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Gold Fields has more than doubled free cash flow in the last twelve months; Northern Star has suffered free cash flow decline in the same period despite gold price rise.

Gold Fields has a settled leadership team; Northern Star has a CEO, CFO and chief development officer transition underway during a period of project execution and delivery.

In Western Australia, where Gold Fields has a quarter-century experience, the assets of the two companies are close to one another, but the performance of one of Northern Star's assets is dependent on the extended ramp-up through financial year 2029 and the other is a long-term growth option that Gold Fields can accelerate.

Downstream processing is alsl key and the reserves of 92% of Northern Star's Western Australian assets are within 100 km of existing Gold Fields' processing infrastructure.

By combining the two complementary businesses, $4-billion to $5-billion worth of value is likely to be unlocked.

So, on September 13 submitted a proposal to the Northern Star board to acquire 100% of the ordinary shares in Northern Star by way of a scheme of arrangement that gives Northern Star a third of Gold Fields.

Then on September 26, the Australia Stock Exchange (ASX)-listed the Northern Star informed Gold Fields that it was not appropriate to engage in further discussions.

At the time of going to press, Gold Fields presentation document to be presented at the 2026 Mining Forum in Denver stated that: "There can be no certainty that any further engagements with Northern Star will materialise, or that a transaction will be successfully concluded."

But Gold Fields is not giving up, owing to the firm conviction that both companies will benefit significantly from the proposed transaction involving Northern Star shareholders owning 33% of the shares of Gold Fields and having a mix-and-match facility to enable them to elect to receive the default consideration, 100% cash or 100% shares.

Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Gold Fields would set out to establish a secondary listing on the ASX of the new Gold Fields shares issued to Northern Star shareholders.

This would give rise to output of 4.1-million ounces of gold a year, 80% of it from Australia and the rest from North America, Chile and South Africa. The combined entity would have 77-million ounces and 181-million resource ounces.

The contiguous Western Australian footprint allows access to higher-grade feed and reducing operating costs through lower haulage and processing costs. The combined group would also likely realise procurement, maintenance and tax synergies.

A growth pipeline of 800 000 oz a year is envisaged from value realisation at Hemi, in Western Australia, Salares Norte in Chile and and the advance of Windfall in Canada.

Forming a solid foundation under all this is Gold Fields' long-life South Deep gold mine in South Africa.

With Gold Fields' management currently in attendance at Mining Forum Americas, taking place until September 30, Mining Weekly put these questions to Gold Fields CFO Alex Dall and Gold Fields VP Investor Relations Shilan Modi.

Why do you describe your offer to Northern Star shareholders as compelling?

We believe that this proposed consideration appropriately affects both the quality of their portfolio and the value available through a combination of both businesses, and this proposal gives Northern Star shareholders an attractive premium, as well as 33% ownership of the combined group, which will provide ongoing participation and strategic and financial benefits. We see real substantial value creation opportunities from the combination, with preliminary estimates of $4-billion to $5-billion of operational corporate and portfolio optimisation synergies, and they'll be able to parti...

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.

Iron-ore major Fortescue's Christmas Creek Green Metal Project, which features mining technology specialist Metso's Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) Smelting Furnace technology, has produced its first hot metal in the Pilbara, Western Australia.

The project marks an important milestone for Fortescue and Metso in developing a pathway toward producing green metal from Pilbara iron-ore using new low-emission smelting technologies.

"This is a significant milestone for our Green Metal Project and another step towards producing commercial-scale green metal in Australia. For decades Australia has exported iron-ore to the world. The next opportunity is to create more value from that ore by producing green metal here at home," says Fortescue Metals CEO Dino Otranto.

Metso contributed the core smelting design and technology for the project with its electric DRI Smelting Furnace. The technology is being tested for its potential to enable the use of Pilbara iron-ore fines in lower-emission ironmaking routes. Installation of Metso's equipment commenced in September 2025.

"We congratulate Fortescue on this significant step forward. The production of first hot metal at the Christmas Creek Green Metal Project demonstrates the role of Metso's DRI Smelting Furnace technology in advancing lower-emission ironmaking. The project will provide important learnings as Fortescue works towards developing a pathway for green iron production at scale using Pilbara ore. We are proud to support Fortescue in this pioneering work," says Metso minerals president Piia Karhu.

Metso's DRI Smelting Furnace technology offers a route to producing high-quality iron units suitable for downstream steelmaking with lower emissions than conventional blast furnace routes.

The technology has been developed to unlock the utilisation of extensive iron-ore reserves for green ironmaking that have previously been considered unsuitable for the DRI steelmaking route owing to their higher gangue content.

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.

London-listed Rainbow Rare Earths has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Toronto-listed Neo Performance Materials for technical support and design input for Rainbow's final solvent extraction separation circuit.

Neo has started with testwork of Rainbow's high-grade rare earths solution at its facilities in Estonia.

Once completed, Neo will assist with running a confirmatory integrated pilot-scale separation plant in Johannesburg to support the Phalaborwa project's definitive feasibility study (DFS).

In return for the use of Neo's rare earth separation technology, Rainbow will grant offtake rights to Neo covering 40% of planned neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) production, and 65% of heavy rare earths production - including samarium, europium and gadolinium - from the Phalaborwa rare earths project, in South Africa.

Rainbow says working with Neo will enable the release of a prefeasibility study (PFS) on Phalaborwa during the fourth quarter, ahead of a DFS by the first half of 2027.

The final separation circuit of Phalaborwa is expected to deliver separated NdPr oxide at 99% purity and a mixed heavy rare earth carbonate containing dysprosium and terbium, suitable for further separation at Neo's facilities.

Rainbow CEO George Bennett says finalising a technology partner for the solvent extraction separation process was the remaining step required to complete the definition of the company's process to extract rare earths from phosphogypsum waste.

"We are delighted that Neo has agreed to partner with us - their deep understanding and experience in rare earth separation and magnet materials is invaluable. That they have taken the decision to partner with Rainbow is in line with an aligned strategy to secure a vital, verifiable source of the permanent magnet elements required to satisfy demand for a reliable, secure supply of rare earths," he adds.

Rainbow's decision to release a PFS will enable key project development activities to be initiated in earnest to support the overall timeline to production. It also supports Rainbow in evaluating the opportunity to list in the US.

"This partnership with Rainbow advances Neo's strategy to build a secure and resilient rare earth magnet supply chain supported by diverse, secondary sources of rare earth feedstock. Rainbow's Phalaborwa project is a distinctive opportunity with the potential to reach the market in a relatively short timeframe. Owing to the phosphogypsum already being at surface, it requires no new mining and provides for a lower development risk profile than many greenfield projects," explains Neo president and CEO Rahim Suleman.

Suleman concludes that by combining Rainbow's expertise in recovering rare earths from phosphogypsum with Neo's decades of experience in rare earth separation, processing and magnet manufacturing allows both teams to jointly optimise the process from recovery through final separation, while providing customers with the secure, traceable supply chains that critical minerals markets increasingly demand.

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 Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) has reported a fourth mineworker having been killed at Sibanye-Stillwater's operations this year, which adds to the national mining fatality figure of 52 so far this year.

A mineworker was reportedly found with a severe head injury at the Beatrix gold mine, in the Free State, on September 21, where he worked for Sibanye directly as a winch operator.

AMCU says the cause of the incident remains unclear and it awaits the outcome of an investigation into all underlying and contributing factors.

The union reiterates its clarion call for better enforcement, particularly in respect of glaring malpractices when it comes to disparity between practices at mines themselves compared to those at subcontracting companies operating at mines. AMCU maintains that core mining work should be performed directly by employed mineworkers and that contractors should be used only for genuinely specialised work that requires expertise that is otherwise not reasonably available within the mine's permanent workforce.

"The continued outsourcing of core mining work can create gaps in accountability, supervision, training, experience and health and safety standards. The Mine Health and Safety Act must be amended to strengthen enforcement and hold mine bosses personally accountable when their failures expose mineworkers to preventable harm," says AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer says Valterra platinum is noting some big gains of Jameson cell deployment; he talks about Thakadu’s new nickel sulphate product for use in lithium-ion battery manufacturing; and he notes that the National Research Foundation and Mintek will be