The key point for shareholders is that the initial scoping study investment case does not rely on the suite of critical mineral co-products. It is built on high-grade Monte Alto feedstock, a simple beneficiation pathway and the production of rare earth products that global customers urgently need," Da Veiga explains.

Monte Alto will be designed as a small-footprint mine site operation using dry crushing, screening and sensor-based ore sorting, with no chemical processing at the mine site. Upgraded feed will be transported to the company's planned Camaçari refinery hub, located within an established industrial complex with access to infrastructure, utilities, reagents, industrial services, logistics and skilled labour.

This unique hub-and-spoke model allows us to keep the mine site operations to a minimum while locating more complex hydrometallurgical and separation activities in an established industrial environment.

Having signed a binding ten-year offtake and engineering, and technical services agreement with French rare earth processor Carester in October last year, Brazilian Rare Earths says Carester's role in the scoping study further strengthens the development pathway of Monte Alto. Carester's downstream seperation work supports the production of high-purity NdPr oxide and a heavy rare earths-rich concentrate.

Da Veiga says the significance of this scoping study is not simply that Rocha da Rocha generates compelling economics across this wide range of price scenarios, rather, its greater importance is that it highlights a unique combination of project str...

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.

A Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Ministerial Order banning the export of copper and cobalt concentrates, which also introduces a new tax regime, is unlikely to have a material impact on either the global copper or cobalt market, but could add a near-term risk premium to copper prices while details of the policy are clarified, BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, posits.

On August 6, Reuters reported that the DRC has banned exports of copper and cobalt concentrates, citing a joint Ministerial order dated June 29, signed by Mines Minister Louis Kabamba Watum, Foreign Trade Minister Julien Paluku Kahongya and Economy Minister Daniel Mukoko Samba.

The order, which was later released publicly by the DRC Ministry of Mines, states that 'the export of copper and cobalt concentrates is prohibited' and takes effect immediately, although one-year waivers may be granted under 'strategic circumstances.'

The order also introduces a new tax regime for economically significant mining by-products, with a three-month transition period.

BMI explains that since the mid-2010s, the DRC has operated a de facto ban on exports of unbeneficiated copper and cobalt concentrates, with ad hoc exemptions granted to select mining companies where domestic processing capacity was insufficient or where said companies committed to investing in local processing.

"We therefore interpret the new policy as a shift to a de jure ban with tighter rules around waivers and exemptions on the export of concentrates," the company avers.

For copper, about 13% of the DRC's copper exports last year were contained in concentrates, with most of the rest exported as refined copper cathodes, BMI points out.

The former equates to about 400 000 t of copper metal, or about 1.7% of global copper mine production, it elaborates.

"While a loss of this magnitude has the potential to push the delicate copper market balance into deficit, we note that the DRC should have some spare capacity to smelt additional copper concentrates domestically, given the recent commissioning of the Kamoa-Kakula smelter, which has a nameplate capacity of 500 000 t/y," BMI predicts.

Currently, the Kamoa-Kakula mine is producing copper feedstock well below the smelter's nameplate capacity, owing to the residual impact of a seismic incident last year, which caused much of the underground mine to flood.

Therefore, there is a possibility for Kamoa-Kakula's owners, Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining, to allow neighbouring copper mines to process concentrates at the Kamoa-Kakula smelter if those miners are unable to negotiate waivers with Kinshasa, provided spare capacity exists and third-party feed is technically and commercially viable, BMI hypothesises.

It notes that Ivanhoe themselves smelt a portion of their copper concentrate output at the nearby Lualaba copper smelter, which is 60% owned by Mainland China's CNMC.

"For this reason, we are not yet revising down our DRC copper mine production forecasts for this year or 2027, which we have already revised down this year following the aforementioned disruption at Kamoa-Kakula," the company reassures.

Meanwhile, it says that, for cobalt, the ban is "even less impactful than for copper".

According to trade data published by the Congolese authorities, almost all cobalt that leaves the DRC leaves as cobalt hydroxide, an intermediate product after concentrate but before battery-grade cobalt, the company explains.

The more important policy constraint remains the quota system introduced after the temporary cobalt export ban last year, it adds.

The DRC has set cobalt export quotas at 96 000 t for this year, including a 10% strategic allocation, equivalent to less than half the DRC's cobalt exports in 2024.

"As a result, the concentrate ban shou...

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.

US-based think tank Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) outlines in its latest report 'India's looming iron-ore challenge' how the country may not have enough access to the right quality of ore for its ambitious steelmaking expansion plans.

IEEFA says how India sources imported iron-ore and how much domestic ore it upgrades could shape the country's steelmaking technology choices, as well as influence India's dependence on imported coking coal and the pace of steel decarbonisation.

Under India's proposed National Steel Policy 2025, the government aims to more than double crude steel production capacity to 400-million tonnes by 2035/36 while cutting the sector's emissions intensity and reliance on coking coal.

India produced about 289-million tonnes of iron-ore in the 2024/25 financial year, making it the world's fourth-largest producer, however, about 66.5% of India's remaining resources are medium- and low-grade ore that requires beneficiation.

Expanding the country's 27 beneficiation plants' capacity from 136-million tonnes a year to 170-million tonnes a year by 2030 will require about $5.7-billion of investment, alongside supportive policy such as reduced royalties for beneficiated low-grade ore.

Many Indian ores also carry high alumina levels. IEEFA says every 1% rise in alumina lifts coke consumption by 2.2% and cuts blast furnace productivity by 4%.

"India's iron-ore challenge is shifting from securing sufficient supply to securing the right quality of ore needed for an expanding and lower-emissions steel industry. As iron-ore imports become more important for the country, the type of ore it sources could influence technology choices and thereby the pace of steel decarbonisation and long-term dependence on imported coking coal," IEEFA report author Saumya Nautiyal elaborates.

With global suppliers increasingly producing premium direct reduction-grade feedstocks and green iron, India should evaluate future iron-ore sourcing through the lens of technology, energy security and industrial competitiveness, and not simply cost.

IEEFA stresses that upgrading domestic ore should be at the centre of India's strategy, but with more than 357-million tonnes of steelmaking capacity under development, imports of premium ore will also grow. Nautiyal says the grades that India chooses to import will shape steelmaking technologies it locks in and how exposed the sector stays to coking coal.

He points out how the higher grade iron-ore shift is already reshaping corporate strategy. On Tata Steel's fourth-quarter earnings call, CE T.V. Narendran set out a post-2030 raw material approach built on securing domestic mining leases, expanding production where ore is available, and evaluating imported ore to complement domestic supply. Tata Steel has already trialed imported Canadian iron-ore, with Narendran noting that lower-alumina ores can deliver better value in use, particularly for its expanding coastal plants.

Globally, demand growth is moving from a maturing China towards emerging producers, including Southeast Asia and India. Iron-ore giant Vale has identified India as a strategic growth market and the Australian government forecasts India's iron-ore imports rising from three-million tonnes in 2025 to 50-million tonnes by 2031.

The head of raw materials at Jindal Steel estimates that producing around 220-million tonnes of steel by 2030 would require roughly 500-million tonnes of iron-ore, leaving a potential 40-million tonne gap even after planned mine expansions.

Beyond Australia, Brazil is well positioned to benefit from India's shift towards lower-emissions steelmaking, given its abundant high-grade iron ore resources and growing production of direct reduction-grade feedstock...