Page 28 - Energize February 2021

VIEWS AND OPINION

Mines push on as SA

plays catch-up

by Ralf Hennecke, BME

The South African mining
sector is managing the
Covid-19 pandemic

remarkably well, but the
country needs to do more
if it wants mining to benefit
from the looming demand
peak in “green minerals”.

he recent African Mining Indaba has highlighted that mines have been
highly successful in containing Covid-19 infections, allowing most
operations to return to almost normal production levels. This was vital to
Tpreserving operations and jobs, and to make the most of improved
metal prices.
With the global drive to decarbonisation, there is a great future for commodities
like the platinum group metals, copper, cobalt, and lithium. Demand is growing as
the regulation of carbon emissions tightens internationally and 2025 has been cited
as a likely peak.
Unfortunately, South Africa is unlikely to gain the full benefit of this trend, with
only 1% of the world’s exploration budget being spent in the country.
With insufficient exploration and development over recent years, we are
behind the curve. The hope is that we can catch up to some extent if our
investment environment can be made more attractive – to realise the value of our
mineral assets.
The trend towards a low-carbon future – a key theme at the Mining Indaba –
was also affecting the prospects for coal, with major miners announcing significant
withdrawals from this segment. This has the effect of fragmenting the local coal
sector, although there were still many years of coal production demanded by the
country’s coal-fired generation base.
The utility will rely on a combination of large and small players, but this sector is
undeniably under considerable pressure as many parts of the world move away from
fossil fuel power generation. Local players will need to maintain high levels of
efficiency if they are to continue exporting their higher-grade coal competitively.
The focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues at the Mining
Indaba had also included mines’ own efforts to lower their carbon footprint, a
direction in which they were also expecting their suppliers to move. While the field of
blasting was not a large contributor to emissions, BME’s bulk emulsion explosives
were already relatively low-carbon products. The company’s research and
development is making steady progress in the quest for carbon-free blasting. n

Contact BME, Tel 011 709-8888, info@bme.co.za

energize | February 2021 | 26