Modern Mining June 2018

MINING News

A spirited defence of the coal industry was delivered by Andre Boje, CEO of Minergy, at the recent Botswana Resource Sector Conference (BRSC) in Gaborone, Botswana. Boje said that coal still accounted for 41 % of global electricity generation and 29 % of primary energy demand and predicted that it would continue to play an important role in delivering energy access long into the future. He noted that there were currently 1 600 coal-fired power stations either being planned or under construction in 62 countries which would, without older plant decommis- Botswana’s coal potential highlighted at BRSC sioning, expand the world’s coal-fired capacity by 43 %. On the environmental impact of coal, he said the coal industry had worked for decades on clean coal technologies such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and High Efficiency Low Emission (HELE). He added that modern coal-fired power plants using these technologies had reduced emissions to levels comparable to gas-fired powered plants. Boje said that Botswana’s coal reserves – which were of high-quality and economical to mine – were estimated to be in excess of

200 billion tons. He argued that the lack of development of these reserves was in part due to the focus on power-related rather than coal-specific projects and pointed out that power generation and coal mining were two separate industries. Citing missed oppor tunities for Botswana coal, he told his audience that Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) in South Africa had a capacity of 82 Mt/a but that only 75 Mt had been railed in 2017 due to coal shortages. He said that Botswana could have taken advantage of the 7 Mt shortfall to export coal, in the process creating more than 1 000 jobs and earn- ing revenue of US$525 million, as well as royalties of US$12,6 million and taxes of US$14 million. Minergy, which listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange in 2017, is well advanced with its Masama coal project, located 50 km north of Gaborone on the south-western edge of the Mmamabula coalfield. Minergy is developing Masama as a 2,4 Mt/a open- cast coal mine with the product earmarked for regional markets, including Botswana and South Africa. A wash plant for the project has been ordered and a mining contractor appointed and first saleable coal is expected in Q4 2018. Boje has a long record in the coal industry. In 1997 he founded Chandler Coal in South Africa which listed on the JSE in 2005 as Wescoal. He served as CEO of Wescoal, now a successful mid-tier pro- ducer, until 2015.  maximise the value of this extraordinary deposit – all at a time when the interest in palladium, the project’s primary metal, is increasing.” The recent infill drilling has intersected areas of 40 to 100 m of vertical thickness with palladium, platinum, gold and rho- dium mineralisation as anticipated in the ‘Super F’ areas of the current resource model. The recent intercepts compare favourably to the mine plan in an indepen- dent Pre-Feasibility Study for the project published in October, 2016. Current Platinum Group Element prob- able reserves at the Waterberg project are 12,3 Moz, consisting of 61 % palladium, 30 % platinum, 8 % gold and 1 % rhodium plus 191 million and 333 million pounds of copper and nickel respectively. 

Pictured on the Minergy stand at the recent Botswana Resource Sector Conference held in Gaborone are some of the company’s senior executives. They are (from left) Martin Bartle, Andre Boje (CEO), Lynette Kruger and John Astrup (photo: Minergy).

Waterberg DFS progressing according to plan Platinum Group Metals, listed on the TSX and NYSE American, says that work on a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) being completed by Waterberg JV Resources (Pty) Ltd, with the company serving as operator, and with input from Implats and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), is proceeding according to plan.

the latest drilling, in calendar Q3 2018. This new resource model will form the basis for mine planning and reserve estima- tion in the DFS. The DFS remains on-track for completion at the end of calendar Q1 2019. Independent engineering for the DFS is underway by the jointly appointed engineering firms Stantec Consulting International and DRA Projects SA along with input from technical specialists from each of the joint venture partners. Comments R. Michael Jones, CEO of Platinum Group: “We have successfully completed the infill drill programme and we are working very closely with all our partners, stakeholders and engineers to

The latest phase of 38 000 m of infill drilling has been completed safely and on budget, bringing the total drill test- ing completed on the project to date to approximately 346 000 m. The company plans to publish an updated resource model and technical report for the Waterberg project, including results from

10  MODERN MINING  June 2018