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Mining's future will not be built only by the largest companies. Even though major mining houses are economically critical, history has shown that discoveries are usually made by optimists, entrepreneurs, and explorers.

Every operating mine started as an idea, a map, a drill programme, and a group of people prepared to take a risk when success was still uncertain.

Junior Indaba chairperson Bernard Swanepoel pointed out in opening of the vibrant junior mining event on Tuesday, June 9. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

"We meet at a fascinating moment. The world's becoming more fragmented, supply chains are being redrawn, nations are competing for access to minerals, capital is becoming more selective, and yet Africa's mineral endowment has never been more strategically important.

"So, the question is no longer whether Africa has the resources. The question is whether we can create the conditions that allow investment, discovery, and development to flourish," Swanepoel said amid the event's reiteration of today's world in all likelihood requiring significantly more mining than seen in recent decades, which is where junior mining companies have a fantastic opportunity to play increasingly catalytic roles.

Junior mining companies were urged to forge ahead with even greater determination.

"South Africa, in particular, faces a choice: we can continue debating our challenges, or we can become globally competitive again.

"Investors have options. Exploration capital is mobile, and I would say fickle. Good intentions are not enough. Competitiveness matters," Swanepoel pointed out during the event covered by Mining Weekly.

He expressed the strong hope that there would be a move beyond diagnosis and that the Junior Indaba would trigger partnership, project funding and new mines against the background of mining ultimately a business of faith, patience, and perseverance, that at times required participants to take themselves completely out of their comfort zones.

The event stretched out to draw in the viewpoints of the in-person and online audience with the first poll undertaken putting the question of what Africa lacks most when it comes to junior mining stimulation and these voting options: policy certainty, investment, more collaboration, or projects.

The lot fell overwhelmingly on policy certainty indicating that governments, in particular, have a central role to play in creating a conducive environment for mining investment.

Also wanted is regulatory efficiency and licensing processes that are transparent, predictable, and responsive.

While a modern cadastral system will not solve every challenge, it was made clear that a globally competitive exploration industry cannot be built without one.

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 precious metals and copper developer McEwen has confirmed in a prefeasibility study (PFS) on the Grey Fox project its viability to become a major source of ore for the Fox Complex and play a key role in increasing the group's production near Timmins, in Ontario.

With the addition of Grey Fox, gold production at the Fox Complex is anticipated to reach 100 000 oz in 2029 and average 87 000 oz/y from 2028 through 2041.

This production growth will support the company's near-term objective of increasing total yearly production to between 250 000 and 300 000 gold equivalent ounces across its portfolio by 2030.

McEwen also has a stake in the advanced-stage Los Azules copper development project in Argentina, as well as gold and silver projects in various stages of development or production in Nevada, Manitoba and Mexico.

Using a gold price assumption of $4 000/oz and a silver price assumption of $50/oz, the PFS confirms production from Grey Fox will generate sufficient cash flow to self-fund production growth with limited to no share dilution.

Grey Fox will benefit from the combination of using the company's existing Stock mill and tailings facilities, along with its existing workforce.

Grey Fox will extend the Fox Complex mine life by 15 years to 2041, with mine reserves totalling about 40% of the current resources - which leaves opportunity for further extension of the mine life.

The project can contribute an average 43 000 oz to the Fox Complex's production every year from 2028 to 2035.

From 2035 to 2040, Grey Fox will become the sole source of production, averaging 87 000 oz/y before tapering off in 2041. For comparison, the Fox Complex production guidance for 2026 is set at between 16 000 oz and 19 000 oz.

The PFS outlines an initial capital expenditure requirement of $181-million for Grey Fox, which McEwen says can be funded primarily from treasury and operating cash flow. The capital requirements can be divided as $17-million in 2026, $60-million in 2027, $80-million in 2028 and $24-million in 2029.

Grey Fox can reach this production at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of $2 212/oz over the life-of-mine, at a gold price of $3 000/oz as the base case scenario. In a higher price scenario of $4 500/oz, AISC will amount to $2 421/oz.

At the lower end price scenario, Grey Fox has an after-tax net present value of $282-million, an internal rate of return (IRR) of 25% and a payback period of 4.6 years. In the higher gold price scenario, Grey Fox is valued at $841-million after tax, IRR increases to 55% and the payback period reduces to 2.3 years.

McEwen plans to mine Grey Fox through a combination of two independent underground operations accessed from two portals. The mineral zones will be mined using a longhole mining method supplemented with cut and fill mining. The Stock mill will process both the Grey Fox ores and the Stock mine ores, with expected recovery rates of 87.5% based on laboratory testing.

The company has advised that development at Grey Fox will require amendments to the current operating permits within the Fox Complex. For example, water permit and closure plan amendments will be initiated in the coming weeks.

With the small footprint and existing facilities at the Fox Complex, McEwen is targeting receipt of permits for development work at Grey Fox within 12 to 18 months.

The company will also be evaluating optimisation opportunities to increase cash flow from the project, incorporate new mineralisation as exploration progresses and examine opportunities to reduce initial capital requirements.

The next steps at Grey Fox include detailed engineering and ordering of long-lead items and submitting water permit and closure plan amendments. McEwen targets a constructi...

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.

Green hydrogen, which is produced with the help of platinum group metals (PGMs) could become the catalyst for new green iron, green steel, green chemicals and beneficiation industries built on South Africa's mineral and renewable energy advantages.

"The real prize is not hydrogen — it's industrialisation. The opportunity is significant if South Africa can align infrastructure, investment and skills development," Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy president Gary Lane pointed out on LinkedIn in response to Mining Weekly's report on June 5 about South Africa's green hydrogen and power-to-x (PtX) project development standard (PDS).

Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau and Electricity and Energy Deputy Minister Samantha Graham-Maré officially launched the PtX PDS on May 19 during the World Hydrogen Summit in Rotterdam.

The initiative is described as marking an important step in strengthening South Africa's pipeline of credible, investment-ready green hydrogen and PtX projects by Just Energy Transition Implementation Plan Programme Management Office stakeholder specialist Collins Nyamadzawo.

The standard introduces a structured and transparent process through which project developers can demonstrate technical, commercial, financial, and operational readiness through the standardised questionnaire and assessment platform aligned with investor and development finance institution expectations.

PGMs are key in electrolysers that turn water into green hydrogen and then also key in turning hydrogen back into green electricity for green steel, green cement, green chemicals, data centres, AI, off-grid communities, and many other products.

In Namibia, Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, which has announced a strategic partnership with GIZ Namibia, is inviting qualified firms or consortia to submit proposals for the development of an enterprise and supplier development programme tailored specifically for Namibia's emerging green hydrogen industry. Hyphen is committed to ensuring that Namibia's green energy future is built and benefits Namibian enterprises.

Kenya has reportedly approved 15 projects targeting a combined 5 GW of captive renewable energy generation, marking the East African country's move to enter the global hydrogen economy. The initiatives are designed to leverage Kenya's energy mix, which already derives over 90% of its power from renewable sources like geothermal, wind, and solar to develop entirely new industrial value chains. Specifically, these projects will focus on the local production of green ammonia and zero-emission fertilisers, sustainable aviation fuel, methanol, and hydrogen-based green steel. By prioritising these sectors, Kenya aims to spark export-led industrialisation and establish itself as a primary supplier within the emerging global clean-energy supply chain, moving from a position of strategic leadership rather than from the margins.

As the world looks beyond batteries alone, PGMs are once again becoming a strategic conversation, it was stated in a release on June 8 to publicise Zimbabwe's upcoming Zimbabwe Mining Week, the special focus of which will be the future of PGMs in a hydrogen economy amid the next chapter of the energy transition beginning with platinum.

To support the automotive sector's energy transition, Toyota South Africa has announced that it will invest R10.4-billion in KwaZulu-Natal to strengthen local manufacturing for a more sustainable future. Toyota North America, meanwhile, plans to deploy hydrogen fuel cell-powered Class 8 trucks in its commercial logistics fleets by early 2027. The automotive company has also signed an agreement with Air Liquide for the supply hydrogen fuel for the company's growing fleet. The brand-new Toyota ...

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 clear example of why mining project valuation should be dynamic is the Cerro Caliche project, in Mexico, which can have its net present value (NPV) valuation increase by $253-million using updated commodity prices, says analytics platform Stormlands Mining.

Using its AI-first mining valuation platform to model project economics from publicly available technical information, Stormlands is able to create an illustrative economic model on projects, which takes into account current commodity prices.

Stormlands finds in a new independent case study on Cerro Caliche that the project's after-tax NPV increases to $475-million using current commodity prices, compared with the project owner Sonoro Gold Corporation's last technical report (December 2025) determining a $224-million NPV and Stormlands' own base case modelling NPV of $222-million.

The updated case study uses a gold price of $4 877/oz and a silver price of $74.92/oz.

Estimated revenue generation by the project increases from $1.6-billion in Stormlands' base case scenario to $2.2-billion under the updated commodity price scenario. Life-of-mine (LoM) earnings also increase from $726-million in the base case scenario to $1.35-billion in the updated scenario, while the modelled payback period improves from one year and seven months to 11 months.

Stormlands demonstrates in its Cerro Caliche case study the project's sensitivity to key economic drivers – firstly gold prices, followed by operating costs, recovery assumptions and mine scheduling.

For example, a 10% reduction in operating costs increases the modelled NPV to $255-million while a 10% increase in operating costs reduces the NPV to $189-million.

Stormlands finds that, in Cerro Caliche's case, capital cost sensitivity is more limited, reflecting the relatively modest capital intensity of the proposed heap leach development, compared with the project's LoM revenue base.

Stormlands CEO Róisín O'Connell says a technical report provides a base case for a gold project but the economics of one can change materially as commodity prices move.

"In this published case study, we have only updated the commodity price assumptions, while keeping the mine plan, costs, recoveries, capital and fiscal assumptions unchanged. Even that single change has a material impact on valuation," he explains.

The broader point is that Stormlands' models are built to "go further" than static technical report numbers. Once the model is structured, users can test changes across the full project economics – from grades, recoveries, throughput, operating costs and capital costs, through to royalties, fiscal regimes, financing assumptions, inflation and discount rates.

"By rebuilding the model and making those assumptions dynamic, we can see in real time how the project behaves under current market conditions and where the real value drivers sit," O'Connell explains.

He motivates that public technical reports contain the data required to build robust economic models, but those models need to be updateable and comparable if they are to support better decision-making.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses the new online mining licensing system that has begun with Western Cape applications; Sam Molefi's Modi Mining operation; and PyroFuZA, which sees a positive value-add future for South Africa.