Modern Mining May 2025

Smart investment supports productive and future-ready mining operations.

Alternative financing models are also becoming more common. We’re seeing a rise in royalty financing, streaming agreements, and hybrid debt equity structures, all of which provide flexibility for miners looking to raise capital. These options allow companies to access funding without overloading their balance sheets, making them an attractive alternative or complement to traditional bank debt. Which commodities does Nedbank see as gaining development traction in the next two years? Why is this? Copper is the standout. Demand is set to exceed supply, and when that happens, prices will rise. Copper is essential for electrification, power grids, renewable energy, and electric vehicles. It’s a metal the world cannot do without, and as the green energy transition gains momentum, the need for copper is only going to increase. There’s also a growing interest in green copper - copper mined using renewable energy. While there isn’t yet an official market for it, the expectation is that miners who can prove their copper is produced sustainably will be able to demand a premium. Gold remains a strong investment case. It’s always been a safe-haven asset, and that’s not changing. PGMs are also worth watching. Toyota recently announced a shift away from fully electric vehicles to plug-in hybrids, which still require catalytic converters, meaning they still need PGMs. Two years ago, the expectation was that PGMs would decline as EV adoption increased. Now, with this shift in strategy from one of the biggest automakers in the world, it’s clear that PGMs still have a long runway ahead.

Commercial bank debt is still one of the cheapest and most sustainable forms of capital available

While there is a push for mining houses to meet the sustainability agenda, is this really taking place on the ground? Are mining houses, especially junior miners, really committed to ESG? ESG compliance in mining is not just a corporate buzzword, it’s a hard requirement, particularly for publicly listed companies. If a miner is listed on a major stock exchange like the TSX, ASX, LSE, or JSE, they don’t have a choice; they have to comply with strict governance frameworks, or they won’t get investor backing. Institutional capital is demanding ESG alignment, and for publicly traded mining companies, this has been the reality for some time. That said, the conversation around ESG has become a lot louder in recent years. It’s not that sustainability in mining is a new concept, companies have been working on it for decades, but the focus on publicly demonstrating ESG efforts has intensified. Investors want more transparency, regulators are tightening oversight, and communities are holding mining houses accountable in ways that weren’t as visible before. The real question is whether ESG commitments on paper translate into action. The short answer is that for listed miners, they are implementing ESG in a real and measurable way. A good example is the Motheo Copper Project in Botswana, developed by Sandfire Resources. Sandfire is listed on the ASX, which means they are bound by the strict ESG regulations of the Australian market. Over and above that, the project operates under Botswana’s mining laws, which have their own sustainability requirements. And because commercial banks fund the project, additional ESG conditions have been

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