Adam Davidson, CEO of Trident Royalties, discusses offtake milestones and catalysts to boost FY24. Watch the video here.
“Unlocking the national grid at speed and scale is key, in the PCC’s view, to vast swaths of the transition (including many “just” elements), and funding in the implementation plan should be aligned with National Treasury’s evolving policy, paying particular attention to the need to simplify the public-private partnerships for financing of infrastructure.”
SOCIAL OWNERSHIP MODELS
Olver also stressed that the PCC was keen for new social ownership models to be facilitated in the generation sector, as new renewable energy, battery storage and other peaking capacity was introduced.
He said that various stakeholders, but especially labour, were concerned about the dominant role of the private sector in the evolving electricity supply industry and that alternative ownership models should also be “nursed” under the JET-IP.
The report notes that, while the JET-IP flags the importance of energy affordability for development, it says very little about how this will be secured through social ownership models, notwithstanding the opportunity that will be created by the PCC’s estimate that between 50 GW and 60 GW of new renewables will be required by 2030 to stabilise South Africa’s electricity supply.
“[It] is important to consider how the JET-IP could better address the ownership balance in the context of institutional constraints in terms of electricity generation, financing, and a lack of transparency.”
The PCC acknowledges that social forms of ownership are unlikely to match the scale of private investment in the coming five to ten years.
“Nevertheless, even if relatively small, the coming five-year window should see some increased focus in an implementation plan that allows nongovernmental organisations and unions to work to deliver this – while government creates a conducive environment for the creation, operation and funding of wider ownership models.”
Meanwhile, Olver was relatively sanguine about the ability of South Africa to meet its decarbonisation commitments, despite the likelihood of the coal decommissioning schedule being revised in light of intense loadshedding and the low prospect of alternative capacity being added in time to close the supply gap.
He indicated that the poor performance of the coal fleet meant that South Africa was already in line with the decarbonisation trajectory outlined in its Nationally Determined Contribution and that delaying the dead-stop date of certain units was, thus, almost immaterial.
That said, the least-cost solution for South Africa would be to close the coal units in line with their dead-stop dates, as it was extremely expensive to extend their life further.
In addition, once South Africa added sufficient new renewables, storage and peaking capacity, Olver believed there might be potential to “opportunistically” close more expensive coal units down ahead of their official decommissioning dates.
Https://www.miningweekly.com/article/climate-commission-recommends-grid-ppps-to-speed-up-just-energy-transition-2023-05-15
The Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) is recommending that alternative investment models, including public-private partnerships (PPPs), be explored to expand and strengthen South Africa’s electricity grid “at speed and scale”, given the centrality of the grid to unlocking the energy transition, as well as the just components of the transition.
However, it also stresses that there is no intention to privatise the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTC), which is in the process of being established as a separate entity under Eskom Holdings.
Instead, the proposal is that the private sector help finance, build and operate new grid infrastructure under the ownership and control of the NTC.
“Grid capacity is a national priority to solve, not only for our transition needs, but also for our short-term emergency to solve loadshedding,” the PCC says in ‘A Critical Appraisal of South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan’, or JET-IP.
The report, which has been drafted following three months of intensive public consultation with labour, business and community stakeholders, argues that the grid should be the key focus of the JET-IP in the coming five years and that the implementation plan should be fully aligned with Eskom’s Transmission Development Plan, or TDP.
The JET-IP implementation plan is currently being finalised and is expected to be published soon, drawing on the recommendations arising from the consultation process, during which stakeholders also agreed that the just elements of the plan had been inadequately prioritised and that sections on skills development, economic diversification, mine rehabilitation and worker support should be substantially reviewed, and investments increased.
In addition, the PCC recommends that the electric vehicle and green hydrogen components of the plan be located within a national industrial strategy which sets out fiscal incentives and enabling infrastructure to grow the sectors, rather than to use the JET-IP as a replacement for such policy support.
On the transmission network, the PCC says the JET-IP needs to clearly indicate how the grid expansion will be financed, despite the constraints on public sector funding.
“It may be worth exploring alternative models for new investments in the State-owned transmission grid,” PCC secretariat executive director Dr Crispian Olver said at the report’s release.
The report notes that PPP funding models, with appropriate risk sharing, have been proven effective globally and in Africa and “can be a highly bankable, solid credit investment for the private sector”.
It also notes that National Treasury called for a PPP transmission development model to be explored urgently in the February Budget.
Https://twitter.com/BushveldMin_Ltd/status/1656990763329236996?s=20
Our CEO, Fortune Mojapelo was interviewed by the Proactive Investors platform, on the back of our announcement on 5 May 2023, relating to a proposed refinancing agreement with Orion. #vanadium #bmn
Watch the full interview here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekI_p9q6SeE&ab_channel=ProactiveInvestors
Not sure what's wrong with the link description so I copied the text in case people think it's the wrong link.
https://www.miningweekly.com/article/iron-ore-struggles-below-100t-as-deeper-q2-losses-feared-2023-05-08
Iron-ore futures rebounded strongly on Monday, with the Singapore benchmark climbing back above $100/t after a downbeat start to the week, buoyed by hopes of improvement in demand for steel in China.
Expectations for fresh stimulus measures have grown following a surprise contraction in China's manufacturing PMI and a slowing growth momentum for service activity in April, which provided further evidence of an uneven recovery for the world's No. 2 economy and biggest steel producer.
"Disappointing construction, manufacturing, and now even services PMI will have given the government serious cause for concern," Navigate Commodities managing director Atilla Widnell said.
China's housing regulator, for one, has tightened governance of real estate agents by ordering them to lower commissions, which Widnell said was a move that could be construed as an attempt to support the struggling domestic property sector.
Iron ore's most-traded June contract on the Singapore Exchange rose as much as 7% to $105.70 a tonne, after shedding 1.7% to $97.05 earlier in the session.
On China's Dalian Commodity Exchange, the steelmaking ingredient's benchmark September contract ended daytime trade 5% higher at 721.50 yuan ($104.33) a tonne, regaining some ground after hitting a five-month low on Friday.
Meanwhile, steelmakers in Fengnan district of Tangshan city, China's top steel-producing hub, have been officially required to roll out a reasonable annual production plan, and make greater efforts to limit this year's output at not more than the 2022 level, according to an official document seen by Reuters.
That raised concerns about steel supply eventually becoming tight, pushing futures higher, which also provided a boost to iron ore prices, analysts said.
Rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBcv1 rose 4.2%, hot-rolled coil SHHCcv1 climbed 5.1%, and stainless steel SHSScv1 gained 0.9%.
Coking coal DJMcv1 and coke DCJcv1 on the Dalian exchange also reversed early losses, advancing by 6.8% and 6.3%, respectively.
https://www.voxmarkets.co.uk/rns/announcement/55c4f9b8-7ec4-4627-a32a-65199ee983ac/
https://www.bushveldminerals.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ARC-BMN-Q1-2023-operational-update.pdf
Just noticed these on the Bushveld Minerals website. Not sure if anyone noted them but thought I'd stick the links here if anyone is interested;
https://www.bushveldminerals.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/J4730-Vametco-Mineral-Resources-and-Ore-Reserves-31-December-2022_Issued-26-April-2023.pdf
https://www.bushveldminerals.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-SAMREC-CPR-and-Mineral-Resource-Estimate-for-the-Imaloto-Coal-Deposit-in-Madagascar.pdf
The maturity date is 31 July 2023, hopefully the deal is completed by then.
https://www.voxmarkets.co.uk/rns/announcement/bdec6533-6271-46b3-80cf-107f1cf2fa9d/
PB940 - missing guidance again isn't good management.
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Missing guidance due to environmental factors out of the companies control and having a stockpile is foresight rather than selling it off and then having no stock to give cash flow which keeps the business running, also using the downtime is good management.
I get the feeling that if they had sold all of their stockpile and had 2 weeks where production was interrupted resulting in no cashflow you would also say it's poor management, why didn't they have a stockpile when something like this happened. I honestly don't think Bushveld will be able to do the right thing no matter what it is.
https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/bushveld_minerals/news/rns/story/xp8oq1r